Richard Langworth’s Studebaker book is dated but mostly still the best

(EXPANDED FROM 4/13/2013)

When I am trying to track down information about Studebaker, I am most likely to first reach for Richard M. Langworth’s book. The reason why it that his journalistic approach was refreshingly “old school” compared to more recent histories of the automaker.

You won’t find in Studebaker 1946-1966: The Classic Postwar Years a dumbed-down presentation with lots of big, color pictures and superficial text. Langworth included a fair number of black-and-white images, but the star of the show was his writing.

Langworth was a diligent researcher who dug up a good balance of product information and business analysis. And because he focused only on the postwar era, more granular information could be included than in books covering the automaker’s entire history, which spanned from 1897 to 1966 (Wikipedia, 2025).

That said, there are two downsides to the book being so old — the first edition was published 1979. Langworth’s editorial stances did not always transcend the groupthink of that era. By the same token, The Classic Postwar Years obviously does not reflect newer research findings on key historical moments.

In addition, don’t expect a scholarly level of analysis. Here Langworth was admirably self-aware of his limitations. In a Collectible Automobile article about Studebaker he wrote that “I am no professional historian, but on this subject I had the luck to find all of the sources alive and sentient and still lucid” (Langworth, 1994, p. 62).

Indeed, a good reason to read Langworth was that he was able to interview many leading players.

Format packed in an unusual amount of information

The Classic Postwar Years has a horizontal, 196-page format similar to some of the other automotive books Langworth wrote in the 1970s, including on Hudson, Kaiser-Frazer and Chrysler. The narrative was broken up into 10 chapters. They were augmented by appendices with production levels, profits/losses and product specifications. The data in the back of this book makes it particularly valuable as a reference.

Studebaker’s history is walked through year by year, with the text punctuated by tables of lineup prices and images of production models as well as prototypes. Interesting historical tidbits include photos of a proposed sedan by Porsche (p. 68) and an artist’s rendering of a 1954 Starliner with styling themes from Hudson, a potential merger partner (p. 76).

Unlike all too many other automotive histories, Langworth was not afraid to criticize management. For example, he wrote the following about the automaker’s death: “(T)he unbiased observer has to conclude that the corporation deserved what it received. And not because of the general problems faced by all independents — American Motors showed it was possible to circumvent them, at least for a time — but because in the face of those problems management did exactly the wrong things. If, in 1950, executives had decided to put Studebaker out of the car business within the next fifteen years, they could hardly have gone about it in a more efficient way” (p. 166).

Note how Langworth wrapped himself in the flag of an “unbiased observer.” Although he did a fairly good job of presenting facts and logic to back up his conclusion that Studebaker “deserved what it received,” it was clearly colored by his ideological biases.

Langworth was too defensive about the Big Three

Langworth went to great lengths to insist that the Big Three were not culpable in the decline of independent automakers (pp. 164-165). For example, he trotted out a quote from General Motors chairman Frederic Donner, who blamed Studebaker’s problems on not reinvesting war-time profits in the business (p. 165). Forty years after The Classic Postwar Years was published Langworth was still making the same argument in a Collectible Automobile article (2019, p. 16).

What Langworth didn’t acknowledge in either the book or article was that Donner reportedly made this comment in 1958, when Congress was debating antitrust legislation targeting GM. Nor did Langworth mention that as Defense Secretary, former General Motors CEO Charles Wilson adopted a “narrow-based procurement policy” that benefited GM but resulted in the loss of $426 million to Studebaker-Packard during the mid-1950s (Hamlin and Heinmuller, 2002; p. 579).

By the same token, Langworth did not entertain the argument of American Motors head George Romney that lax antitrust policies resulted in the U.S. auto industry losing its competitive edge against foreign automakers. Romney called for GM and Ford to be broken up (Mahoney, 1958).

I don’t mention all this to dismiss Langworth’s conclusion that Studebaker died because of inept management, but rather to suggest that the rise of an oligopoly that stifled competition also played a major role (go here for further discussion).

