Vintage Truck Mag. Studebaker cover

[Gary1953]

This months Vintage Truck Magazine cover truck is the 1963 cab forward prototype. Several pages of pictures and write up inside.

[JRoberts]

Looks like I'll have to hit the news stand next time I go into town.

[DEEPNHOCK]

Here's the article, complete with the cover picture....
Jeff

http://www.vintagetruckmagazine.com/current/index.html

(as a side note... You can save that 'flip file' to your 'puter, too..)

[Milaca]

I am 99.9% certain that the dash gauge cluster in the prototype is the same unit that is in my original 1957 International Harvester A-100 pickup. I wonder if they used any other International Harvester parts....

If Studebaker wanted to sell more pickups, all they had to do was build a pickup bed that matched the Champ cab. Is bad management to blame for the lack of sensible decisions?

[Maynard]

Didn't someone opine that the rear doors on Bo's crew cab Diesel prototype are also IH? Weren't the IH and Studebaker factories both in Indiana? You may be on to something, Brent.

[Milaca]

They have a factory in Fort Wayne Indiana and Chicago Illinois. I can take a picture of my IH gauge cluster and share here but I'm certain that its identical. I think that IH quit using that gauge cluster around 1963.

[DEEPNHOCK]

IHC had a plant in Fort wayne..
Probably a better connection would have been the Budd Stamping Company.
They stamped most of the sheet metal for Studebaker (and a lot of other manufacturers)
Budd has a long history in rail and vehicular manufacturing...(designed the Chrysler airflow, etc)
http://www.workshopoftheworld.com/nicetown/budd.html

[52-fan]

Sure is a homely looking thing. I doubt sales would have justified production. Too bad that money wasn't spent on upgrades for the pickups.

[bob40]

Respectfully disagree about the looks.I think it's so funky it's cool.
My first thought was it would be neat to recreate it

[52-fan]

Funky or not, in the sales climate of the day I don't think it would have generated many sales. As a Studebaker person I might have tried one, but I don't think many sales would have been captured from the other companies customer pool.