50 years ago today (Dec. 19, 1966)- A Christmas greeting from Byers Burlingame

[Studebaker Wheel]

Exactly 50 years ago today Byers Burlingame, President of The Studebaker Corporation, mailed the annual corporate Christmas greeting (below). I am not sure who all would have been on that mailing list but certainly fewer than in the previous year! At that time all was well at Studebaker as the automobile division was now history and stock was trading at near record levels.
Studebaker automobile loyalists may have been chagrined but most share holders were ecstatic!

[8E45E]

Should not that one sentence have read, "Much of South Bend's people hunger and suffer.", as big of employer as Studebaker was??

Craig

[6hk71400]

It should have but that would not be in keeping with the company focus as Mr Quinn pointed out. I too recently experience albeit on a smaller scale my workplace closing. All employees were called to a meeting and the corporate company that held the Ramada franchise had sold the hotel, two weeks before Thanksgiving. We were told that there would be jobs for everyone with the new company which would use the hotel as a high end drug and alcohol rehab center. Also we would receive two weeks severance pay as well. Several employees had worked there as long as 15 years and a few (myself included) are over 55 and have to hit the streets to look for a job.
Last day was November 28. No job offer, no severance pay, nobody has called.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[jclary]

It should have but that would not be in keeping with the company focus as Mr Quinn pointed out. I too recently experience albeit on a smaller scale my workplace closing. All employees were called to a meeting and the corporate company that held the Ramada franchise had sold the hotel, two weeks before Thanksgiving. We were told that there would be jobs for everyone with the new company which would use the hotel as a high end drug and alcohol rehab center. Also we would receive two weeks severance pay as well. Several employees had worked there as long as 15 years and a few (myself included) are over 55 and have to hit the streets to look for a job.
Last day was November 28. No job offer, no severance pay, nobody has called.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

Merry Christmas to you too Bob! Sorry 'bout the job. However, be of good cheer...it is my understanding there will be a huge WALL building project a bit south of you soon. Surely, there will be some opportunities for you.

[StudeMichael]

The moderator will have this post locked by lunch time!!

[BobPalma]

RE: Burlingame's letter: HO HO HO.

RE: Bob Mile's situation. 'Tough blow, Bob; 'so sorry to hear of that. All the best. (There is a market for knowledgable people to work on Studebakers if you'd care to make your hobby your vocation. I know of several hobbyists reluctant to buy a collector car -or another one- because they can't find anyone with sufficient honesty and knowledge to work on it.) BP

[6hk71400]

That is funny! John you always do put a good spin on things. I will turn my attention to some Studebaker stuff now.

When I was 10 in 1962, we were told there was a bill passed benefit Arizona with Colorado river water called the Central Arizona Project. We as young un's thought this was great now our dry Phoenix area and the state would have lots of water and look green and pretty in a few years. The bill was actually signed in 1968. Fast forward ( oxymoron ) to 1993 and the Central Arizona started water being delivered to Tucson. The CAP project brought river water to Tucson successfully, but the initial implementation was a "debacle." The river water had a different mineral mixture and flow pattern from the aquifer water, stirring up and dislodging rust in city water mains and house pipes. By the end of 1993, the city of Tucson paid about $145,000 to install filters in 925 homes, lost about $200,000 in revenues by adjusting water bills, and paid about $450,000 in damages claimed by homeowners for ruined pipes, water heaters, and other appliances. The city returned some houses to ground water, but problems remained. All of the non-Native American agricultural water distribution systems were completed in the late 1980s, as were most of the municipal water delivery systems. Several Native American distribution systems remain to be built; it is estimated that full development of these systems could require another 10 to 20 years. So if I live to be 85, I guess the project will be completed.

Not political, just reality.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[6hk71400]

That is funny! John you always do put a good spin on things. I will turn my attention to some Studebaker stuff now.

When I was 10 in 1962, we were told there was a bill passed benefit Arizona with Colorado river water called the Central Arizona Project. We as young un's thought this was great now our dry Phoenix area and the state would have lots of water and look green and pretty in a few years. The bill was actually signed in 1968. Fast forward ( oxymoron ) to 1993 and the Central Arizona started water being delivered to Tucson. The CAP project brought river water to Tucson successfully, but the initial implementation was a "debacle." The river water had a different mineral mixture and flow pattern from the aquifer water, stirring up and dislodging rust in city water mains and house pipes. By the end of 1993, the city of Tucson paid about $145,000 to install filters in 925 homes, lost about $200,000 in revenues by adjusting water bills, and paid about $450,000 in damages claimed by homeowners for ruined pipes, water heaters, and other appliances. The city returned some houses to ground water, but problems remained. All of the non-Native American agricultural water distribution systems were completed in the late 1980s, as were most of the municipal water delivery systems. Several Native American distribution systems remain to be built; it is estimated that full development of these systems could require another 10 to 20 years. So if I live to be 85, I guess the project will be completed.

