1960s industry vehicle manufacture founded february 1852 ; 164 years ago 1852 02 founder studebaker brothers pictured below defunct may 1967 1967 05 headquarters south bend indiana usa products automobiles historic wagons carriages and harness parent studebaker brothers manufacturing company website www.studebakermotorcompany.com 1917 studebaker logo studebaker turning wheel badge on cars produced 1912 1934 studebaker 1852 1967 stju d be k r stew d bay k r was an american wagon and automobile manufacturer based in south bend indiana . founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 1 under the name of the studebaker brothers manufacturing company the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers miners and the military . studebaker entered the automotive business in 1902 with electric vehicles and in 1904 with gasoline vehicles all sold under the name studebaker automobile company . until 1911 its automotive division operated in partnership with the garford company of elyria ohio and after 1909 with the e m f company . the first gasoline automobiles to be fully manufactured by studebaker were marketed in august 1912 . 2 p231 over the next 50 years the company established a reputation for quality and reliability . 3 after years of financial problems in 1954 the company merged with luxury carmaker packard to form studebaker packard corporation . however studebaker s financial problems were worse than the packard executives thought . the packard marque was phased out and the company returned to the studebaker corporation name in 1962 . the south bend plant ceased production on december 20 1963 and the last studebaker automobile rolled off the hamilton ontario canada assembly line on march 16 1966 . contents 1 history 1.1 19th century wagonmaker 1.1.1 german forebears 1.1.2 the five brothers 1.1.3 south bend operation 1.1.4 world s largest vehicle house 1.1.5 family association continues 1.2 studebaker automobiles 1897 1911 1.2.1 in the beginning 1.2.2 garford 1.2.3 e m f 1.3 studebaker marque established in 1911 1.4 engineering advances from wwi 1.4.1 end of horse drawn era 1.4.2 first auto proving ground 1.5 facilities in the 1920s 1.6 impact of the 1930s depression 1.7 world war ii 1.8 post wwii styling 1.9 hamilton ontario plant 1.10 industry price war brings on crisis 1.10.1 merger with packard 1.10.2 contract with curtiss wright 1.10.3 last automobiles produced 1.11 exit from auto business 1.12 diversified activities 2 advertisements 3 products 3.1 studebaker automobile models 3.2 studebaker trucks 3.3 studebaker body styles 3.4 affiliated automobile marques 4 see also 5 notes 6 references 7 further reading 8 external links history edit 19th century wagonmaker edit the original studebaker wagon shop in 1850 as depicted in an 1893 illustration german forebears edit according to the official studebaker history written by albert r. erskine history of the studebaker corporation south bend indiana published in 1918 the ancestors of the studebaker family first arrived in america at the port of philadelphia on september 1 1736 on the ship harle from rotterdam holland as shown by the original manuscripts now in the pennsylvania state library at harrisburg and included peter studebecker age 38 years ; clement studebecker age 36 years ; henry studebecker age 28 years ; anna margetha studebecker age 38 years ; anna catherine studebecker age 28 years . the last part of the name becker was afterwards changed to baker . the tax list of what was then huntington township york county pennsylvania in 1798 9 showed among the taxable were peter studebaker sr. and peter studebaker jr. wagonmakers which trade later became the foundation of the family fortune and the corporation which now bears the name . 4 p. 11 in albert russel erskine s official history john studebaker father of the five brothers born in adams county pennsylvania was the son of peter studebaker . 4 p. 13 in any event john studebaker 1799 1877 moved to ashland ohio in 1835 4 p13 with his wife rebecca n e mohler 1802 1887 and taught his five sons to make wagons . they all went into that business as it grew to gigantic proportions with the country . the five brothers edit the five studebaker brothers founders of the studebaker corporation left to right standing peter and jacob ; seated clem henry and john m. the five sons were in order of birth henry 1826 1895 clement 1831 1901 john mohler 1833 1917 peter everst 1836 1897 and jacob franklin 1844 1887 . the boys had five sisters . 5 photographs of the brothers and their parents are reproduced in the 1918 company history which was written by erskine after he became president in memory of john m. 4 p. 5 whose portrait appears on the front cover . south bend operation edit clement and henry studebaker jr. became blacksmiths and foundrymen in south bend indiana in february 1852 . 2 p229 6 they first made metal parts for freight wagons and later expanded into the manufacture of complete wagons . at this time john m. was making wheelbarrows in placerville california . the site of his business is california historic landmark 142 . 7 the first major expansion in henry and clem s south bend business came from their being in the right place to meet the needs of the california gold rush that began in 1849 . from his wheelbarrow enterprise at placerville john m. had amassed 8 000 . in april 1858 he quit and moved out to apply this to financing the vehicle manufacturing of h & c studebaker which was already booming because of a big order to build wagons for the us army . in 1857 they had also built their first carriage fancy hand worked iron trim the kind of courting buggy any boy and girl would be proud to be seen in . 