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1913 or 1914 Studebaker sedan


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I am just wondering if there are any 1913 or 1914 Studebaker sedans out there? I have a sedan body sitting on a 1920 Chandler chassis that I believe is from 1914, but I am not sure of the maker of the body. Internet searches for a body that looks like mine come close to one from Studebaker. Are there any actual cars left or pictures of these cars that you can post?

Here is a picture of my sedan body and a picture of the 1914 Studebaker sedan I found on the Internet:

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  • 1 month later...

Its been quite a while since I made this post and there has not been much response from the Studebaker community. I can only guess there are not many sedans from this ears out there. I really would like to hear from some early Studebaker experts out there to help me confirm or deny that this is a Studebaker body. Any help you can offer is very much appreciated.

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Studebaker was outsourcing closed car bodies in the teens. Most were built by Willuoghby but cannot say with certainty that your body is Willoughby. Most other car companies did the same so it is entirely possible that a closed body say for a Studebaker would look identical to that of maybe an Overland. At that time it was not real uncommon for wealthier families to purchase a car and two different bodies for winter and summer use, open for Spring and Summer and closed for Fall and Winter. A local dealer or garage could easily change bodies in a matter of hours. Maybe that is how this body survived? I do have nearly every piece of advertising literature Studebaker issued in that era i.e. 1913-19.

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Thank you studeq. In 1914 Chandler did the same thing and by luck also worked with Willoughby. So it is intirely possible that this body may have been put on either a Studebaker or a Chandler in 1914. If you run across any other 1914 sedan pictures please share them.

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I found this on Coachbuilt.com:

"After his graduation from Hamilton College in 1909, Willoughby's son Francis Daniel (aka Fritz) Willoughby (b.1887-1955) was first apprenticed to several competitors and upon his return took over the plant, eventually assuming the presidency upon the death of his father in 1913. The next year, Willoughby secured an order from Studebaker for more than 1,000 bodies – its largest order ever and its first million dollar contract. To make the order, the company had to rent outside space and double its workforce from 150 to 300 employees. In 1914, a skilled laborer’s hourly wage ranged from 50 cents to 85 cents an hour, putting Willoughby’s weekly payroll at over $10,000 per week."

So this body may be one of the thousand built.

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Here is a little bit better image of the '14 Studebaker Six sedan from the salesman's 64 page Proof Book. The caption provides details of the body and fitments. This sedan body is NOT the same as the '13, totally different.

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Thanks for sharing that picture. In the time since starting this thread I learned that the 1913 body is different and I believe also right hand drive.

I now believe that Willoghby made bodies for several makes of cars and possibly changed the interior appointments to meet the requests of the manufactures. It would appear that the same body was fitted to both Studebakers and Chandlers. So the more I learn about the sedans produced for other makes the more I will learn about the body I have which I believe was originally on a 1914 Chandler chassis.

Thanks for all your help in learning more about what Studebaker had to offer in 1914.

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It is not so widely known outside the motel T Ford historians community, but even Ford before about 1920 bought most of their bodies from outside sources. Even my '24 T coupe has a body built by someone else, although Ford built most touring and runabout bodies in house by that time. The number of different companies supplying bodies to Ford varied from year to year, however prior to 1917, most years there were between about three and six different body sources. Remember, this is Ford. They prided themselves on being self-reliant, and when historians of the '50s and '60s started saying that everything for the model T was built "in-house"? Ford didn't object. Fisher body company, best known later as a division of General Motors became a huge company by being one of the larger suppliers to Ford starting about 1909. They built many of the early sedans and coupes into the mid '20s, as well as early touring and runabout bodies.

In the earlier years almost all automobile manufacturers had many of their bodies built by an outside body builder. This would be especially true for unusual bodies like coupes or sedans prior to the 1920s.

It could actually be very difficult to determine what chassis that body was on originally without literally comparing the mounting bolts and their locations to many different original chassis. Another consideration, would be how flat the body sits on the bottom. Many chassis have a step up over the rear end. And that step up could be a fitting issue. The good thing is, that although there may have been some variation with trim and dash or gasoline tank locations, many of these bodies were only slightly different between similar size cars of the era. Some good photos of the inside of the body especially around the dash area, could maybe help a lot to identify what it was on.

That is an incredible body. I do hope it finds its way onto some proper era chassis, whether Chandler, Studebaker, White, or any one of a dozen appropriate mid-size cars. Very few good original sedans survive from the '10s era. I do think I heard of a '17 Studebaker center-door sedan surviving some years ago. However I have no idea what ever became of it. A good '17ish Studebaker six chassis should not be too difficult to acquire, I have seen a few over the years.

Well restored, that could be a wonderful car. Even if it winds up on a different-than-originally marque chassis, it would be fantastic. I would not consider putting it on a chassis later than 1919. The center-door body style was effectively dead in the market place by then (although Ford continued trying to sell them until 1923).

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Thanks for your comments Wayne. The other side of the body has two doors and is the only way to access the front bench (fold down) seat. It makes it a pretty unique three door body. At this point we are just documenting what we have while we finish building a 1914 Ford Model T speedster that is our son's junior project on high school. He is in the "Math and Science Academy" at the local high school and will be the first to build a car for his junior project! Once that car is done I hope to have more room in the garage to get working on the sedan.

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Yes, I live a block or two away from his house. He was a great man. I met him several years ago after we purchased our 1929 Chandler sedan with its Westinghouse vacuum booster system on the mechanical brakes. My father-in-law knew of him as a reader of his magazine, Skinned Knuckles. He helped us learn more about the brake booster and did a series of articles on the restoration of the booster that he took on so he could show others how it was done. He will be missed by many and I regret that both my father-in-law and Bill are no longer around to share in the discovery of this old sedan.

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