Studebaker Turtle

[Scott]

I was just reading some oral history of Studebaker in the early 60s when Egbert was there. There was a reference to the Turtle, which I think has been been mentioned here, but also the fact it had a Nonan engine. I've found no other reference to that. Maybe it should have read Noonan, but I don't see any references to that either. Does anyone know more about it?

[dean pearson]

An Onan?

Plenty here on it tho.

Dean.

[Skip Lackie]

My guess would be Onan, which Studebaker owned at the time.

[Scott]

That's probably it. The sentence reads: "But anyway, we were developing a vehicle called a Turtle and it had a Nonan engine in it."
I think the transcriber made an error.

[8E45E]

More here, and it was a Kohler engine: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...t=italian+army

Craig

[rockne10]

Expect Chris Dresbach to chime in at any moment.

[Chris_Dresbach]

Expect Chris Dresbach to chime in at any moment.

You know me well...

It goes like this: three prototype Turtles were built. #1 had no engine, #2 was Onan powered, and #3 was Kohler powered.

[Chris_Dresbach]

http://www.studebaker-info.org/turtle/turtle0813.html

Here's everything you would want to know about the Turtle studies.

[TWChamp]

Hemming's Classic Cars for May 2015 has a page about Studebaker and Onan in a small utility vehicle.

[Buzzard]

I have a 10 KW Onan (by Studebaker) air cooled diesel gen set. It works really well.
Bill

[Chris_Dresbach]

Hemming's Classic Cars for May 2015 has a page about Studebaker and Onan in a small utility vehicle.

I just did a quick Google search for that article and could only read part of it. Looks like it's talking about an Onan powered truck for the post office. Does the article mention anything about the Turtle?

[Scott]

The account I was reading was about the day that Sherwood Egbert drove across a picket line and ended up getting arrested. The man speaking was involved and said the union was afraid he was going to try and smuggle parts of the Turtle out of the plant, so the men formed a group and wouldn't let him leave. Also mentioned is a film of the event taken by news crews. Has anyone ever seen it? This guy said he sure wished he had it because it showed Egbert at his best and toughest.

[Chris_Dresbach]

Scott, go to the link I posted. At the bottom of the page there is an article by Cliff Macmillen about the night the Turtle was smuggled out of the plant in 1962. Read through it, and tell me what you think in comparison to the paper you read. I've never seen the paper you read so I'd like to know.

[Scott]

Well, it's from a different interview (I think), so you'd better read it yourself: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...ew=1up;seq=115 at page 106. The eyewitness to the affair was Clifford MacMillan, but it probably has details different from the article.

[Chris_Dresbach]

Interesting stuff, and it does all make sense. When the Turtle was being built there was a massive labor strike going on. What Cliff MacMillen doesn't say in the interview you read was that the Turtle actually did get smuggled out of the plant without being noticed.