Studebaker and IH truck merger????

[Jeff_H]

Post #5 in this thread:

https://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/viewtopic.php?t=1454977

Never heard of this before. Thoughts?

I think there are some facts in error there for sure even if some is true.

[Milaca]

Copied from link:

Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 7:43 am Post subject: Re: Harvestor Company
Couple of other blunders that were made early on that may have saved the company. This information comes from a book I have on the history of the IH truck division. It was the only division that survived the bankruptcy. In the early '60's, Studebaker approved truck division management with a proposal that they would drop there truck division as they only had about 1% of the light truck market. Studebaker would sell IH in the urban market, including the new "Scout" that IH had recently marketed. Studebaker had a good urban dealer network. IH would then sell the recently developed Studebaker Larks through IH's excellent rural truck dealership network, benefiting both companies. Truck division was excited, as it already had about a 32% market share of the light truck market. The bulk of the rest of the light truck market except for about 5% was divided between GM & Ford. At the time, IH had a market share that was larger than either Ford or GM, in their opinion. Corporate leadership "nixed" the idea. I wonder what a difference that merger that merger may have made in the automotive market place. Maybe the "Big Three" (Chrysler,GM & Ford) wouldn't have been able to squeeze Studebaker- Packard out of the automobile market.

[Milaca]

As noted in another posting, International Harvester never filed bankruptcy. They sold the farm tractor/implement division to the corporate owner of J.I. Case (along with the rights to the International Harvester name), sold the construction equipment division to the Canadian company Dresser, sold the lawn & garden division (Cub Cadet) to MTD, sold the factory that made truck transmissions and rear differentials to another company (Dana possibly?), but kept the truck division and renamed it Navistar.

[StudeNewby]

Yes, the thread is rife with errors of the kind we hear, or used to hear, at cruise-ins. For instance, one poster confused George Mason with James Nance. And IH never had anything close to 32% of the light truck market! (Please correct me if I am mistaken.)

[StudeRich]

International had about a 32% Market Share in the Light truck market, Studebaker had 1% ???
I can't believe IH would have THAT much! Really, a '59 IH Pickup would be one of the most seen, and wasn't.

[Milaca]

I agree, I could believe IH had 32% of the Medium-Duty Truck market as the IH Loadstar trucks were as commonly seen on the roads as Ford and Chevy two-ton trucks, and all three were popular for school bus chassis.

However, that doesn't mean that Studebaker and International didn't have a conversation in regards to selling each other's products. If it did occur, Richard Quinn would likely know something about it.

[Jeff_H]

Yeah, the comment about IH having 1/3 of the light truck market seemed over the top. If that were true, where did they all go? Area in rural MN I am from, 50s/60s dodge pickups were pretty rare and IH almost like a unicorn when I was growing up in the 70s. Later 70s Dodge's were a distant 3rd to Ford and GM.

Edit:

I could almost buy that figure (but still seems way too high) if the topic were larger than 1 ton trucks. Dual wheels on the back and maybe even dual axles. Ones big enough to have a grain box or flatbed on but not the size of a over the road tractor/trailer. Used to be a lot of IH around that size.

[8E45E]

They sold the farm tractor/implement division to the corporate owner of J.I. Case (along with the rights to the International Harvester name).

Yes, that was Tenneco, Inc., who they sold it to, which already owned J.I. Case.

Numerous long established I-H dealers in small towns around here where both J.I. Case and I-H had dealerships initiated lawsuits over 'preferential' treatment that were given to the J.I. Case dealers afterwards, even though some of them had been selling I-H for over 70 years.

