1937 Studebaker Hot Rod

Today is the 4th Tuesday of the month. That means that the San Diego Auto Museum at Balboa Park has free admission to all residence of San Diego County!! Since January, the museum has had vintage hot rods on display, which will end on July 1st. I wish I had paid attention earlier because we could've gone a few times to see this exhibit. We started getting the newspaper last weekend and there was a paragraph in the "What to do" section about the display. I am now going to be investigating all kinds of different things to find what else is going on around our county that we can go to for free or a small charge. And as usual, my camera did not take good indoor pictures. These pictures of the Studebaker did show up semi-ok, I hope you can see them on your screen.




John Studebaker, whose family was from Germany and worked as blacksmiths, lived in Ohio in 1835. He had 5 sons that he taught wagon making to. The Studebaker wagon business grew along with the country. In 1852, in South Bend, Indiana, brothers Henry and Clement made metal parts for freight wagons, and later expanded to make the whole wagon. Brother John had been living in Placerville, California making wheelbarrows for the gold minors when he moved to South Bend in 1858. The brothers built their first carriage in 1857. They continued making farm wagons, but became the top producer for the covered wagons heading west with the pioneers with half of the wagons heading that direction carrying the Studebaker name.




Brother Peter had become a successful owner of a general store in Goshen, Indiana. In 1860 he began to sell wagons at his store, becoming the first Studebaker 'dealership'. In 1861 - 1868, the brother's business really boomed when they begain making wagons for the Union Army during the Civil War. Brother Henry sold his share of the business to John, as Henry did not believe in war due to religious convictions. Henry returned to farming. In 1868 the 3 remaining brothers formed the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company. In 1875 the youngest brother, Jacob, entered the brother's business and was in charge of making sulkies and five-glass landaus. He had impressive wealthy clientele. In 1889 President Harrison ordered a full set of Studebaker carriages and harnesses for the White House.

The sons and sons-in-law of the Studebaker brothers joined in on the family business and had input on the brother's beginning to make the horseless carriage. At first the brother's wanted to only make electric horseless carriages, but these were slow and in order to keep up with competition they began making gasoline powered carriages in 1904. By 1917, all 5 original Studebaker brothers had passed away. In 1954, Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, merged with Studebaker. This was the beginning of many mergers with other companies. By 1979 McGraw-Edison purchased what was then Studebaker-Worthington and eliminated the Studebaker name from the corporate world.

Studebaker Commanders began being produced in 1927 and were 6 cylinder engines. It was a mid-price range car with a 226 cubic inch engine. They were tough and durable, built to withstand the poor road conditions of the time. In 1935, the Commander was discontinued. The Studebaker Dictator was manufactured from 1927 to 1938. These were the low-end priced vehicles of the company. An 8 cylinder engine for the Dictator Series began in 1929. The name Dictator was chosen by the company for the model to imply that all other cars would follow it's standard, but with the rise of Adolf Hitler and his violent march across Europe in the late 30s, the name Dictator left a bad taste in one's mouth. In 1937 the Dictator disappeared without much noise and was replaced by the name 'Commander'.

The Studebaker is not usually know as being a hot rod, it's more of a street car. There was a plaque with this car at the museum which said: "A person builds a hot rod as an act of self expression. Any car that has been modified in appearance and lightened to enhance performance could be called a 'hot rod'. But a car that has been modified for appearance only would be called a 'street rod'. This Studebaker is a street rod - a very attractive street rod." This car is absolutely beautiful. I love the white and red paint job.