Sad Day...

[DEEPNHOCK]

Thursday, December 9, 2010


47 years ago, the last Studebaker ever made rolled off the assembly line in South Bend Indiana.


(from my e-mail)

[kurtruk]

Change the order of a few words or you'll upset a few owners of '65 and '66s...

[StudeDave57]

Change the order of a few words or you'll upset a few owners of '65 and '66s...

I don't know what others might say, but as an owner of a '65~
I'm good with what Jeff said--

my car was Made In Canada!!!!!

[irish]

December 9th wasn't the last day of production in South Bend. December 9th was the day it was announced production would be ending in South Bend.

Joe

Thursday, December 9, 2010


47 years ago, the last Studebaker ever made rolled off the assembly line in South Bend Indiana.


(from my e-mail)

[Milaca]

This truly is a sad day....Jeff posted a completely incorrect bit of trivia on this forum. Now I am doubting the existance of Santa Claus and Sasquatch.

[comatus]

Heh. Stan Freberg: "Easter Bunny?" Nope. "How about Columbus?" Nope. "Toledo, then?" "I ain't made up my mind yet about Toledo." The voice was Daws Butler (Yogi Bear), and he was from Toledo.

I thought the 10th was the announcement date. The 9th as the final production day shows up in many trivia sources. Can't be true, but it's popular.

[DEEPNHOCK]

Hey, I said it was sent to me in my e-mail...
And we all know how accurate the Internet is <lol>...
Besides... Post'itis without fact'itis is a dangerous thing....
The vultures here are always waiting to pounce...
And my accuracy is always in doubt
Besides.. I have 4000+ post's to go just to catch up
Give a guy a break, already
Jeff

This truly is a sad day....Jeff posted a completely incorrect bit of trivia on this forum. Now I am doubting the existance of Santa Claus and Sasquatch.

[Welcome]

>>>I thought the 10th was the announcement date. The 9th as the final production day shows up in many trivia sources. Can't be true, but it's popular.

IIRC reading in the Board of Directors Meeting minutes, the decision was made Dec. 6th; the South Bend Tribune broke the news Dec. 9th; this letter
my father received from Burlingame is dated Dec. 16, and envelope it came in was postmarked South Bend, IND Dec. 19, 1963 ...so like this topic reads ..."Sad Day

[Chris_Dresbach]

Hey Jim,
Sometime can you make a copy of that letter? I would like to see that.

[PlainBrownR2]

We have some literature from picking up Stude parts a few years back, and the literature came from a dealership/garage. Anyway, in the mess of documents, there is this document from April 1966 from President Ed Challinor to the Studebaker owners. Why am I bringing this up after Studebaker called it quits in South Bend? Well, in this letter he says that due to the recent announcement of ceasing manufacturing of Studebaker Automobiles, that Studebaker parts and Studebaker service will still be available even after the production of automobiles has stopped through the Studebaker Service Dealers. The funny thing is there is no mention of whether it was Studebaker or GM powered that they were put in under one big umbrella. If there is no Studebaker Service Dealer in your area, any independent garage can secure Studebaker parts through a Studebaker Service Dealer or Studebaker Parts Depot.
The letter also provides an enclosure of the literature for periodic maintenance, as well as a directory for the Studebaker parts depots so you could find the nearest parts depot. The end of the letter basically says that the Studebaker will provide service for many years if it is kept in proper service and that the president was confident that you would receive your full value from the Studebaker.

As an aside, the full value of the parts was at 20 million in April 1966.

I guess it also depends on where you stand as to when Studebaker had the final word on the cars. In this instance they basically sent out a "So long!!" letter, and over the years the parts and service just whittled away.....

[HAWK64]

My '64 GT Hawk came off the line in RHC on Dec 16th 1963.

[Bill Pressler]

The announcement of South Bend's closing came on Dec. 9, and the assembly line shut down in South Bend on Friday Dec. 20, 1963. Avantis were last built on Dec. 26, and trucks on Dec. 27.

[Chris_Dresbach]

The announcement of South Bend's closing came on Dec. 9, and the assembly line shut down in South Bend on Friday Dec. 20, 1963. Avantis were last built on Dec. 26, and trucks on Dec. 27.

I also heard somewhere that the plant was briefly reopened to finish a contract to build Zip Vans in South Bend in 1964. Plant 8 did not close until 1972.

[2R5]

Hey Jeff , at least when one of us are wrong with our posts there sure is alot of info that comes out that we didn't know before ! Thanks for posting .....see all the new info we got that some of us didn't know before <g>

[BobPalma]

I also heard somewhere that the plant was briefly reopened to finish a contract to build Zip Vans in South Bend in 1964. Plant 8 did not close until 1972.

True, Chris; IIRC, the ZIP-van buildout constituted the last block of complete vehicles to be built, driven off the assembly line under their own power, and shipped from South Bend. However, I don't believe they "closed down" in the interim; part of the facility was kept open all along to finish that contract.

Too, I have seen 1964 V-8 Serial Numbers as high as 64V20538 among the CKD units packed for overseas assembly after the "real" production line shut down. (64V20538 was an unpainted -primer only- 64VY1 taxicab destined for Africa, crated February 1, 1964!) BP