I love museums. Etymologically, “museum” is Latin by way of the Ancient Greeks; you may notice that the root is “muse,” as in “to inspire.” Therefore, the museum is a natural place for introspection and wonder. My favorite corners of museums are the quiet ones, far away from the flashing interactive displays and “flavor of the month” dog-and-pony shows. At the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, this 1963 Studebaker truck prototype (it doesn’t even rate a name) sits in a quiet corner of the storage basement, and it’s a highlight of every visit.
My tastes incline toward the quirky, which is why I often laugh at things that nobody else finds funny. At least once a year, I’ll visit the Detroit Institute of Arts, and one of my favorite quiet places is near Otto Dix’s 1912 self portrait. I can’t get enough of it: a young Otto mean-mugging the viewer with a flower in his hand. Sure, there’s a plausible critical explanation and all, but the juxtaposition of festivity and irritation brings out a smile every time.
Likewise, I practically run toward the “truck” when I visit South Bend. It’s a bit of an afterthought: This is the extent of its description at the museum.
But the lack of a story is almost better than the reality: Apparently, Westinghouse asked Studebaker to build a prototype truck, they did, and nothing became of it. It’s less mysterious than one would hope. But why the unique looks?
After all, it looks like a piece of anthropomorphic toast, or perhaps the toaster it popped out of.
Cab Forward trucks were fairly common in 1963, as evidenced by the Corvair Rampside, the Econoline, the Dodge A100, and the pictured Jeep FC toy. You could have a truck with a full bed that had a reduced footprint, albeit at the expense of one’s safety in a crash.
The Studebaker’s slab sides would have been cheap and easy to produce, another benefit for a cash-strapped company such as Studebaker. Information on the truck is limited, but it apparently is 289-propelled with a Borg-Warner automatic, which is a potent combination considering the truck’s utilitarian aim. The windshield’s slant on the Mercury Breezeway backlite is an interesting touch, but would certainly lead to a windy, noisy ride in any situation apart from that in which the truck currently finds itself.
Clearly, the truck’s styling is influenced by the equally quaint and utilitarian “Zip Van,” also produced by Studebaker and represented in the museum.
But for some reason, I’m more attached to the truck: lonely, forlorn, and fascinating. If Studebaker had found a way to produce it, it would have raced to the top of my “forward-control-truck” list; but as it sits, it will have to settle for a position as a personal muse, inspiring a few wistful smiles on my occasional visits. Enjoy your quiet corner, Studebaker Truck Prototype. I hope to see you again soon.
This prototype brings to mind a genre that I’ve only learned about since the Internet was a thing. That is, very simple and low-cost vehicles intended for production (or at least local assembly) in less-developed countries that lacked the infrastructure or skilled labor to produce more intricate and “modern” designs and/or the sorts of personal incomes that would allow the local population to purchase anything but the most basic vehicles.
My thought as well.
Interesting windscreen treatment. It has a similar cant to those on some boats I’ve seen, which I believe was to help the pilot look down ahead of the craft. I suspect for the same reason here.
It may be to reduce unwanted reflections. That was one of the reasons behind Paul Arzen’s ‘nez cassés’ SNCF locomotives. There was also this strange Foden S50 half-cab design as made by Lone Star.
https://lonestardcmt.co.uk/impy-42-tilcon-foden
It’s all about reflections. That’s why GM changed the windshields of their old look transit buses very early on, canting them inside their vertical casing. And why the new look buses had part of the windshield angled up and part of it down, but none of it perfectly vertical. And yes, this is of particular importance in boats and ships, where downward facing glass is very common (or swept back).
Fascinating!
Purpose-built snow plow trucks such as the Oshkosh P-series and the FWD RB44 were built with forward-canted windshields like this to keep the snow off. Probably not the case here, tho.
The full-width cab without provision for running boards would make it the leader in hip- and elbow-room amongst domestic manufacturers for quite some time I think.
What an interesting idea. It’s a shame no one ever went ahead with a production version of the forward leaning windshield.
I wonder if there are some practical limitations of this design, like maybe an issue with inside windshield defrosting? For starters, it would seem a completely flat front end would be requiried. Otherwise, there would quickly be an accumulation of debris at the base of the windshield cowl.
The classic Winnebago RVs had reverse-sloped windshields.
I dig it. Would have to be the ultimate in forward Visibility, the way the front glass extends outward.
No modern Curb View front cams needed!
This seems like it would be an April 1st truck!
I have seen this a couple of times and find it fascinating. It really looks like it could have been styled by Buddy L – the company that made the stamped metal toy trucks.
I wonder if there was ever another company that ran so hot and cold on trucks over the years. The company was, at different times, either really on top of the market with competitive offerings or else were selling stuff that was hopelessly outdated/outclassed.
I don’t recall seeing this one when I was at the museum last fall. Maybe it got rotated out, or perhaps my attention was focused elsewhere.
The anthropomorphic toast comment was perfect, that was a genuine LOL!
Thanks Doug. I laughed out loud when I found that toast cartoon. It’s really not too far off. 🙂
A rock catcher windsheild.
One does wonder why Westinghouse would want such a prototype? Did they have a large fleet of trucks? It seems more likely that a large fleet owner might be interested, such as a utility company.
An obscure historical tidbit. Given that Studebaker’s Champ was dying fast in 1963, it’s hard to imagine that they would really think about launching a new FC truck, but then they were still doing passenger car prototypes, and this truck would certainly have required less tooling expense to build.
They were going to be used as dealer and service trucks for their appliance division. They were very design conscious in the 60s, having retained Elliot Noyes as their design consultant and Paul Rand for their ‘nuclear W’ trademark and corporate identity.
They also got into transit vehicles with their Skybus system, the planned and ultimately doomed operator-less replacement for the PCC cars in Pittsburgh. It had and has a second life in airport shuttles all over the country.
There’s a few articles on this truck dotted around the web. This is the most complete one. Definitely a swansong vehicle. https://itrolls.wordpress.com/2016/09/27/studebakers-1963-westinghouse-truck-prototype/
It looks like a full size prop from a 1950s sci-fi movie, but it`s really cool, especially in gold. I like it, but I`ve always been fascinated by unusual or ‘offbeat’ automotive designs.
Love it! Great profile, and find Aaron. Both this, and the Zip Van, look like life-sized 1960s era toys. Studebaker had this great ability to create very uniquely-styled vehicles, imbibed with charm appeal.
Otto’s haircut!
Thanks Daniel – I would love if someone reproduced this truck in a toy version! I’d park it next to my Tonka Winnebago like the one la673 posted above!
I could see Gumby driving this. lol
If only I had Photoshop – this would be a perfect opportunity to turn the truck into a Gumbymobile, or to put Gumby behind the wheel and Pokey in the passenger seat (if his four legs will fit).
The parking lamps are supposedly borrowed from the Avanti!
I don’t know…do the chrome surrounds on the truck seem thicker? The lenses are certainly the right shape.
The truck appears to have a separate metal bezel around the lens. The metal on the Avanti is just chrome plating on the plastic lens.
Otto Dix is one of my favorite artists – Love that self portrait!
His sketches from the trenches of WW1 are unforgettable…..
Looks like one of the many light duty & often electric plant trucks used in factories and military bases way back when .
Studebaker wasn’t always behind the times, in the 1930’s they made all steel buses when most others still had wooden framed bodies .
Agree, this would make the *perfect* ‘Gumbymobile’, Pokey would ride in the bed .
-Nate