Recently, with a little detective work and a lot of luck, l "found" Doug. He had a company, four blocks away from Studebaker of Canada in Hamilton, that was responsible for crating the CKD (completely knocked down) cars destined for shipment to Studebaker's partners overseas. These partners, in places like Australia, South Africa and Israel, re-assembled the cars (with the required local content) and offered them for sale in their respective markets.
Doug's company had the contract with Studebaker from May of '64 to the end of the '65 model year. The contract for the 1966 model year had been signed, but by the time the '66's were in production, it seems that the overseas assemblers had observed the "writing on the wall" and were no longer interested in "hitching their wagon" to the Studebaker "star". To buy out Doug's '66 contract, Studebaker offered him cars as payment (Doug already owned a Wagonaire), but he didn't think that the new cars with GM engines would be worth much as time went on, so he held out for a cash settlement!
The Hamilton Chapter SDC is very happy that Doug (just under 90 years young) is willing and able to speak at their next meeting (April 28th) about his operations and relationship with Studebaker. For posterity, we want to record his interaction with the club. Not much seems to have been published on the subject of CKD cars - except for articles by CCM-employed Australian Stude enthusiast Jim Quigley a number of years back. l believe, however, that the story has never been told from the perspective of Studebaker in North America. As well, Doug went to South Bend to "learn the ropes" before his contract began. so, he has some knowledge of CKD operations there as well.
This is a great opportunity to learn from someone who was there - and was responsible for a facet of the operations that was specialized and is not well documented.
l'm thinking that we should open the questioning to other members of "Studedom", not just our chapter. We can't think of ALL the good questions! So, if you are so inclined, please form a question for Doug - as SHORT as you can make it - here in the forum, on this thread, by Thursday, April 18th, just before Easter, and l will try to get an answer from Doug, posting it, l guess, on the forum.
This is new history coming to light. l'm excited.
Doug's company had the contract with Studebaker from May of '64 to the end of the '65 model year. The contract for the 1966 model year had been signed, but by the time the '66's were in production, it seems that the overseas assemblers had observed the "writing on the wall" and were no longer interested in "hitching their wagon" to the Studebaker "star". To buy out Doug's '66 contract, Studebaker offered him cars as payment (Doug already owned a Wagonaire), but he didn't think that the new cars with GM engines would be worth much as time went on, so he held out for a cash settlement!
The Hamilton Chapter SDC is very happy that Doug (just under 90 years young) is willing and able to speak at their next meeting (April 28th) about his operations and relationship with Studebaker. For posterity, we want to record his interaction with the club. Not much seems to have been published on the subject of CKD cars - except for articles by CCM-employed Australian Stude enthusiast Jim Quigley a number of years back. l believe, however, that the story has never been told from the perspective of Studebaker in North America. As well, Doug went to South Bend to "learn the ropes" before his contract began. so, he has some knowledge of CKD operations there as well.
This is a great opportunity to learn from someone who was there - and was responsible for a facet of the operations that was specialized and is not well documented.
l'm thinking that we should open the questioning to other members of "Studedom", not just our chapter. We can't think of ALL the good questions! So, if you are so inclined, please form a question for Doug - as SHORT as you can make it - here in the forum, on this thread, by Thursday, April 18th, just before Easter, and l will try to get an answer from Doug, posting it, l guess, on the forum.
This is new history coming to light. l'm excited.
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