So the day came! I have to say, South Bend is a city rich in history. The car business is just one chapter.
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| It looks like any abandoned factory |
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| But the old Studebaker assembly plant is being re-purposed... |
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| Cars and trucks rolled off the line in this plant since the 1920's |
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| A 160M USD renovation project has started. New companies - high tech companies, low tech companies, business incubators, and apartments are to be created in this old venerable building! |
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| The old logo sits in front of the museum |
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| Ok... here we go! Welcome to the Studebaker National Museum! |
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| One of many of the wagons on display. Studebaker manufactured over 1 million horse drawn wagons before they ever made an automobile. |
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| Many US Presidents had Studebaker carriages built just for them. |
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| A "Bullet Nose" |
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| The bread and butter of the wagon era |
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| The size of the older touring cars surprised me. |
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| On a radiator, the company badge is quite elegant |
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| The "Wheel Logo" |
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| Fisher Body had nothing on South Bend |
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| Thermometer and logo that thousands of workers passed under every day at the plant shown in the first set of pics... |
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| Gear driven speedo |
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| My favorite car in the collection... |
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| Reliability and craftsmanship were part of the Studebaker DNA |
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| Beautiful |
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| A 1920's hood ornament / thermometer |
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| Gosh the cars from the 30's were beautiful... |
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| Elegant hood ornament |
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| The Bendix concept car. Look familiar? |
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| The last Studebaker ever built. |
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| Dodge came out with the Airflow in '34. This was a car made by Studebaker employees in their off hours for Bendix. It was a demonstrator and was built in 1934. Me thinks Chrysler learned a lot from Studebaker in their Airflow. |
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| This was the car that they bet it all on! The Avanti. |
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| One of the concept cars that never made it into production. I see Pontiac GTO with concealed headlights here... |
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| Another beautiful Studebaker. Studebaker and Packard merged in the 1950's |
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| Raymond Lowey fingerprints |
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| A woody... |
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| The cars from the 30's have always been my favorites |
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| Oh Boy! I hope my '47 looks like this when I'm finished! |
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| From an old dealership... the LARK was one of the success stories |
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| Parking is shared with another museum. |
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| Alas I must go. What a great museum! |
AML NLO, JRO and SEO AML
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