There is also an element of the lincon continental design of that perios present in the front end of that studebaker come to think about it. The grill is wide like some of them where.

I also did not realise that Raymond Lowery was doing design work for studebaker that early. The local studebaker dealer in my present area was very active and sold a lot of product locally before I moved here.

About the only studebaker left here is the closed dealerships service truck perhaps a 1 1/2 to three ton studebaker truck in good restored condition. A 1954-55 vintage or close to it.

I had a chance to pick up an early dictator sedan with wooden artillary wheels that needed a fairly minor restoration. He wanted too much even twenty five years ago for it.

Some of the best design work in my opinion was done in the middle depression years. They really pulled it all together to sell the cars in that period.

There were several brands back then that eventually became orphan cars. Almost all brands that had only a very small portion of the domestic market to themselves got catagorized as such. Studebaker, Hudson, Willys,Fraser, Henry J to quote some. Plus a few others that do not come instantly to mind.

Studebaker pushed high fuel milage when fuel was very cheap. I am not really sure of what eventually killed studebaker. Economy of scale production wise may have eventually sealed their fate though.

Our family had two willys cars and one willys station wagon. Only one Hudson over the years though. The hudson was a 46 or 47 and was quality built but had an odd body design compared to the majority of brands. This was our families extent of orphan cars owned.

The three companies Peerless, Pierce arrow, and Packard that were generally creditied with building the best cars in reasonable numbers at one time. Although not cheap to buy all failed over time. They just failed to produce cheaper cars for the masses when they perhaps should have.

I think economy of scale is about right. My dad used to say that GM could put them out of business any time they wanted to as they owned so many of the companies that made parts for stude such as diffs and trannys.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

It is very similar to the fords, mercury and Lincolns about the same era. All handsome cars.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

somewhat off topic but interesting:

The Packard 4M-2500 engine was utilized in all U.S. Navy World War II PT boats. This engine was based on the 1925 Liberty aircraft engine which was earlier converted for marine use in racing boats. During the war the Packard engine went through various performance updates and modifications. With early engines rated at 1100 h.p. and progressing to 1500 h.p. during the war. The Packard 4M-2500 engine was a supercharged, water cooled, gasoline powered V-12 engine, weighing approximately 2900 pounds.

The Packard 4M-2500 marine engine was not the Rolls-Royce Merlin, nor did U.S. Navy PT boats use the R.R. Merlin engines, which is sometimes misstated. However, Packard did built a version of Merlin Engine under contract by Britain for British aircraft use.
PT Boat Info - PT Boat - Pakard V-12 Marine Engine

and

http://www.outlawpulling.com/PDF/Packard%20Marine%20Engine.pdf

out of the 37,38,39 which are 3 of the nicest looking pickups ever built I would have to pick the 37.

Yeah, I'd take a 37 too. I like the laid back windshield of the 39 better though. It looks chopped and channelled compared to about anything from the same era.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I imagine some of the younger members do not know the windshield wipers were all vacuum powered back then. Hit the bottom of a good hill and they pretty well died unless you let up on the gas. Also the length of the actual windshield wipers were a joke in comparison to what came later. Nine inch blades where quite common.

I still have vacuum wipers on my thirty nine buick. Some of the better cars added a vacuum holder tank to the system to help moderate the intermitent operational tendency. Trico supplied a majority of those vacuum motors for most brands of cars for a long period.

Some of the linkages to drive the wipers even incorporated cords. This was the high tech upside to earlier periods where you had a little hand crank coming through the window frame to clear the glass by hand with.

Car heaters were still an option on many brands during this period. So there were a lot of cars sold in the south without them. Of course those cars had no defrosting capacity either so you mounted a little six volt fan to the window frame to help out. Even with some heater setups that had limited defrost capacity.

Before the heated coolant heaters the set up was to scavange hot air from around the exhaust manifold and introduce it to the cabin. Prior to that heated bricks on a stove wrapped in covers for your feet was about it.

You have not realy lived until taking a trip of a couple of hundred miles in really cold weather without any form of car heater working. I would preffer never to do it again.

Cars of this period could not accumulate the total milages that todays vehicles do but in general stayed on the road for more years than what our daily drivers in general do today.

This is my personal favorite late 30's pickup (if running fenders)
This one was bought by a customer on the other side of the lake from me-and came to N Texas from Washington. I supply lots of parts to 1930's GMC guys.
about 5 yrs after buying my first 37, I came across the photo of my dad when he was 15 or so in the town of Perryton 5 miles from the oklahoma-cimmaron strip/panhandle)where grandpa had moved them in 29 just in time for
Home | THE DUST BOWL, as the second episode airing TONITE will explain--36 half of everyone could no longer hang in there and left, the rain didn't start again til 1938--but no way anything was back to normal. I really wonder how they got the money for this pickup in 39-it must have been one of the flashist in town -gawd they must have been prowd of it. it must have been sitting at the B O P gmc truck dealer on main street for a yr or three, they has a small produce buisness- or what was left of it- and knew the dealership owner well.



the hawk probably did not end up on the dinner table--but the other two praire chickens im sure -did.