Autos Of America History Page 12

‘’’’Studebaker Automobiles””

The Studebaker Automobile company began making electric automobiles in 1902 and gasoline automobiles in 1904 . Studebaker used engines from other manufacturers until 1912 . Studebaker built mid-priced automobiles until 1927 when they introduced their first small car called the Erskine , named after the president of the company Albert Erskine . The Erskine sold very well in North America as well as Europe .

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In 1929 Studebaker offered 50 models and sales were excellent . Share holders were very happy with the very high dividends . In 1939 the Studebaker Champion came on the market . During WWII Studebaker produced US6 army trucks and M29 personnel carriers . 1947 saw the introduction of the Studebaker Starlight with a new style flat trunk lid . In 1948 Studebaker opened an assembly plant in Hamilton Ontario . In the early 50s Studebaker sales dropped and in 1954 the company was taken over by Packard and became part off the Studebaker-Packard Corporation . That corporation was sold to Curtiss-Wright aircraft company who soon sold off some of the assembly plants and property to raise operating money for the company .

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In 1960 the Studebaker Lark came on the market and it did sell quite well but Studebaker was to deep in the red and the lark did not save the company . In 1963 all US operations of Studebaker ended and all operations moved to the Hamilton Ontario Plant . Studebaker closed in 1966 . Most of the dealers switched to other makes of automobile or became Mercedes Benz dealers . Studebaker had been the importer of Mercedes and some other foreign makes starting in the mid 50s .

‘’’’Tucker Automobiles’’’’

Preston Tucker believed that he could built a very safe , stylist automobile with some special features . He began the designing of his automobile in 1946 by hiring a designed who had worked for Auburn-Cord- Duesenberg . Some of the safety features on this automobile were - The frame was located near the outside under the body to protect the occupants in a broad side collision . The steering box was located behind the front axle , to lower the risk of injury to the driver in a front end collision . It had 3 head lights and the center one turned when the steering was turned to help to see in the direction of the turn . Features that were considered and then not applied were , disc brakes , magnesium wheels and a direct drive torque converter transmission .

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The engine that tucker designed was a150 horsepower 589 cid flat 6 (9.7liters) Hemi with overhead valves and Fuel Injection . The valve system used oil pressure to open the valves rather than a cam shaft ? The engine did not work very well . The complete power train was mounted on a sub-frame , in the rear of the car ,with 6 bolts and could be removed very easily . As his engine worked poorly Tucker bought 4 Franklin Helicopter engines to test at a cost of $5000.00 each . They worked very well and so Tucker bought the Franklin Company . Now the cord Transmissions could not handle the power of the engine so the Tuckermatic was designed . The problem now was that this transmission had no reverse gear? The problems were finally corrected and Tucker took a fleet of the Tucker automobiles on across country tour to show them to the public .