Production Order Discrepencies?

[Bill Pressler]

Having looked at the production orders for all 4,643 Studebaker Avantis, I can say that the destination of cars was often changed. Sometimes there was handwriting on the POs, showing what happened. Other times, dealer swaps or last-minute factory changes happened and the PO doesn't show it.

When I did the research for the museum Avanti monograph, I kept track of how many Avantis went to each state. But there were so many destination changes that we decided to leave that out of the monograph because the results were not as accurate as we would have liked.

George

My experience so far has been that the "Drive Away Shipper" forms, as well as the retail sales cards, are the best indication of where the car ended up. Of course, the "Drive Away Shipper" forms are on-hand at the SNM only for '61-64 model year, and the retail sales cards are available only from '60-66 (a second, more-detailed retail sales card is available from Sept. '63 and later). Retail sales cards for '63's are a bit spotty.

[R3 challenger]

Having looked at the production orders for all 4,643 Studebaker Avantis, I can say that the destination of cars was often changed. Sometimes there was handwriting on the POs, showing what happened. Other times, dealer swaps or last-minute factory changes happened and the PO doesn't show it.

When I did the research for the museum Avanti monograph, I kept track of how many Avantis went to each state. But there were so many destination changes that we decided to leave that out of the monograph because the results were not as accurate as we would have liked.

George

[stude1964]

WOW! The 4th to last went ? to P'burg ,NJ. That had to be WM. A. Henderson .My Uncle Al & Bill used to trade cars into the 80's! Cool info. Who has these production orders?
Rob

[BobPalma]

The Production Order for my car (1962 GT Hawk in production during the strike) showed the destination of Rochester, NY x'ed out and replaced with "South Bend". The shipped via originally said NJ NYC BOSTON NU CAR but now says "Lot 35". According to a copy of the MSO, the first retail sale was from Snuffy Smith Motor Company in DAllas TX.

'Sounds like the dealer simply cancelled the order, Peter. Perhaps the strike delayed the manufacture and his customer backed out of the deal, if he had it sold. 'Lots of possibilities; none of them good! <GGG> BP

[PeterHawk]

The Production Order for my car (1962 GT Hawk in production during the strike) showed the destination of Rochester, NY x'ed out and replaced with "South Bend". The shipped via originally said NJ NYC BOSTON NU CAR but now says "Lot 35". According to a copy of the MSO, the first retail sale was from Snuffy Smith Motor Company in DAllas TX.

[dpson]

Sorry, but I can't recall which car it was. If you have access to the TW article on the last Studebakers I'm pretty sure it is noted in that article. I had a copy of that TW issue, which was originally sent to Archie Myers when he was in the club, but I gave that copy to the owner of the wagon.

[studegary]

Bellerose, NY was/is right at the Queens/Nassau line, but I believe that it is in Queens County which means that it is part of New York City. The missing "e" is probably just a typo on someone's part. The dealership may appear as being in New York City.

I have known of and been involved in many dealer swaps, but never that far, with the exception of high dollar and/or exotic cars. I have done out of state swaps (adjoining states) for Chryslers and known of shipment of new Rolls Royces from Connecticut to California. If all of the paper work is correct for this car, I believe that it was re-routed from Studebaker at South Bend for some reason.

[studegary]

Notice on that sheet that all of the wagons were going to NY, NJ or PA.

[8E45E]

So Craig is 8933 Moby Grape?

Rich, my car was buit on February 14th; a month and two days before the one you are referring to on this sheet. And mine has the gold interior, though it appears to have the same engine/transmission combination.

Craig

[StudeRich]

So Craig is 8933 Moby Grape?

That is a really neat document, 8 Cars; 5 Wagons, 1 Wagonaire, 1 Commander 4 Door and the last Car, the Timberline Turquoise Green, vinyl roof Cruiser.

It is quite strange the way Hamilton built their's.
Wagons were P8's but not Daytonas, so why call them 8's with so little trim, They were just Studebakers, and one had to be ordered with Carpeting because they had none!
And FOUR were ordered with Horn Rings because they had none, of course the Cruiser's horn ring would have also been included.

Makes you wonder what they called a Wagon, there was no "Wagon" nameplate, they were not Wagonaires, not Commanders, not Daytonas, just Studebaker whats! ?

March 16, 1966 must have been a sad day for Keith Baker and Jack Holden.

[8E45E]

Those switches did occur. I recall speaking with Archie Myers the Studebaker dealer in Winooski, VT and one of the last 10 Studebakers produced (1966) was originally scheduled to be delivered to a dealer in NJ (as I recall) and it was switched to Myers in VT. A TW article on the last Studebakers also noted this switch. It would be interesting to check the production order to see what it shows for the delivery location.

BTW: That car, a wagon, still exists and belongs to a club member here in VT.

Is it the one destined for Phillipsburg, NJ? Appears to be a well-equipped wagon if its the one!!



Craig

[Lou Van Anne]

Thanks everone. I did recheck the production order and is Bellrose...with out the middle e.

[Welcome]

Can anyone explain? The production order for my '52 Starliner shows its destination as Bellrose NY. The lady from whom we purchased it in '73 said she bought it new from J&B Motors, Turlock Ca.

A quick search even for a "Bellrose, N.Y." showed no results, but FWIW, Studebaker did have a Parts Depot a few blocks down the street from a "Bellerose, N.Y."

[dpson]

Those switches did occur. I recall speaking with Archie Myers the Studebaker dealer in Winooski, VT and one of the last 10 Studebakers produced (1966) was originally scheduled to be delivered to a dealer in NJ (as I recall) and it was switched to Myers in VT. A TW article on the last Studebakers also noted this switch. It would be interesting to check the production order to see what it shows for the delivery location.

BTW: That car, a wagon, still exists and belongs to a club member here in VT.

[StudeRich]

Never say never! I remember riding with Dad & Mom in a Lt. Gray '58 Champion 4 Door to Hayward, CA in the San Francisco Bay area from Inglewood, CA (Los Angeles), to do a dealer trade for a Gold with White fins and roof '58 Golden Hawk with Automatic.

Dad had an order with deposit, for the Hawk and it was after 1959 model intro, so no other Hawks were available. At a time like this when production has ceased, pretty much anything was possible if you really WANTED a certain model, color, equipment etc.
I remember going up Hwy. 99 counting all the brand new '59 Larks going South, I enjoyed that!

Also warming up the GH in the morning at a Motel along the way home, watching the Vacuum/Supercharger pressure gauge drop and the Tach climb while damaging the cold engine revving it, ha,ha!