As we toured the Studebaker National Museum yesterday, Bob Andrews (bams50) and I had a question - what is the tie between Studebaker and Hummer? Of course, this may be old, old news for many of you, but there might be a couple more of us newbies out there!
This was brought about by the HMMWV and Hummer display and many Hummer articles for sale in the gift shop. I had recalled looking up the relationship before, but couldn't recall it, so I did a little light research here tonight. Here is what I found:
"March 3, 1964 - As the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana went out of business, Kaiser-Jeep entered into a novation agreement with Studebaker to assume a contract for the manufacture of military trucks. The Chippewa Avenue Studebaker Plant was purchased." (http://www.humvee.net/misc/history.html)
Remembering there was more (thinking there was some tie to Curtiss-Wright), I kept looking and found this:
"AM General's roots (and its location in South Bend) lie with the "General Products Division" of Studebaker, which, along with its substantial defense contracts, was acquired by Kaiser Industries in early 1964 after Studebaker closed its U.S. auto manufacturing operations. American Motors Corporation (AMC) became the owner when it purchased the Jeep Corporation from Kaiser in 1970 when Kaiser decided to leave the auto business. In 1971, AMC made the General Products Division of Jeep (producing contract and non-commercial vehicles) a wholly owned subsidiary and renamed it AM General Corporation" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM_General)
So it boils down to - the HMMWV and the Hummer have ties to Jeep (there once was a lawsuit that said the grille of the Hummer was too similar to the Jeep grille), but also AMG (AM General) was derived from American Motors and Studebaker - General Products. The HMMWV, The Hummer, The H2 and H3 all are descendants of Studebaker and all of those 6x6's and B-17 engines built for WWII.
[edited for typos]
--george
1963 Lark Daytona HT - 63V J8 175
This was brought about by the HMMWV and Hummer display and many Hummer articles for sale in the gift shop. I had recalled looking up the relationship before, but couldn't recall it, so I did a little light research here tonight. Here is what I found:
"March 3, 1964 - As the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana went out of business, Kaiser-Jeep entered into a novation agreement with Studebaker to assume a contract for the manufacture of military trucks. The Chippewa Avenue Studebaker Plant was purchased." (http://www.humvee.net/misc/history.html)
Remembering there was more (thinking there was some tie to Curtiss-Wright), I kept looking and found this:
"AM General's roots (and its location in South Bend) lie with the "General Products Division" of Studebaker, which, along with its substantial defense contracts, was acquired by Kaiser Industries in early 1964 after Studebaker closed its U.S. auto manufacturing operations. American Motors Corporation (AMC) became the owner when it purchased the Jeep Corporation from Kaiser in 1970 when Kaiser decided to leave the auto business. In 1971, AMC made the General Products Division of Jeep (producing contract and non-commercial vehicles) a wholly owned subsidiary and renamed it AM General Corporation" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM_General)
So it boils down to - the HMMWV and the Hummer have ties to Jeep (there once was a lawsuit that said the grille of the Hummer was too similar to the Jeep grille), but also AMG (AM General) was derived from American Motors and Studebaker - General Products. The HMMWV, The Hummer, The H2 and H3 all are descendants of Studebaker and all of those 6x6's and B-17 engines built for WWII.
[edited for typos]
--george
1963 Lark Daytona HT - 63V J8 175
The prototypes (except the Predictor) have been banished to the basement; which also has a few Hummers[|)] 
those who've seen the previous exhibits and the museum stays fresh.
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