Not political, just reality.

Thanks for your kind words Bob. No matter what my life situation has been I have always trusted that things will work out. Not religious, just reality.

If South Bend had not shut down, I never would have met Chuck Naugle.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[prescottstude]

today he would be nominated to be sec. of state!!

[6hk71400]

I cherish the time I spend here on the forum and with outings with my fellow Studebaker owners. I think a quote from the Smithsonian magazine when they did an article over 25 years ago on Studebaker was we could not recreate the past but we could rebuild the cars of that time. No we can't go back, and we all don't know what the future will hold, but we can have our families, and our cars as to what we enjoy in this life.

Avanti!

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[jclary]

I cherish the time I spend here on the forum and with outings with my fellow Studebaker owners. I think a quote from the Smithsonian magazine when they did an article over 25 years ago on Studebaker was we could not recreate the past but we could rebuild the cars of that time. No we can't go back, and we all don't know what the future will hold, but we can have our families, and our cars as to what we enjoy in this life.

Avanti!

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

Speaking of "We Can't go back"...several years ago, when there was a hullabaloo about the possibility of "Cold Fusion," supposedly a harmless form of endless nuclear power, very cheap abundance of energy, I went wild in my imagination of the possibilities. My thought was that if we could come up with a harmless cheap nuclear engine to power cars, then, aerodynamics, light weight teeny weeny little cigar shaped clown cars would no longer be needed. I was hoping somehow we could go back to making automobiles as elegant as the wonderful old "Art-Deco" behemoths of the 1930's. Only, have them powered with endless energy nuclear power plants, disc brakes, & all the safety/comfort of our times. If I'm correct, (certainly not often), I think the "cold fusion" fad came to an end when it was discovered that much of the grant funded research was exposed as a fraud.

Oh well...about the only thing I know of powered by endless cheap cold (con)fusion...is my IMAGINATION!

[Stu Chapman]

Also on the subject of "we can't go back" in today's Hemmings Daily Blog there is a bit about the Tatra Motor Company in the Czech Republic thinking about resurrecting the manufacturing of their economy car they built back in the last days of Studebaker. Just wondering if they wanted something larger they might consider resurrecting Studebaker.

Going back to Richard Quinn's initial post in this thread, I know this sounds like a broken record but Byers Burlingame, even though he was acting on superior direction, was never ever going to give any of us a serious opportunity of keeping Studebaker alive. He most certainly didn't accept that modern marketing and sales initiatives would work. So he would never have been hired by Tatra.

Stu Chapman

[prescottstude]

[QUOTE=Studebaker Wheel;1028996]Exactly 50 years ago today Byers Burlingame, President of The Studebaker Corporation, mailed the annual corporate Christmas greeting (below). I am not sure who all would have been on that mailing list but certainly fewer than in the previous year! At that time all was well at Studebaker as the automobile division was now history and stock was trading at near record levels.
Studebaker automobile loyalists may have been chagrined but most share holders were ecstatic!

[E]today is the birthday of my 64 hawk serial number 20040 Jet Green ,white sport roof 42nd last hawk ...believed to be the last factory executive hawk,ordered dec 12,by a vp of Onin Corp Minneapolis looks as good today as then

[Dick LeRoux]

The laws of physics are inescapable. As with any propulsion system you can have "inexpensive", "economical", and "fast", however you only get to choose two out of the three.

[GrumpyOne]

It should have but that would not be in keeping with the company focus as Mr Quinn pointed out. I too recently experience albeit on a smaller scale my workplace closing. All employees were called to a meeting and the corporate company that held the Ramada franchise had sold the hotel, two weeks before Thanksgiving. We were told that there would be jobs for everyone with the new company which would use the hotel as a high end drug and alcohol rehab center. Also we would receive two weeks severance pay as well. Several employees had worked there as long as 15 years and a few (myself included) are over 55 and have to hit the streets to look for a job.
Last day was November 28. No job offer, no severance pay, nobody has called.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

Whenever something that touches your life is transferred or sold, it seldom turns out for the better. If you are in your middle years such as your self, it's even more difficult and yup, often such occurs just before or during the holiday season.

My best wishes to you Bob and I sense that at least you won't freeze in that part of the country. Maybe you can make the Studebaker stuff a full time gig...