On this day in Studebaker history - December 3 - Beginning of the end....

[Studebaker Wheel]

It was on this date in 1963 that Byers Burlingame (who had just taken over for Sherwood Egbert) announced the realigning of automobile production. The announcement was made in a news conference and it appeared in this (below) issue of the Studebaker Spotlight employee newspaper.

[SN-60]

You gotta love corporate exec lingo!............'Aligning' really is a much nicer word than 'Closing'!!

[53k]

It was on this date in 1963 that Byers Burlingame (who had just taken over for Sherwood Egbert) announced the realigning of automobile production. The announcement was made in a news conference and it appeared in this (below) issue of the Studebaker Spotlight employee newspaper.

They didn't bother to tell the dealers (at least mine). He was pretty angry when I came in and said "Hey Joe, I just heard on the radio (in my '61 Cruiser) that Studebaker is shutting down production...". He got on the phone to the Zone Rep and laid in to him pretty hard while I was sitting in his office. Part of his distress was that he had ordered my '64 Daytona Wagonaire in November and that got cancelled. They would only fill it from existing stock and I didn't want a black interior with a third seat.

[GrumpyOne]

This was just a tad over three years before I bough my first Studebaker...

[SN-60]

I purchased my first Studebaker (a well used '56 Commander Parkview wagon) while Studebaker was still making cars.....never thought about that till now!

[JoeHall]

In the mid 1980s while living in the California desert, I bought a 1964 Wagonaire from its original owner. He bought at a Stude dealership it in National City, CA, a suburb of San Diego. The dealer sticker was still on the bumper. His wife used it to commute to and from the desert to the coast, and racked up 66,000 miles on it before they parked it. It sat under a tree in his yard, a few miles from me, till I bought it and drove it home.

It was desert tan color, inside and out. But an interior piece above the left side, rear passenger door, was green, and clearly a mismatch with the rest of the car. I dunno what was going on when it rolled off the assembly line, but for some reason it was assembled with that odd colored interior piece. Guess there was some strange things going on in the final days.

[sochocki]

"further manpower reductions can be expected..." Yeah, like closing the entire plant in a couple of weeks!

[Warren Webb]

For years I had this distain for Burlingame, that is until I just read the book on him by Mr. Robert R. Ebert from the Museum. That along with the video "Studebaker's Closing, Separating Fact from Fiction" made the climate of the company back then much clearer. I especially liked Bob Palma's 4 points that made the "perfect storm" for Studebaker in those final months. Any one of those taken out of history may have allowed Studebaker to continue, but for how long afterwards? Then I go into the dream mode & think that at the time Honda was first coming out with their car & BMW was also near the brink.

[8E45E]

Then I go into the dream mode & think that at the time Honda was first coming out with their car & BMW was also near the brink.

The rear-engined 700 was a very important car for BMW at the time, and vital to their survival, which prevented them from being bought up by Daimler Benz. Fortunately for them, it did sell in high numbers and led to the mid-range 'New Klass' four door sedan range in 1961-2 ensuring their survival. Unfortunately, there has been almost no emphasis on the 700 in BMW's 100-year history in their timeline from 1916, which is rather unfortunate, as that car was a turning point for BMW; for without it, there would be no BMW today.

Craig

[BobPalma]

For years I had this distain for Burlingame, that is until I just read the book on him by Mr. Robert R. Ebert from the Museum. That along with the video "Studebaker's Closing, Separating Fact from Fiction" made the climate of the company back then much clearer. I especially liked Bob Palma's 4 points that made the "perfect storm" for Studebaker in those final months. Any one of those taken out of history may have allowed Studebaker to continue, but for how long afterwards? Then I go into the dream mode & think that at the time Honda was first coming out with their car & BMW was also near the brink.

Thanks, Warren; 'glad you enjoyed it.

One item cut from the recording during editing happened in the Question & Answer session that followed our formal presentation. One person raised their hand and asked, "Didn't President Kennedy do anything to help save the South Bend jobs after they announced the closing?"

I thought maybe that person had been asleep when I gently reminded him that one factor I had cited as contributing one of the final nails for Studebaker's South Bend coffin was that Kennedy had been assassinated about three weeks before Studebaker announced the closing! BP

[HOXXOH]

For years I had this distain for Burlingame, that is until I just read the book on him by Mr. Robert R. Ebert from the Museum. That along with the video "Studebaker's Closing, Separating Fact from Fiction" made the climate of the company back then much clearer. I especially liked Bob Palma's 4 points that made the "perfect storm" for Studebaker in those final months. Any one of those taken out of history may have allowed Studebaker to continue, but for how long afterwards? Then I go into the dream mode & think that at the time Honda was first coming out with their car & BMW was also near the brink.

Where can this video be found?

[SScopelli]

Thanks, Warren; 'glad you enjoyed it.

One item cut from the recording during editing happened in the Question & Answer session that followed our formal presentation. One person raised their hand and asked, "Didn't President Kennedy do anything to help save the South Bend jobs after they announced the closing?"

I thought maybe that person had been asleep when I gently reminded him that one factor I had cited as contributing one of the final nails for Studebaker's South Bend coffin was that Kennedy had been assassinated about three weeks before Studebaker announced the closing! BP

1963, a simpler time when it was know that "ask not what your government can do for you, but what you can do for your country.."

Words I whish people would live by in these "modern times"..

[Flashback]

; for without it, there would be no BMW today.

Craig[/QUOTE]

That would not have been a great loss. Surely not as bad as Studebaker. JMHO

[BobPalma]

Where can this video be found?

I doubt that it can be viewed free on line anywhere, but the DVD can be purchased from The Studebaker National Museum store:

https://www.studebakermuseum.org/store/studebaker-videos/Studebaker-Closing-DVD

$19.95.

It is interesting. To have a first-hand account from the cub reporter who penned the announcement for that afternoon's front page article in The South Bend Tribune is fascinating. The three of us on stage enjoyed some lively banter.

It's too bad the weather was so horrible that day; what was normally no more than a 3-hour trip for me to get there took over 4 white-knuckle hours because the snow was so deep and the roads were so bad. I was prepared to turn back several times that morning, driving up from Indianapolis to be on the panel, but noticed that the roads got better the further north I got because those northern Indiana counties were better prepared to deal with the snowstorm that reduced the audience size. BP