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steve 203,

sounds like out elected.

Hi Steve203

"On the other hand, Chrysler shifted to unibody across the board in 60 or 61. Unibody did offer some advantages, first that comes to my mind being the ability to have acceptable seat height, with the lowered roofline that was fashionable in the early 60s."

Chrysler's 1960 full-sized cars went to unibody which did have the benefits you cite, fitted nicely with their new Valiant. Much had been learned about unibody construction techniques throughout the 1950's, most of it the hard way. As opposed to the case of an un-integrated conglomeration of independents struggling to create a unibody, Chrysler was fully integrated so full-line application of the technique was possible without causing a major disaster.

The worst year for production havoc was 53, because the "Lowey coupe" was an entirely different body which shared no stampings with the sedan models. iirc, that conveyor system cost them on the order of $600,000


Studebaker's handling of their 1953 line is a textbook case of mismanagement. After much dithering whether to field an all-new car for their 1952 centennial, the 1953's became a patchwork mess. Tooling two completely different body series with almost no interchangeability and ending up with; one an essentially specialty coupe of limited market and; two a bread-'n'-butter sedan line with virtually unsalable appeal....all premium priced for their segment. Talk about getting no bang for your buck! This last bit of nasty baggage was what Packard 'bought' along with antiquated plants and clueless management......

Steve

<i>Studebaker's handling of their 1953 line is a textbook case of mismanagement. After much dithering whether to field an all-new car for their 1952 centennial, the 1953's became a patchwork mess.</i>

Another case of glassy-eyed management being sold on something that isn't well thought through. In this case sold by Lowey, like Nance being sold on the Conner move by Walter Grant.

<i>...along with antiquated plants and clueless management......</i>

Vance and Hoffman were ready and willing to step aside, and let Nance be the big honcho, which no doubt, appealed greatly to Nance and his Peterbuilt sized ego.

As for Studebaker's facilities, here is what they had beside the antiquated and chaotic downtown assembly complex:

1st: Chippewa Ave, maybe three miles south of Plants 1 and 2. Built during the war for aircraft engine final assembly. 1M sq ft. On the top edge of the pic, you can see the edge of plant 8, which was used for service parts. 660,000sq ft. To this day, there is still plenty of vacant land for expansion around this location.

2nd: Vernon CA. Build in the mid 30s. Required semi-finished bodies be shipped by rail from South Bend. 406,000sqft

3rd: Hamilton, Ontario. Contained body plant. Converted WWII vintage war plant. 325,000sqft

4th: North Brunswick NJ. Built in 1950, sidetracked for J-47 part production. By the time the J-47 contract was cancelled in 53, Studebaker did not need the extra production capacity so the plant was sold, having never built a car. 450,000sqtf

5th: V8 block machining line in South Bend plant 2 complex. State of the art in the mid 50s

If Studebaker management had been willing to phase out the obsolete Plant 1 and 2 assembly facilities in favor of taking the money spent on North Brunswick and expanding Chippewa, they would have had a more efficient operation.

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