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  • Sheet Metal Press Dies, etc

    It’s been almost a year of this staying-at-home stuff. For the most part, if I’m not out in the garage or working in the yard, I’ve been spending far too much time on YouTube…

    Among my favorite Studebaker streams is the nearly hour-long one that chronicles the entire story of Studebaker from their wheelwright-beginnings through to the South Bend closure. This video is essentially centered around the 2006 announcement of the entire site about to be renovated. Most of you have no doubt seen it, but for those that haven’t:



    The large presses that are seen so often through this and other Studebaker factory documentaries lead me to ask:

    • where did all the sheet-metal dies go over the years?
    • as new body styles were phased in did Studebaker hold onto discontinued patterns in a different part of the plant and stamp replacement parts?
    • is this what SASCO became - and are fenders, hoods and other panels still theoretically available, if the dies could be resurrected?

    Thanks in advance.

  • #2
    I'm sure all the dies, etc. were sold for scrap. Probably to Hurwich Iron.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by NCDave51 View Post
      It’s been almost a year of this staying-at-home stuff. For the most part, if I’m not out in the garage or working in the yard, I’ve been spending far too much time on YouTube…

      Among my favorite Studebaker streams is the nearly hour-long one that chronicles the entire story of Studebaker from their wheelwright-beginnings through to the South Bend closure. This video is essentially centered around the 2006 announcement of the entire site about to be renovated. Most of you have no doubt seen it, but for those that haven’t:



      The large presses that are seen so often through this and other Studebaker factory documentaries lead me to ask:

      • where did all the sheet-metal dies go over the years?
      • as new body styles were phased in did Studebaker hold onto discontinued patterns in a different part of the plant and stamp replacement parts?
      • is this what SASCO became - and are fenders, hoods and other panels still theoretically available, if the dies could be resurrected?

      Thanks in advance.
      I read that when they were designing the Lark, thought was given to removing the wrap around windshield and returning to the 1953-early 1955 style sedan windshield. The necessary dies were atready gone.

      Comment


      • #4
        Keeping all dies would be expensive you need place to keep them the are large meaning lots of square footage and keep them dry which means a building people to maintain building all of which bean counters dislike

        Comment


        • #5
          Thanks all – great info.

          Sad to think with that scrap iron netted them back then in $$$.

          Comment


          • #6
            Some interesting facts re the stamping dies from the Dec. 1963 issue of The Studebaker Spotlight employee newspaper.
            Attached Files
            Richard Quinn
            Editor emeritus: Antique Studebaker Review

            Comment


            • #7
              ...the One part they really failed with (literally) was the trunk lid. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I recall a workman left a wrench on the stamping die, ruining it, and dooming the entire operation

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Studebaker Wheel View Post
                Some interesting facts re the stamping dies from the Dec. 1963 issue of The Studebaker Spotlight employee newspaper.
                That is a magic piece of info - thanks so much for sharing!! The publication date is ironic - a “promise of support for the future”, yet completely shutting South Bend just prior to Christmas.

                Imagine - a set of front fenders required 40+ separate dies.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Sad to think with that scrap iron netted them back then in $$$.
                  Sheet metal dies were not made of iron. They were made of tougher, heavier stuff. In fact - almost no tooling is made from iron. It's not dimensionally stable, breaks easily, and contrary to popular belief - is not very strong. Not to mention, cast iron does not bring good money for recycling.
                  The only difference between death and taxes is that death does not grow worse every time Congress convenes. - Will Rogers

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    At least in my world of electronics, the "rule" is about 7yrs after the product has been out of production. After that, there is no directive to keep anything so engineering documents, production test fixtures etc are up for disposal. Tooling I am sure is the same.

                    Only exception would be if there is some direction from above to keep warrantee and service parts available after that. Even then, if parts are not available, too bad. At least a decade ago, I was asked to review some old design (probably from the 70s or early 80s) that purchasing wanted to run some units for service stock but the part called out on the BOM (bill of material) was not available so they were looking for some substitute or cross. There was no info on why the original designer picked those parts so it was guesswork. At that time, I was surprised they would even want to build some low quantity of such a old and out of production part for service (like 20-30yrs out).

                    Right now, we have issues with CURRENT PRODUCTION on piece parts/components on the circuit boards going out of production at the suppliers after 5yrs or less and are having to redesign some circuit boards. In other design groups they are in a constant state of redesign to replace short life cycle parts that are only around a year or so before being obsoleted. Does not make supporting end products that have mult-year models and warrantee/service parts a easy effort.

                    All I can say is don't expect to be able to find NOS electronics and fancy display screens, etc in decades to come when someone tries to restore 20+ year old vehicles or machinery.

                    Jeff in ND

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      In support of Jeff H post # 10 ;

                      Before I retired in the mid 2000's our company would make a 250 to 500 thousand dollar machine system sale into the paper converting production industry. This would be an 'entry level' in dollar value for our product lines. I am not disparaging a half million dollars, only stating it was a starting point to begin with a new customer. I was the customer service mgr. (we are / were world wide fortune 500 company) and I was always involved in the machine sales deals, here is where the 'rub' begins. The sales dept. would grind their teeth because I would ALWAYS recommend / insist the customer purchase the electronics system spare parts (E S S) package......this could be an additional 1/3 the price quoted for the machine. The company was worried I would smash the sale with this unexpected expense to the customer.
                      So fast forward 2 - 3 years down the life span of the machine and the customer has some sort of an electric / control issue. The customer always tries to get the machine back up on line themselves.....with the complexity of servo motors / computer speed controls / etc. they are over their heads and NO money is coming in from this whole line, Now folks are excited! My dept. gets the service call and the FIRST question is........wait for it........DID you buy the E S S package? The end result is their electronics have become obsolete and NON SERVICED. We can not get parts and now we have to engineer a major PATCH to get their two year old machine up and running. BIG - BIG - BIG dollars and a pissed customer (who has been reminded by you know who....that they DID NOT buy the recommended E S S package). To cover my butt I also ALWAYS had the customer at the time of purchase and 6 months after delivery (a second chance to buy at the quoted price at the time of sale) a company witnessed document that they were offered and REFUSED the E S S package. This little butt covering saved several law suits. So Jeff your vision of future problems have a current world track record. And to add I always think of this when we purchase house stuff......from fish tanks to washer/dryer units, etc. THANK GOD WE DO NOT HAVE COMPUTER TOILETS......yet.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        My dad, Matt Pasquale, was a Supervisor in the "small" press room right up to the end of production. He left briefly to run a stamping operation in Spring Lake, MI, but really did not want to move from South Bend if he could help it. When Allied Products bought the Studebaker stamping operation, dad was back in his old office, with many of the same men he had worked with before, and running the same stamping presses. Allied made stampings for Ford and Chrysler (and probably some others) using new dies but the same old Studebaker presses. After a few years dad moved across town to Bendix where he was involved in making the stamped Ford I-Beam front suspension, but that is another story in itself.

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