Studebaker: The Complete History

Book was like new for a used price. Very pleased

Muito bom

Patrick Foster is the world's leading expert on American Motors Corporation. His corporate biography, American Motors: The Last Independent is excellent. He also writes extensively on the independent auto manufacturers of the 1950's and 1960's in old car magazines.This is a coffee table book in large format (11 by 9) with large illustrations, lots of white space, double spaced type, and not much text. It suffers when compared to The Last Independent and to Tom Bonsall's book, More Than They Promised: The Studebaker Story.The author structures his narrative largely based on data and text from individual annual reports but never gives an overview of company financial trends or what was happening to Studebaker's market share or rank in the industry. He spends too much time explaining the intricacies of various parts of the bankruptcy code. For the five year period 1933 - 1937, which includes the 1936 models that brought Studebaker out of bankruptcy, he includes only two pictures, a 1933 station wagon and a 1937 pickup.The discussion of Studebaker's actions in the early 1950's is excellent. The most glaring omission in the book is the almost total lack of discussion about any Studebaker pickup trucks. There are a few pictures but that's about it.If you love looking at illustrations from Studebaker sales brochures and promotional photos from the 1950's, this is the book for you. If you want a comprehensive history of Studebaker, look elsewhere.

This excellent history of the Studebaker Brothers' contributions to transportation in American should be a "must read" for students of that subject and those who want to undertstand some of the mistakes that can be and have been made in executing the automobile business. But for an absence of sound busness vision, Studebaker could and should still be a leader in this industry. The book provides some insights into the errors that the company's most senior managment made and the impacts that failing to invest in one's (the company's) future can have. And how such errors in judgment can assure eventual failure. An easily readable, insightful book.

It exceeded my expectations and gave lots of information about Studebakers and all the models they made as well as why the company went bankrupt in the sixies. A great read.

Excellent book.I have always heard that Studebaker existed decades before the invention of the automobile, making covered wagons and stagecoachs.Yes, you heard me right, please check out their fascinating story.It is to bad they are no longer around, they were comparable with Chevy and Ford, the car for the common man.

The author is a fan of the old now gone independants. Granted, they did come out with lots of inovative features. His gushing about the looks of some of the Studebakers get's a little tiresome.It is a good story though. I feel he has gotten the history down well. It appears management didn't do a good job of managing.Good read. I recommend it.

my dad collects Studebaker cars and I bought this for him as a Christmas gift. its a great book with lots of history and photos. I haven't given it to him yet but my mother gives it two thumbs up!

This is a big, glossy, coffee-table hardback book. It's done well, with lavish and (apart from one horribly pixellated mistake that's a real shame) high-quality photographs of some beautiful cars. The text is authoritative and well written and better than many books of this genre, which tend to see things through rose-tinted specs and can seem amateurish. It's still a bit heavy on information culled from annual reports, and a bit light on technical details about the cars, which get barely a mention. But as a company history it's good. The story of Studebaker, right from the 1850s when they made horse-drawn carriages, is a very interesting if ultimately rather sad one. I definitely recommend this.

This book will always be my favorite. I owned a 1955 Studebaker Commander when I was 16 years old and being young I traded it off on another car. Many years later I looked and looked for 8 years for another Studebaker to buy. I finally found a 1963 Studebaker Grand Turismo Hawk, bought it and still drive it to every car show around my area. I am proud to say it has won 3 plaques so far. Thanks for the book!

Good read

Very long dragged out,took a long time to get through.

very good book and low price