The Obituary
Studebaker started in 1852 as an Indiana blacksmith and wagon shop, supplied wagons to the Union Army, and made the rare leap into automobiles in 1902. For decades it was the largest of America’s independent carmakers, producing design icons like the Loewy-styled Starliner and Avanti. But it could not match the scale and pricing of Detroit’s Big Three. A 1954 merger with the equally weak Packard failed to fix the economics. Studebaker closed its South Bend plant in 1963, shifted final production to Canada, and ended carmaking in 1966 before merging away.
Worth remembering
- It began making horse-drawn wagons in 1852 and built cars from 1902, one of the few firms to survive that transition.
- Its 1953 Starliner and 1963 Avanti, styled by Raymond Loewy, became design icons even as the company faded.
Sources
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.