Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the firm was originally a coachbuilder, manufacturing wagons, buggies, carriages and harnesses.
The inline-six engine is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balance, resulting in fewer vibrations than other designs of six or fewer cylinders.
The Ford Thunderbird is a personal luxury car manufactured and marketed by Ford from model years 1955 to 2005, across 11 generations. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was offered variously as a four-seat hardtop coupe, four-seat convertible, five-seat convertible and hardtop, four-door pillared hardtop sedan, six-passenger hardtop coupe, and five-passenger pillared coupe, with the final generation designed again as a two-seat convertible.
Personal luxury car is a North American car classification describing somewhat sporty, sophisticated mass-market coupés that emphasized comfort over performance. The North American manufacturers most often combined engineering, design, and marketing to develop upscale, distinctive "platform sharing" models that became highly profitable.
Marcos Engineering was a British sports car manufacturer. The name derives from the surnames of founders Jem Marsh and Frank Costin.
The Chevrolet Celebrity is a front-drive, mid-size passenger car line, manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet for model years 1982-1990, over a single generation.
The Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk was a grand touring coupe sold by Studebaker motors between 1962 and 1964. The top of the Studebaker line, it was the final development of the Hawk series that began with the Golden Hawk in 1956.
The Studebaker Avanti is a personal luxury coupe manufactured and marketed by Studebaker Corporation between June 1962 and December 1963. A halo car for the maker, it was marketed as "America's only four-passenger high-performance personal car."
Pony car is an American car classification for affordable, compact, highly styled coupés or convertibles with a "sporty" or performance-oriented image. Common characteristics include rear-wheel drive, a long hood, a short decklid, a wide range of options to individualize each car and use of mass-produced parts shared with other models. The popularity of pony cars is largely due to the launch of the Ford Mustang in 1964.
The Chevrolet Citation is a range of compact cars that was produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. The first Chevrolet sold with front-wheel drive, a single generation of the Citation was sold from the 1980 to 1985 model years. The successor of the Chevrolet Nova, the Citation was initially slotted between the Chevrolet Monza and the Chevrolet Malibu in the Chevrolet product line, later replaced by the Chevrolet Cavalier and the Chevrolet Celebrity.
The Ford F-Series is a series of light-duty trucks marketed and manufactured by Ford since the 1948 model year. The F-Series is marketed as a range of full-sized pickup trucks positioned above the midsize Ranger but below the larger Super Duty in the Ford truck lineup. Alongside the F-150, the F-Series also includes the Super Duty series, which includes the heavier-duty F-250 through F-450 pickups, F-450/F-550 chassis cabs, and F-600/F-650/F-750 Class 6–8 commercial trucks.
The Studebaker Wagonaire was a station wagon produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, from 1963–1966. It featured a retractable sliding rear roof section that allowed the vehicle to carry items that would otherwise be too tall for a conventional station wagon of the era.
The Studebaker Lark is a compact car that was produced by Studebaker from 1959 to 1966.
The Studebaker-Packard Corporation is the entity created in 1954 by the purchase of the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan. While Studebaker was the larger of the two companies, Packard's balance sheet and executive team were stronger than that of the South Bend company.
Superior Coach was a coachbuilder in the American automotive industry. Founded in 1909 as the Garford Motor Truck Company, Superior is best known for constructing bodies for professional cars (hearses) and school buses. Following major downturns in both segments in the late 1970s, Superior was liquidated by its parent company in 1980. From 1925 to 1980, the company was based in Lima, Ohio.
The Studebaker Champ is a light-duty pickup truck produced by the Studebaker Corporation from 1960-1964, the last such vehicles designed by the company before leaving the automobile manufacturing business in 1966.
A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
The AC 3000ME is a mid-engined sports car originally sold by AC Cars. The two-door coupé debuted at the 1973 London Motor Show. Sales did not begin until 1979 and lasted until 1984. Rights to the 3000ME and tooling were transferred to a second company who managed to produce a small number of additional cars before going into receivership themselves in mid-1985. A third company acquired the rights to the car with plans to begin selling a revised version under a different name, but only a single prototype was ever produced.
The 1950s were pivotal for the American automobile industry. The post-World War II era brought a wide range of new technologies to the automobile consumer, and a host of problems for the independent automobile manufacturers. The industry was maturing in an era of rapid technological change; mass production and the benefits from economies of scale led to innovative designs and greater profits, but stiff competition between the automakers. By the end of the decade, the industry had reshaped itself into the Big Three, Studebaker, and AMC. The age of small independent automakers was nearly over, as most of them either consolidated or went out of business.
A coupé utility is a vehicle with a passenger compartment at the front and an integrated cargo tray at the rear, with the front of the cargo bed doubling as the rear of the passenger compartment.
