Studebaker Dictator

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Studebaker Dictator
1937 Studebaker Dictator (4806308916).jpg
1937 Studebaker Dictator 4-door sedan
Overview
Manufacturer Studebaker
Model years 1927-1937
Assembly Studebaker Automotive Plant, South Bend, Indiana, United States
Body and chassis
Class Mid-size
Layout Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Chronology
Predecessor Studebaker Light Six
Successor Studebaker Champion

The Studebaker Dictator is an automobile produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, United States from 1927 until 1937. Model year 1928 was the first full year of Dictator production.

Contents

In the mid-1920s, Studebaker began renaming its vehicles. The model previously known as the Studebaker Standard Six became the Dictator during the 1927 model year—internally designated model GE. The name was intended to connote that the model "dictated the standard" that other automobile makes would be obliged to follow.[ citation needed ] Dictators were available in a full range of body-styles.

The Dictator was Studebaker's lowest-price model, followed (in ascending order) by the Studebaker Commander and Studebaker President series. There was also a Chancellor model in 1927, but that year only. [1] :p239 In June 1929, Studebaker began offering an 8-cylinder engine for the Dictator series (221 cubic inches, 70 bhp at 3,200 rpm), designed by Barney Roos, though the old 6-cylinder option was continued for another year. [1] :p239 There was no 1933 Dictator due to Studebaker's bankruptcy, and a redesigned lower-priced model was released in 1934 with a 6-cylinder engine. The 8-cylinder engine was then on only available for the Commander and President models.

Name

Studebaker marketed its Standard Six as the Director overseas. [2]

Though it had not caused problems in the United States, [3] Studebaker discontinued the 'Dictator' name in 1937, calling it the Commander, last used by the maker in 1935. At that time, Raymond Loewy and Helen Dryden were working on new concepts for body design and customer appeal.

1927 Business Coupe 1927 Studebaker Dictator (4604514670).jpg
1927 Business Coupe
1927 4-door sedan Studebaker 1927 jaslo1.jpg
1927 4-door sedan
1927 4-door sedan Studebaker 1927 jaslo2.jpg
1927 4-door sedan
1935 4-door sedan 1935 Studebaker (14288679855).jpg
1935 4-door sedan
1936 2-door sedan 1936 Studebaker Dictator Six (5087376469).jpg
1936 2-door sedan
1936 2-door sedan 1936 Studebaker Dictator Six (5087378245).jpg
1936 2-door sedan

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References

  1. 1 2 Hendry, Maurice M. Studebaker: One can do a lot of remembering in South Bend. New Albany, Indiana: Automobile Quarterly. pp. 228–275. Vol X, 3rd Q, 1972.
  2. Studebaker Director Victoria The Sunday Times (Western Australia) , p. 23, 13 May 1928, at Trove
  3. Alpers, Benjamin L. (2003). Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture: Envisioning the Totalitarian Enemy, 1920s-1950s. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN   0-8078-2750-9.