Line Sheet research info

[IndStudenut]

I have a question for the wise guru's here. I am planning a trip to South Bend in the next couple of weeks to do some research in the archives on my Stude's (52 truck and 53 car) . I have the line sheets for both which are awesome for telling me how my Stude's were built but not much on the dealer or possibly who purchased them. I am at the least hoping to confirm the dealership they were sent to. I have found info here on the site that discusses the "Drive Away Shipper" however I think that was 62 on and am not sure they were in use in 1953. Does anyone have any tips for narrowing my search buy giving suggestions on what documents I am looking for? The build sheet just lists the town and state shipped to. Surely somewhere there are documents showing what the name of the dealer was that it shipped to. Also could there be another document that might list the original purchaser like a dealer purchase order or something?

I am sure there are tons of documents in the archives to look through but I am looking for the names of the documents that most likely will contain the info I am looking for. From what I can tell the line order number should tied back to these other documents.

Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated.

Rick

[r1lark]

You may want to consider emailing Andrew Beckman at the museum prior to your trip and asking this question. If anyone knows the best way to research this, I think it would be him. If you get feedback from him prior to your trip, it might help you put together a plan of attack so you will be ready to get right to work.

[IndStudenut]

Thanks r1lark that is a good idea..... That was my goal...... have a plan of attack before I get there so I can hit the ground running to maximize potential and not waste time.

[StudeRich]

The "Production Order Plus" complete vehicle info package (less the Production Order) on 1960 and newer Cars is available for $35.00 from the Museum containing; the Drive Away Shipper, the owner info IBM Card, IF it was sent from the Dealer and the Dealer Info card on your car's shipped to Dealership, all by mail, no need to go there.
And I do not believe there IS any more specific vehicle info than that available. So for your older Vehicles, there would be nothing.

[IndStudenut]

Well bummer..... Heard back from Andy Beckman at the museum and he confirmed what Rich said. Apparently no Drive Away Shipper information survived before the 1960 time frame. So no information is on file to confirm the info I want. I guess my educated guess is going to be close enough as there is nothing to validate it.

[stude1964]

Did you ask Andy about the different pages to the production order? In the days of Newman and Altman you got multiple carbon copies of the first page only. The additional pages below indicated Billing/ Accounting and Delivery I think.
Rob in PA.

[IndStudenut]

I was not aware of additional pages. Unless that is what is referred to in post #4 above called "Production Order Plus" for years 1960 until the end of production. . I explained to Andy what I was trying to find out. I can't believe he wouldn't have mentioned it if more was available. I did buy my line sheets from Newman and Altman prior to it moving to the museum. So I just have a 3 part carbon copy of the line sheet itself.

[Studebaker Wheel]

What you have been told re available documents is correct, the data you seek is NOT available for pre-1960 vehicles. However, your p.o.s do have a city and state where the vehicles were shipped. The museum does have a dealer file by city/state and for a research fee Andy could tell you the name and address of the dealer in that city at that time. I could also probably provide that information as I have a very large dealer file.

[IndStudenut]

Interesting I did not know that....Thanks for that info Mr Quinn. Yes the Line sheet does list the state and city for both..... However for the car it is a little confusing. Apparently there is a typo on the line sheet, (I think) on the city, as it lists that the car was shipped by rail to "Frankfort, Delaware". Google searches on Delaware do not indicate that there ever was a "Frankfort, Delaware" but there is a "Frankford, Delaware" . Assuming that Frankford is correct ( The railroad did pass through there) all the listings I can find on Bob Johnstone's Studebaker website show no record of a dealership in Frankford. All I know is it shipped by rail according to the line sheet to Frankfort Del. All other dealerships on Johnstone's site in Delaware are cities that the railroad passed straight through according to the 1950 railroad map I have (Georgetown, Wilmington, Dover, Seaford, Selbyville Del etc). So it doesn't make sense it would ship to Frankford for those dealerships. There is one dealership on his site in existence in 1953 that was located 8 mi from Frankford in "Millville Delaware" that the railroad did not go through. A somewhat educated guess would put that as a possibility but was hoping to confirm. Was hoping there was a document in the records somewhere indicating the dealership my car shipped to. Millville is the only town that the railroad did not pass through as it is out on the ocean shore. So conceivable that it was just driven the 8 mi from Frankford to Millville as Frankford is the closest rail town to that dealer. I would be happy to pay you or Andy a fee to confirm if a dealership ever existed in Frankford. Absent a dealership in Frankford proper, Millville makes the most sense. But that is an educated, process of elimination guess.

Thanks

Rick

[IndStudenut]

Update: Just to clarify and clear up any confusion on this conversation. Andy did confirm StudeRich and Mr Quinn's very helpful information. ALL line sheet and production information prior to 1960 is in the form of the line sheet only on microfiche. No other documentation exists. If you own a 1960 or later car then more documentation could be available but exactly what is on file does still vary.

Thanks to everyone for your input and assistance. With the exception of maybe finding that there was a dealership in Frankford, Del I have exhausted all options for additional information.

Rick