(first posted 4/13/2017) Now that’s a face I could stare at for a while. I just love these Studebaker M-Series trucks, built from 1941 – 1948. And not just because of its face either. These were a bit smaller and lighter than the competition, and were analogue to the Studebaker Champion, which arrived an 1939 and was the first popular down-sized car of the era. These trucks used some of the Champion’s body panels and dashboard, although the front was unique to it.
And if you’re wondering how it got to be so handsome, no, less than Raymond Loewy’s designed it.
G.Poon shot and posted these at the Cohort, and labeled it a 1947. I wondered how he knew that, until I took a closer look at the license plate protector. Fun fact: the front and rear fenders on these were interchangeable; a typical Studebaker move to reduce costs.
There were three versions; the 1/2 ton M5, the one ton M15, and the 1.5 ton M16. Oddly, there was no 3/4 tonner. And the M5 and M15 used the same little 80 hp 169.6 cu.in flathead six as did the Champion, and the M16 used the bigger 226 inch Commander six engine.
There used to be one that lived very nearby our apartment in Santa Monica, and I loved the sound of its sweet little six being exercised. These sixes revved happily up to 4000rpm, which was unusual for the times and for flathead sixes.
We’ve now covered the whole M-Series line. The M15 post is here, and the M16 is here.
I love old trucks, and the Stude is a real winner!
These rigs had a real presence about them: Distinctive styling, lots of detail and quite simple mechanics – almost anyone with a minimum of knowledge could keep one running.
Thinking over the last several years, if I could pick an old vehicle to restore and drive, it would most likely be a truck due to cost. I would imagine parts for a Studebaker would be rather rare, but a Chevy, Ford or Dodge would be most doable.
A very nice find!
While not as easy to find parts for as a Chevy or Ford, A Studebaker probably wouldn’t be too undoable given the rather large (compared to many expired marques) collector universe Studebaker enjoys.
You would be amazed at the parts support for old Studebakers. These old trucks have a lot of fans, so you might also be surprised by the prices they bring.
Prices. High or low?
I’d probably opt for an old Chevy, but that one model 1961-63 Ford F-100 that had the bed integral to the cab like the one an old neighbor had many years ago would definitely get my attention, and perhaps would win me over!
They seem expensive to me, but then Studebakers are usually pretty reasonable. These M and R series trucks seem to be one of the few Studes that has fairly mainstream acceptance outside of the normal Studebaker faithful.
I would try someone else’s before you actually buy one. I always wanted an old pickup too. My 63 F-100 (4 leaf springs, manual steering and 4 speed) cured me after awhile. I loved taking it out but always got out of it exhausted from the workout. I think those from the later 60s were much more civilized than the older straight I-beam axle units.
I wonder what the ride was like in an 1.5 ton M16 unloaded?
Likely a new definition of the world punishing.
I have one, the ride is what you would expect, it’s for sale right now. 47 M16 with a grain box. Fresh off my uncle’s farm in North Dakota. Stored inside, in pretty good shape. Asking $5,000
Handsome indeed. It would be a lot of fun to have a chance to drive something like this.
..wear a kidney belt!
A beautiful rolling sculpture. Love them old trucks!
That’s one awesome rig! Studes are definitely a bit quirky in a very good way. So am I the only one whos seeing a mustache shape in that lower grille?
Yep. I was just going to say that. And the droopy headlight rims look like bags under a tired old man’s eyes.
I have never noticed that single upturned “tooth” on the front bumper. Quite a stylistic flourish….one that I am surprised survived all these years….
Glorious.
OK, I may be one of the biggest Studophiles here at CC, but I like the later 2R series (that started in 1949) better. Maybe I have just never been wild about that grille treatment. It always makes me think of someone from the 1890s with a handlebar mustache. Like Wyatt Earp.
I have seen versions wearing an accessory chrome grille, either just on the center section or all the way across. But the center is so well integrated with the side pieces that part chrome doesn’t look right and the entire thing in chrome looks like a smiling kid with braces on his teeth.
I love the color, though. Could this have been the most popular truck color for 20 years from the 1940s through the 1960s? My 63 F-100 was pretty close to this shade.
Thanks, now I can’t unsee it.
I like the grille ‘stache. It’s one of those designs that surprises with delightful detail the closer you get to it. The whole frontal aspect has the look of an old piece of furniture one might find at an estate sale. It probably looked a bit vintage even when new.
One wonders if there was a user aimed reason for the single nerf other than stylin’. It would certainly go a long way toward protecting that complicated dental work, but would be a bit awkward for pushing a wagon.
I wouldn’t kick one outta my driveway. Handsome and rugged.
I lived in a little crossroads town on the eastern edge of Illinois; Illinois Highway 1 was the north-south main street, and US 40 was the east-west one. Highway 1 was just down the block from my house, and one of our favorite ways to waste time was to play in a little wedge-shaped park down there and count cars and trucks, sorting them by name. I loved these guys, and Studebakers in general, because I could spot one coming from well over a block away and call it out first. It wasn’t just that oddball face, but their sort of pointy-headed look that was so distinctive. In those days I didn’t know anybody that had any Studebaker, but the pickups were sure popular.
