Studebaker made wagons for the Union Army — 100 years later it made its last car

Studebaker was founded in 1852 as a blacksmith shop and became the world's largest manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles, supplying wagons to the Union Army during the Civil War. It entered the automobile business in 1902, and by the 1920s was producing 145,000 cars a year, backed by Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. At its peak it employed 23,000 people in South Bend, Indiana.

The Great Depression nearly killed it. President Erskine paid large dividends in 1930-31 despite the crash and acquired White Motor stock at an inflated price. The company went into receivership in 1933, Erskine was ousted, and he took his own life. Studebaker recovered with the 1939 Champion, then delivered the first post-war car in 1947. But by 1949 the top management had left, replaced by cautious executives who could not compete with Ford and GM's price war.

In 1954, struggling Studebaker was taken over by the smaller but healthier Packard. The merger was a disaster — Studebaker's financial position was worse than Packard had been told. The combined company nearly collapsed. Curtiss-Wright took over management in 1956, using Studebaker's plants for tax breaks while the company imported Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union cars. The 1959 Lark brought a temporary $28.6 million profit, but when Ford and GM launched their own compacts, sales collapsed again.

Studebaker announced the closure of its South Bend plant on December 9, 1963. The last car was assembled on December 20. A handful of employees built the final Avanti on December 26. Production moved briefly to Hamilton, Ontario, but the board decided the profits were too small to justify investment, and Studebaker left the automobile business for good on March 17, 1966. The company name disappeared in 1968 when it merged with Wagner Electric and Worthington Corporation to form Studebaker-Worthington.