Craig

[DEEPNHOCK]

And to add... Raymond Loewy designed the 1939 Farmall tractor (To keep some Studebaker relations in the thread)
Int'l Harvester did some pretty wild shenanigans to avoid the word bankruptcy. They had a crippling strike in the late 70's.
About this same time they sold their cast iron foundry operation (Wisconsin Steel) to a management group that almost immediately filed for bankruptcy. This was a ploy to avoid union issues and potential lawsuits. They got sued anyways.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/08/20/Navistar-agrees-to-65-million-pension-settlement/2144714283200/

And to add... When IHC sold the AG line to JI Case/Tenneco.... The JI Case mgt. went to every town that has a JI Case dealer and an IHC dealer. They sat the dealer principles down and told them "There will be only one dealer in this town". You two decide who it will be. A lot of long time family owned businesses were destroyed when the weaker of the two was forced to sell (or give away) their dealership.
The one amusing part was the old 'Triple Diamond' IHC logo. Apparently the upper management of IHC had other things on their minds and let the copyright to the 'Triple Diamond" IHC expire. Someone in Ohio grabbed the logo and copyrighted it in their name. When the 'new' IHC went to use the logo, they were hit with a cease and desist...and then offered an opportunity to buy the 'Triple Diamond' logo back (for BIG dollars). That did not happen and the split "Diamond Road' logo was created (to go along with the new name "Navistar".
I was with IHC when this all went down, and still have the new 'Navistar' trinkets (coins, hats, pens, etc).. I remember going to one dealer and clearing all sorts of Ag stuff out of barns. Pretty cool stuff. Egg incubators, Ertl toys, manure spreaders, etc.
Used to drive Scouts and Travelall's as company cars.. They were tanks..
Long time ago...

As noted in another posting, International Harvester never filed bankruptcy. They sold the farm tractor/implement division to the corporate owner of J.I. Case (along with the rights to the International Harvester name), sold the construction equipment division to the Canadian company Dresser, sold the lawn & garden division (Cub Cadet) to MTD, sold the factory that made truck transmissions and rear differentials to another company (Dana possibly?), but kept the truck division and renamed it Navistar.

[8E45E]

I remember going to one dealer and clearing all sorts of Ag stuff out of barns. Pretty cool stuff. Egg incubators, Ertl toys, manure spreaders, etc.

Any I-H refrigerators?

Craig

[DEEPNHOCK]

Any I-H refrigerators?

Craig

I think I remember a couple. IIRC, They had the doors separate in cardboard boxes..
That was a long time ago...

[Milaca]

I once read that International sold off the refrigeration division to Whirlpool back in 1955. Did Whirlpool make refrigerators & freezers before this? I don't know.
If you watch the show 'Friends', there is an International refrigerator in Monica and Rachel's kitchen. The early episodes have an early IH refrigerator, and the later episodes have the last series of IH refrigerator.

DEEPNHOCK neglected to mention that Raymond Loewy also designed the IH 'man on a tractor' logo.

[8E45E]

I once read that International sold off the refrigeration division to Whirlpool back in 1955. Did Whirlpool make refrigerators & freezers before this? I don't know.

What I do know is Whirlpool had some kind of marketing agreement with RCA at one time, and also owned Inglis appliances of Toronto. The marketing agreement as far as I know, was selling RCA-branded kitchen appliances through electronics retailers who already handled RCA. I remember this one quite well, as one of my daily newspaper customers back in the early-seventies had issues with the glued-on handle coming off her fridge door when she pulled to open it one time. She got the royal runaround from both RCA and Whirlpool(John Inglis Ltd.), being told by RCA Service, they only repair TV's and stereos, and she has to go to Inglis for RCA kitchen appliances. In turn, Inglis stated they only cover mechanical parts, and don't carry trim parts, and she would have to go back to RCA. RCA was unable to help her, but not long after, she intercepted an RCA repairman at the home across the street, and out of the goodness of his heart did his best to glue the handle and the wide trim piece it was attached to back on with some industrial-grade contact cement he had in his van. In the end, he still told her it was better to grab the door from behind where the seal was, as he would not guarantee it to be a permanent fix.

Craig

[Dwain G.]

Any I-H refrigerators?

Craig

I remember seeing IH chest freezers

[DEEPNHOCK]

I remember seeing IH chest freezers

That would make sense...
Same box, different inner workings..
Hatch 'em with an incubator, freeze 'em 8 weeks later <lol>