Loewy himself seldom took any initiative for the design of any car. His role was to lure in clients with his name, pay the very good designers working in his studio, and forbid them to take any personal credit for any of it. At least three generations of well-known and successful designers put in some years in the Loewy stable, and eventually certain cars and their principal stylists have become identified. I don’t know who took the lead on these trucks, but there is a stylistic similarity between these and the very pretty Studebaker cars of the immediate prewar period.
Virgil Exner seems to have been the guy who headed up Studebaker work for the Loewy Studio beginning in 1938. That relationship continued until their relationship ruptured over a tug of war between Loewy and engineering chief Roy Cole, who got Exner to freelance at night on a competing design for the all-new 1947 model. Bob Bourke was hired in 1940, which might have been too late to have had much input on the M series, which was introduced as a 1941 model. It was Bourke who was responsible for the attractive 1949 R series, but there does not seem to be much info out there on who actually did the design work on the M series. I would bet there is something on this in the archives of the Studebaker National Museum, though. Perhaps Steve has some info on this?
Will, your story sounds a bit like my own. “Car counting” was a happy family game in the 1950s, when cars were so distinctive. Our Dad would sit with us on the glider on my Grandmother’s front porch on Wyandotte St. in South Bethlehem, PA, on the side of the hill below the electric “star” that was a City landmark (it became a cross at Easter time). From the porch, we could look directly down on the traffic (it was a busy hill side, and Wyandotte St. was also Route 191 that went south towards Philadelphia). The game was handicapped, with one kid getting Chevies, one Fords, Mercuries and Lincolns, and one getting Chrysler Products and foreign cars. My oldest brother still has a paperback book with hash marks we used to count inside the back cover.
My younger brother, Scott, and I also counted cars from atop a 5′ tall granite wayside marker that stood on a busy intersection at Winter and fountain streets in Framingham MA when I was little. It seems crazy that our Dad didn’t forbid us to scramble up and sit there, as it was in a spot that a runaway car failing to negotiate the turn in front of us at the bottom of the hill from a bridge over the NY Central RR tracks could have taken us out. A car did eventually take the marker down.
I wouldn’t mind ANY Studebaker truck, really.
But one from this time period or (ESPECIALLY) the Coupe Express (the loveliest of 1930’s pickups, IMHO) would be my overall favorites!
DID YOU KNOW-
Both sets of fenders are interchangeabler front-to-back?
Running boards are interchangeable side-to-side?
When Studebaker South Bend closed, the parts were sold; there are still lots of them around, including trim stuff from the 50s.
I recently checked for a head for the Champion 6- a NEW one was ~$75.
Probably the same price as in 1960 or so.
Probably not much demand for them either.
To my eyes and heart there is nothing more quintesentially American than a Studebaker pickup.
I actually owned a Studebaker pickup very much like that one for a short time. It was the faded version of that green paint color, and the seat covering on the driver’s side was primarily composed of green duct tape. It was straight, rust-free, and had new 6.50×16 tires, so I thought it was a pretty good deal at $150. Thinking back on it, those were probably late 1960’s dollars. On driving it home I found out the likely reason for the cheap price – the oil pressure gauge showed only a fleeting glance at any reading other than zero. I was surprised at the lack of clattery noises from the motor though. After only a couple of weeks I traded the truck to my gas station guy for some work on one of my other cars, and he traded or sold it on so quickly that I never saw it again.
My Great Uncle Paul Hendren had one of these Studebaker pickup trucks in the late forties and early fifties. His was a light tan tan color and was a work/family transport vehicle. He had retired from the Wolf’s Head Refinery in Reno, Pa and bought a small truck farm near Fertigs, PA east of Oil City for retirement. But it was a working retirement as he dearly loved growing vegetables and flowers, pansies in particular. During the warm months of the year there was a curb market in nearby Franklin, PA and Paul would load up the Studebaker early each Saturday morning for the trek to Farm market with a nice selection of flowers and vegetables. His wife Pearl was always along to help at curb market. I admired the truck for many years but don’t recall ever having a ride in it. Paul and Pearl had no other vehicle but weren’t known to travel very far even though several of their six adult children lived in several other states.
How about this for synchronicity?
Tom Halter’s recent article on the Hackenberger auction included a link to this irresistible face…
I have a 47 M5, This truck is still original in every way. I had to challenge the payload capability against my other modern truck. It handled the load beautifully as it always did since that era. A truly wonderful piece of history, it will be handed down for generations to come, Thanks to the brilliant vision of the Studebaker Family.
Anyone interested in buying a very nice M16. 47, in good shape, fresh off my uncle’s North Dakota farm. Stored inside and well-maintained.
Asking $5k
Studebaker was the only American postwar independent to have a full truck line, everything from small pickups to medium long-range haulers (I don’t think Stude ever ventured into 18-wheelers). I suppose maybe International counts as an independent, albeit not one that made regular cars. From what I understand the Stude trucks were built in a separate plant in South Bend that was more modern than their main car plant. It doesn’t seem though when Stude was bleeding cash circa 1956 that closing the truck operations and moving car production to the truck plant was ever considered.