Today’s Post by Joe Farace
Studebaker was an American automobile manufacturer that was based in South Bend, Indiana. It was founded in 1852 and later incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company. The firm was originally a producer of wagons, including the original Conestoga, for farmers, miners, and the military.
How I made this shot: As if the color scheme on this 1955 Studebaker were not interesting enough, I couldn’t resist combining a three-shot bracket made with a Canon EOS Rebel T3 and (borrowed) EF 8-15mm f/4L fisheye USM lens with a nominal exposure of 1/4000 sec at f/5 and ISO 200. I kicked it up a notch using HDR Efex Pro to create this final image.
Studebaker entered the automotive business in 1902 starting with producing electric cars and later in 1904 with gasoline vehicles, all of which were sold under the Studebaker Automobile Company name. Until 1911, its automotive division operated in partnership with the Garford Company of Elyria, Ohio and after 1909 with the E-M-F Company.
For the next 50 years, the company established a reputation for quality and reliability. But is was not going to end well. After years of financial problems, in 1954 the company merged with Packard Motor Car Company to form Studebaker-Packard Corporation. It seems that Studebaker’s financial problems were worse than Packard executives thought and the Packard marque was eventually phased out, not before producing a Packard version of the Studebaker Hawk, before returning to the Studebaker Corporation name in 1962. On December 20, 1963, the South Bend plant stopped production and the last Studebaker automobile, a Lark—remember them?—rolled off the Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, assembly line on March 17, 1966.
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