8 p. 24 that was when john m. bought out henry s share of the business . henry was deeply religious and had qualms about building military equipment . the studebakers were dunkard brethren conservative german baptists 9 a religion that viewed war as evil . longstreet s official company history simply says henry was tired of the business . he wanted to farm . the risks of expanding were not for him . 8 p. 26 expansion continued from manufacture of wagons for westward migration as well as for farming and general transportation . during the height of westward migration and wagon train pioneering half of the wagons used were studebakers . they made about a quarter of them and manufactured the metal fittings for other builders in missouri for another quarter century . the fourth brother peter e was running a successful general store in goshen indiana which was expanded in 1860 to include a wagon distribution outlet . 8 p. 28 a major leap forward came from supplying wagons for the union army in the civil war 1861 65 . by 1868 annual sales had reached 350 000 . 2 p229 that year the three older brothers formed the studebaker brothers manufacturing company clem president peter secretary and john m. treasurer . 8 p. 38 by this time the factory had a spur line to the lake shore railroad and with the union pacific railroad finished most wagons were now dispatched by rail and steamship . world s largest vehicle house edit studebaker wagon hauled by eight budweiser clydesdales in wisconsin 2009 in 1875 the youngest brother 30 year old jacob was brought into the company to take charge of the carriage factory making sulkies and five glass landaus . following a great fire in 1874 which destroyed two thirds of the entire works they had rebuilt in solid brick covering 20 acres 81 000 m2 and were now the largest vehicle house in the world . 8 p. 43 customers could choose from studebaker sulkies broughams clarences phaetons runabouts victorias and tandems . for 20 000 a four in hand for up to a dozen passengers with red wheels gold plated lamps and yellow trim could be had . in the 1880s roads started to be surfaced with tar gravel and wooden blocks . in 1884 when times were hard jacob opened a carriage sales and service operation in a fine new studebaker building on michigan avenue chicago . the two granite columns at the main entrance 3 feet 8 inches 1.12 m in diameter and 12 feet 10 inches 3.91 m high were said to be the largest polished monolithic shafts in the country . 10 three years later in 1887 jacob died the first death among the brothers . in 1889 incoming president harrison ordered a full set of studebaker carriages and harnesses for the white house . 11 as the 20th century approached the south bend plant covered nearly 100 acres 0.40 km2 with 20 big boilers 16 dynamos 16 large stationary engines 1000 pulleys 600 wood and iron working machines 7 miles 11 km of belting dozens of steam pumps and 500 arc and incandescent lamps making white light over all . 8 p. 54 the worldwide economic depression of 1893 caused a dramatic pause in sales and the plant closed down for five weeks but industrial relations were good and the organized workforce declared faith in their employer . the impressive wagons pulled by the budweiser clydesdales are studebaker wagons modified to carry beer originally manufactured circa 1900 . 12 family association continues edit the five brothers died between 1887 and 1917 john mohler was the last to die . 13 their sons and sons in law remained active in the management most notably lawyer fred fish after his marriage to john m s daughter grace in 1891 . 14 col. george m studebaker clement studebaker jr j m studebaker jr and fred sr s son frederick studebaker fish served apprenticeships in different departments and rose to important official positions with membership on the board . 4 p41 erskine adds sons in law nelson j riley charles a carlisle h d johnson and william r innis . studebaker automobiles 1897 1911 edit in the beginning edit in 1895 john m. studebaker s son in law fred fish urged for development of a practical horseless carriage . when on peter studebaker s death fish became chairman of the executive committee in 1897 the firm had an engineer working on a motor vehicle . 8 p. 66 at first studebaker opted for electric battery powered over gasoline propulsion . while manufacturing its own studebaker electric vehicles from 1902 to 1911 the company entered into body manufacturing and distribution agreements with two makers of gasoline powered vehicles garford of elyria ohio and the everitt metzger flanders e m f company of detroit and walkerville ontario . studebaker began making gasoline engined cars in partnership with garford in 1904 . 15 garford edit 1908 studebaker garford b limousine 1912 studebaker bus under the agreement with studebaker garford would receive completed chassis and drivetrains from ohio and then mate them with studebaker built bodies which were sold under the studebaker garford brand name at premium prices . eventually vehicles with garford built engines began to carry the studebaker name . garford also built cars under its own name and by 1907 attempted to increase production at the expense of studebaker . once the studebakers discovered this john mohler studebaker enforced a primacy clause forcing garford back on to the scheduled production quotas . the decision to drop the garford was made and the final product rolled off the assembly line by 1911 leaving garford alone until it was acquired by john north willys in 1913 . e m f edit studebaker s agreement with the e m f company made in september 1908 4 p47 was a different relationship one john studebaker had hoped would give studebaker a quality product without the entanglements found in the garford relationship but this was not to be . under the terms of the agreement e m f would manufacture vehicles and studebaker would distribute