A Studebaker you can see from space!

Actually, a Studebaker sign, somewhere between Gary and South Bend... click here to see on Google Maps.

 

That's the old Studebaker testing grounds. See the track to the right of the Studebaker shaped row of trees? I can't remember who owns it now, but the company I work for deals with them.

 

That's really cool!

 

Saw a lot of nice Studes at a car show here yesterday.
My great uncle had a dealer ship in Wichita, KS. Zoglemann Studebaker. We had a few when I was growing up.

 

Studebaker made "STP" oil treatment back in the day.

 

Bosch

 

About 4 or 5 years ago, our Grand Indiana Auto Tour had the opportunity to drive around the track. It has some high banks and they had a pace truck leading to control speed. A couple years before we ran the Winchester track. After the run a Falcon had a rear wheel wobbling, rear axle was about to break at the bearing. Old cars and parts arn't always ment to run with that much pressure on the drive train.

 

Part of the county park system there

http://www.sjcparks.org/bendix.html

 

Probably the Studebaker prototypes and test cars and trucks still ****tered around the grounds. Most of it's pretty far gone but a few one offs have been rescued and are being restored.

 

Yeah, that's right.

 

Studebakers are hot........Rich

 

Look to the left at top of track. Studebaker is spelled out in the trees.

 

Very cool. Thanks for the post. I to like studebakers.

 

what does bosch use the site for? It would be cool to cruise around just to be curious.

 

Bosch uses the track for brake testing.
Bosch makes brake components and systems for various auto companies.

 

you ARE joking aren't you?

 

I was driving through Hamilton ON yesterday and my buddy riding shotgun says, "hey, that building has a huge Studebaker sign on it". I've driven past a few thousand times and never seen it. Yes, I'll be going back with my camera.

 

That's great...Advertising from space....

 

That is cool.

 

Actually if the advertising was from space we would need to look up at it. This I believe was for the benifit of folks in airplanes.

Studebaker Club zone meeting this past weekend in South Bend. Apparently the track is still drivable as folks were there as part of the deal.

 

As far as I know, Bendix still owns the test track. The company I worked for did a lot of testing there.

 

NO, I am NOT, there are still prototypes and test vehicles ****tered around in the brush on the old test grounds! Go over to the Studebaker drivers Club website and do a search in the forums. There were some great pics posted awhile back and there are a couple videos on youTube. Most of the cars are trashed but some were marginally salvageable and have been pulled out in hopes of putting them back together for display in the Studebaker Museum. Ever heard of the Studebaker Sand Cars built for export to Middle Eastern countires back in the early 50's? The prototype has just been hauled out of the brush there and is on it's way to a restoration shop.

 

That is very, very cool. Thanks for posting this.

 

very cool

 

there are pics on the olskoolrodz site. that is simply amazing that those cars are still out there!!

 

So cool. Thanks a bunch!

 

Stuff that is there,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3HcDKNLpF4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grmykVX7tWI&feature=related

 

300 foot long block machining tool at studebaker facility

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErAlv5pw_FM&feature=related

 

i remember seeing pics in Turning Wheels back in the early 90's, man, if only somebody had been able to save more of that stuff back then. nobody really cared even then, and it seemed the cars there would be preserved forever, in reality even a few years in that environment is devastating to the sheetmetal. any of those test mules and prototypes would be cool yard art at least. i don't know about now, but not that long ago studebaker stuff was everywhere around south bend, NOS parts were still piled in abandoned factories when i visited there in the early 90's as a teenager.

 

Rumor has it the the parts supplier SASCO purchased a lot of that stuff and has inventoried and warehoused it. Further rumor is they are now contemplating getting out of the bussiness. Where their inventory will go is anybodies guess.

It seems that American Industry has a nasty habit (but fortunate fo some of us) of just closing doors and walking away from their sites. Whether they are closing up sop of moving, they seem to leave a lot of stuff behind. Here in Syracuse which has been the scene of many industries closing down and leaving their stuff behind thee is a legacy of toxins, abandoned buildings factories full of parts and raw materials, and waste. Solvay Process, Easy Washing Machine company, Lenox Furnace, LC Smith/Smith Carona, General Motors Fisher Guide, Generalelectric, Brown Lipe Chapin, Square D, Prosperity Metal Wall Systems, Crucible Steel, Carrier, and on and on. It's here,it's rotting and leaching into the environment. Each one leaving its own envromental hot zone that will be concerns for 100's of years to come. But it is fun and interesting togo poking around as long as you're carful. In neighboring Ithaca, NY the Ithaca Gun Company factory still has ammuntion, gun powder, and other fun stuff laying around.