RoyBoy posted:Studebaker and Kaiser/Frasier introduced new car designs for the 1947 model year. "First by far with a post war car" was Studebaker's advertising motto.
Interestingly, President Lincoln drove a Studebaker!!!
Studebaker was a HUGE manufacturer/fabricator of carriages, even in the 1800's. Billy Durant, the creator of General Motors, also transitioned from the carriage business -- makes sense; horse-drawn carriages to horseless carriages.
The nascent auto industry was "stuck" in the mode of using tremendous amounts of wood in the manufacturing of the early automobiles. Henry Ford, an early and ardent recycler, was distressed by the enormous amount of wood waste product from his manufacturing facilities. Kingsford Charcoal was the result.
In a similar vein, General Motors needed more expertise in metal working to further develop the automobile, and hired an expert from the locomotive business to accomplish this goal - Walter P. Chrysler!!
As stated at Britannica.com:
"Chrysler did not enter the automobile business until he was 36 years old, when he met Charles Nash, president of General Motors (GM). At the time, Chrysler was earning $12,000 a year at the American Locomotive Company, but Nash persuaded him to join GM as the manager of the Buick plant in Flint, Mich., for only half that amount. In the years to come, Chrysler would completely revolutionize Buick’s manufacturing system, introducing assembly-line processes pioneered by Henry Ford and more than tripling production."
Chrysler left ALCO to join GM. Chrysler, who reached the level of Vice President at GM, later became fed up with Billy Durant at GM. Chrysler corporation was the result.
