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The history of Studebaker dates back to 1852, when two of the five Studebaker brothers opened a blacksmith shop in South Bend, Indiana. Another brother moved to Placerville, but he didn’t go looking for gold.
He made wheelbarrows and other tools for the miners, and after several years, took his $8,000 in profits (about $225,000 today) back to join his brothers in South Bend, where they built Conestoga wagons for the many families who wanted to move west. Studebaker ultimately became the largest wagon and carriage maker in the world.
The company manufactured electric cars from 1902 to 1911, but it was clear that gasoline cars were the future. They entered into a partnership with E-M-F Co., but the unreliability of their vehicles was so well known that some quipsters would say E-M-F stood for “Every Morning Fit-it.” Studebaker eventually acquired the E-M-F plant in 1911, and because those cars had been sold through Studebaker wagon dealers, Studebaker sent mechanics to every unhappy customer to replace any defective parts at a cost of $1 million, about $25 million in today’s dollars.
Studebaker was extremely successful before the stock market crash of 1929, which hit the company hard along with some very bad business decisions. By 1933 Studebaker entered receivership. During World War II, Studebaker built 105,917 six-wheel trucks, most of which went to Russia. Some claim it was the most significant American supplied hardware the Russians used. These trucks were so well known and respected that Soviets began calling all big trucks “Studer” like we call all tissues Kleenex.
In 1947, Studebaker advertised that they were “The first by far with a postwar car.” It was revolutionary, and the 1953 Studebaker Coupe was a sensation, but the good days were ending. In 1962, Studebaker hired Sherwood Egbert to be president of the company to get Studebaker out of the auto business. Egbert fell in love with the car business, though, and became sort of the Lee Iacocca of Studebaker. He got Raymond Loewy to design the Avanti, and Brooks Stevens redesigned the Gran Turismo Hawk on shoestring budgets. However, the changes didn’t make the company profitable.
Cancer plus a strong disagreement with the board of directors resulted in Egbert resigning in November of 1963. He died in 1969 at age 49. The last Studebaker was built in Ontario, Canada, in March of 1966. In their 114-year history there have been many loyal customers including Studebaker owner Erick Erickson’s father.
He bought this issue’s 1963 Studebaker Daytona Wagonaire new in September 1963 from a Fresno Studebaker dealer for $3,488, or about $28,288 in today’s dollars. It has almost every option available at the time, including factory air conditioning. Erickson, a Hayward resident, inherited the car about a year ago when his father died.
The unique selling feature of the Studebaker Wagonaire was that the back of the roof slid open. Advertisements for it showed a man hauling a large upright refrigerator in the back of a Wagonaire. It was a clever idea, but they tended to leak some. Another unusual feature is the ladies vanity station that includes a mirror and tray for makeup and such as part of the glove box.
“For the first four years he (my father) drove it with a stock 289-cubic-inch V8 engine,” Erickson said.
It was equipped with a Borg-Warner automatic transmission.
“In 1967, he was having some trouble pulling trailer houses, so he decided he wanted to put in a little more horse power.”
Erickson’s father acquired an almost new 327-cubic-inch Chevy V8 and transmission for $500, or about $3,750 in today’s dollars. The father used the car as his daily driver into the mid-1970s. He also used it as a truck to haul heavy stuff like gravel and engines, taking advantage of the sliding roof to get those big items in and out of the car.
“Most of my young life it was the family travel car,” says Erickson. “My father was a pretty creative man, and this Studebaker had a 13-inch AC/DC black-and-white TV in the back seat and a 12-volt small box refrigerator in the far back.”
The plug-in ports are still there. “We saw half of the United States in this car and toured Canada pulling a trailer house.”
The 120,000-mile car was repainted Studebaker’s original color about 30 years ago. “My dad restored the car, redid the interior in all the factory-original design.”
Would Erickson ever sell his Studebaker? “Only if I got the ‘I-don’t-want-to-sell-it price,’ and that would have to be someone like Jay Leno,” he says.
The market value, he estimates, is between $25,000 and $50,000 based on its current condition.
“They only made 11,000 of these Daytona Wagonaire wagons and as far as I know, there are less than 200 in this condition or better today.”
Have an interesting vehicle? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles, search for “David Krumboltz” at www.mercurynews.com.
