Distinctive designs, comfortable interiors, enviable quality and overall excellent value for the dollar. So what went wrong?

 IN 1952, Studebaker celebrated its centennial.

Well before this auspicious occasion the company had been eclipsed by Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler as an automobile manufacturer. Still, Studebaker continued to be a leader in innovation and styling. And it still enjoyed a strong brand loyalty that the larger companies envied.

The American chapter of the Studebaker story starts in 1736, the year that three brothers named Studebecker arrived in Philadelphia from Frefeld, Germany. As the United States has been a nation of immigrants from its inception, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about their arrival. It is only from the perspective of passing years that we see that this was a momentous event.

At some point in time the name was Americanized to Studebaker. The family grew in numbers and followed the waves of westward migration in search of opportunity. John, a great grandson, and an accomplished blacksmith was one of the first settlers at a place known as Getty’s Town. During the American Civil War, the village would be immortalized as Gettysburg, site of a bloody battle and where President Lincoln made his poignant Gettysburg Address.

John had five sons, Henry, Clem, John Mohler, Peter and Jacob. Henry and Clem moved west to South Bend, Indiana and started a blacksmithing business in 1852. This was to be the cornerstone for an automotive dynasty.  

Shortly afterwards they were joined by John Mohler and together the brothers expanded their business to include the manufacture of wagons. But business was anemic. So, John Mohler traded a wagon in exchange for passage with a wagon train to the gold fields of California. The plan was simple, prospect for gold, strike it rich, and use the proceeds to help his brothers build the business.

Fate intervened. As soon as J.M. arrived in the rough and tumble town now known as Placerville, Joe Hinds inquired of the wagon master if there was a wagon maker traveling with them. And so, John Mohler went to work repairing stagecoaches. And he also began manufacturing pick handles and wheelbarrows, a lucrative endeavor in the gold fields. In 1858 he returned to South Bend with $8,000 to invest in the Studebaker company.

The company would have most likely remained a small, but profitable, regional endeavour if it were not for the American Civil War. In 1862, the brothers were contracted to supply the Union army with wagons and ambulances.

To fulfill the obligation massive expansion was required. Peter, their brother, joined the enterprise. The company was reorganized as Studebaker Brothers.

The Studebakers were smart businessmen. They were also ambitious. After the war rather than wait for farmers and freighters to find them, the brothers developed a sales team to present wagons throughout southern Michigan and northern Indiana.

The when the tide of immigrants rolling westward became a tsunami, they erected a showroom for their wagons at St. Joseph, Missouri. This was the trailhead for most of the great western trails. Next to the showroom they developed a campground where wagon trains could outfit for the journey.

By 1874, the Studebaker Brothers company employed more than 500 men, and manufactured more than 11,000 vehicles in a single year. They were the largest manufacturer of wagons, buggies, and surreys in the United States. Soon they would be the largest in the world.

Growth was exponential. The company became the largest supplier of wagons to the United States Army. During the Battle of the Little Bighorn, General Custer had been separated from his supply train, a convoy of Studebaker wagons. During the Spanish American War, the company received an emergency order for 500 wagons. Studebaker delivered within 24 hours.

By the 1880s the company was producing wagons for armies throughout the world. Studebaker wagons were used during the Boxer Rebellion in China. And during the Boer War, Winston Churchill was sleeping in a Studebaker when he was captured.

But times were changing. The company would continue manufacturing horse drawn equipment for several decades in the 20th century. But beginning in the late 1890s, Studebaker began to diversify.

The company added a new division based in Chicago to produce automobile bodies for a few Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio-based electric car manufacturers. By 1900 they began manufacturing taxi-cab bodies for the New York Electric Vehicle Company. And as the number of automobile manufacturing companies grew in number, so did Studebaker’s list of clients. Detroit Electric, EMF, Flanders, and Flanders Electric all used bodies produced by Studebaker.

In 1899 the company-initiated feasibility studies and experimentation with a plan of entering the automobile business. As the company had been working with the manufacturing electric vehicles, they enlisted assistance from Thomas Edison.

The company’s first automobiles debuted in 1902. The first sale of the electric carriage was made just four days before the company’s 50th anniversary.

Written by Jim Hinckley of jimhinckleysamerica.com