Newer research from others has had different takes

Langworth was among the Studebaker historians who pointed to unusually high labor costs as a key disadvantage but offered more specific evidence than most. For example, he stated that in 1954 a major assembler made $2.44 per hour at Studebaker whereas the industry average was $1.98 to $2.00 (p. 70).

Aaron Severson (2010) later offered the counterpoint that “Studebaker’s productivity levels had as much to do with the antiquated layout of the South Bend factory as with their UAW deal.” In addition, he suggested that “making nice with the UAW was not a bad strategy at all” because work stoppages could be crippling to such a small automaker.

In addition, Langworth was credulous about a study that found Studebaker’s break-even point to be an astronomical 282,000 units. The accuracy of this figure has subsequently been questioned (Hamlin and Heinmuller, 2002). 

Meanwhile, Langworth blamed the demise of a proposed four-cylinder junior Lark for 1962 on the arrival of new company president Sherwood Egbert (pp. 120-121). However, Robert R. Ebert (2013) reported that the project was cancelled prior to that point.

This is an incomplete summary of topics where I am inclined to side with the conclusions of more recent research. However, I still think that Langworth’s book is the gold standard of Studebaker histories. Given the direction of the publishing industry, that may always be the case.

Studebaker 1946-1966: The Classic Postwar Years

• Richard M. Langworth; 1979, 1993
• Motorbooks International, Osceola, WI

“There’s no question about the high rate of Studebaker pay, and the need to reduce it to what was then reasonable levels. The wartime cost-plus days were far behind: no longer could the company build products for cost, and be assured of a definite profit percentage by the government. But, while the well-managed companies had endured lengthy strikes to get postwar wage scales under control, Studebaker had stressed its strike-free record and continued to dish-out the cream.” (p. 70)

“‘The painful truth,’ Otto continues, ‘as that although we had very serious body difficulties, they were soon overcome and unsold Avantis were all over the shop and in dealer’s hands. This car was probably the poorest selling new job that Studebaker ever built, and the sales records prove it. The verdict of the public was conclusive and quite unmistakable: They didn’t want any part of it.” (p. 142)

“It cost Studebaker as much to buy a page of advertising, for example, as it did one of the Big Three — but that ad which might have cost South Bend ten cents per car could cost the Big Three maker a penny a car. Likewise it cost Studebaker just as much to design a new car as Ford — and probably more, because Ford bought so many services from its own subsidiaries.” (p. 163)

OTHER REVIEWS:

Amazon

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RE:SOURCES

• Ebert, Robert R.; 2013. Champion of the Lark: Harold Churchill and the Presidency of Studebaker-Packard, 1956-1961. McFarland & Company, London.
• Foster, Patrick; 2008. Studebaker: The Complete History. Motorbooks International, Minneapolis, MN.
• Hamlin, George and Dwight Heinmuller; 2002. “America’s New Choice in Fine Cars: The Twenty-Sixth and the Fifty-Fourth Series 1953-54.” In Kimes, Beverly Rae, ed., pp. 562-581. Packard: A History of the Motor Car and the Company. Automobile Quarterly Publications.
• Langworth, Richard M.; 1975. Kaiser-Frazer: The Last Onslaught on Detroit. Princeton Publishing, Princeton, NJ.
• ——–; 1993. Chrysler & Imperial 1946-1985: The Classic Postwar Years. Motorbooks, Minneapolis, MN.
• ——–; 1993. Hudson 1946-1957: The Classic Postwar Years. Motorbooks International, Osceola, WI.
• ——–; 2019. “Chevrolet versus Ford in the Early Fifties: The Spoils of War.” Collectible Automobile. April issue: pp. 8-21.
• Mahoney, Tom; 1958. The Story of George Romney: Builder, Salesman, Crusader. Harper & Brothers, New York, NY.
• Severson, Aaron; 2010. Comment in “The Once and Future Coupe: The Studebaker Hawk.” Ate Up With Motor. Posted April 21.
• Wikipedia; 2025. “Studebaker.” Page last edited Aug. 28.

BROCHURES & ADVERTISEMENTS:

• autohistorypreservationsociety.org: Studebaker Avanti (1963)
• oldcarbrochures.org: Studebaker (1953, 1965)