1933 Studebaker Model 92 Speedway St Regis coupe.

[BucketofBolts]

I have looked for months for a 1933 Studebaker Speedway 2-door, Speedway President Model 92 St Regis also called a "St Regis Brougham". So far my research sadly says none of these beautiful vehicles survived.  Yet I could be wrong as possibly there is one siting in a garage under a dusty old tarp. Does anyone know if there are an surviving units? If so would any of them be for sale as I am a willing buyer?  Base price new in 1933 f.o.b South Bend Indiana was @ $1,605 at a 135 inch wheelbase. My estimate is that out of the 639 Speedway Presidents manufactured for the model year 1933 only about 55 were for the "St Regis Brougham 2-door coupe". Small number for a manufacturer that made over 45,000 vehicles and 44 models for the year 1933. 

[Spinneyhill]

Just for fun, here is one from Old Cars Weekly:

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/collector-cars/30s-cars/car_of_the_week_1933_studebaker_president_eight

[Xander Wildeisen]

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1MSIM_enUS572US573&q=1933+studebaker+st+regis+brougham&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwictNjg853gAhUJITQIHSZZC_gQsAR6BAgCEAE&biw=2400&bih=1172

[md murray]

There were some very nice folks from Canada in the red field at Hershey this past year who had what certainly looked to be an open version of one of these?  It was lighter in color scheme and largely all original. I only glanced at it briefly but it was so impressive looking that itstands out in my memory -

Edited February 2, 2019 by md murray (see edit history)

[BucketofBolts]

Sadly none of the images sent by XANDER are of a 1933 Studebaker Speedway 2-door, Speedway President Model 92 St Regis also called a "St Regis Brougham".  Are there any Studebaker experts out there that can enlighten me if this model survived even with just one unit remaining in any condition? I've seen the stock photo that SpinnyHill sent but am looking for an existing car that has survived did not end up in some crusher. That black & white image that was posted shows just how attractive that particular model appeared. 

[West Peterson]

While a handful of the 1932s appear to exist, the 1933s seem to be more elusive. These two appear to be the St. Regis Broughams, but I don't know if they're Presidents or not.

[58L-Y8]

The easy way to tell these two above are not 1933 Speedway President Model 92 is the rear door edge has a rear fender cutout since the wheelbase is much shorter than 135". 

[Steve9]

I can’t believe someone hot rodded the car in West’s post. What a waste. Cheesy mags too.

[sftamx1]

That is a gorgeous Studebaker! It looks great with this paint scheme. 

[sftamx1]

I'm also at a loss with another 1933 Beauty,  a Hudson Major 8 Brougham. It appears only a parts car survived,  no others known! 

 

[West Peterson]

1 hour ago, sftamx1 said:

I'm also at a loss with another 1933 Beauty,  a Hudson Major 8 Brougham. It appears only a parts car survived,  no others known! 

 

 

Interesting. There seems to be evidence of a couple of the 1932s around. I think Souer from Indiana has/had one and showed it at Hershey several years ago. It was a thing of beauty.

 

[Graham Man]

I am always surprised, people think the Great Depression was in 1929, that is when it started.  It never really ended till after WW2, but 1933 was the bottom. Look at the new car sales in 1933 every company was at the lowest production levels in history, if they were still in business.  So if you were lucky enough to buy a 1933 car, first most likely it was reposed, if you were able to hang onto it, you drove it for the next 10+ years. 

 

It took me 10 years to find my 1933 Graham, yes it was under a pile of straw at one time, under a mulberry tree for another 10 years, really a miracle it survived.

 

Good luck with the hunt, it is a beautiful car, 1933 is may favorite year, but I am bias.

 

    1933 Graham Convertible Coupe (only 2 known survivors, one 6 and one 8)

[sftamx1]

42 minutes ago, Graham Man said:

I am always surprised, people think the Great Depression was in 1929, that is when it started.  It never really ended till after WW2, but 1933 was the bottom. Look at the new car sales in 1933 every company was at the lowest production levels in history, if they were still in business.  So if you were lucky enough to buy a 1933 car, first most likely it was reposed, if you were able to hang onto it, you drove it for the next 10+ years. 

 

It took me 10 years to find my 1933 Graham, yes it was under a pile of straw at one time, under a mulberry tree for another 10 years, really a miracle it survived.

 

Good luck with the hunt, it is a beautiful car, 1933 is may favorite year, but I am bias.

 

    1933 Graham Convertible Coupe (only 2 known survivors, one 6 and one 😎

Graham Man, 

I feel the same way you do about 1933. I am currently restoring my dream car of 1933, a Essex Terraplane 8 convertible coupe.  I also would love to own an early series '34 Graham straight 8 supercharged conv. coupe....

[Rusty_OToole]

There is a lot of disinformation or bad information about the 1930s depression. The stock market crash occurred in October 1929 and for a while it seemed the effects were limited to a few rich investors. In 1930 for example car sales were practically the same as 1929. Only in 1931 did the hard times really set in. 1932 was the bottom. Recovery began in late 1932 and 1933, and by 1934 party goers were wearing funny hats that said "wasn't the depression awful" (literally). I'm not saying things had recovered to the unnatural level of the twenties boom but they had recovered. By 1936 the Roosevelt administration was scared the economy was roaring ahead too fast so they pulled back resulting in the 'Roosevelt recession' of 1937 and 1938. WW2 may have been good for some but it was awful tough on others, some of whom never came back. I think it is a dangerous myth that war is good for the economy. If that were true we could get rich by bombing the hell out of our factories, killing our best men with machine guns and piling up all our goods and burning them.

[CHuDWah]

1 hour ago, Graham Man said:

...1933 is may favorite year...

 

 

I think one thing that makes 33-34 cars so beautiful is many have some variation of the "teardrop-waterfall" grille and split or "center-dip" bumper(s) - the height of art deco style IMHO.

[coachJC]

I will try and answer a couple of question regarding the 1933 Studebaker 92 Series Speedway President. It was our car that was at Hershey this past year and over in the show field on Saturday. It is a 92 Series President Roadster 1 of 14 built for the Canadian market and believed to be be 1 of 8? currently know to exist out of all 92 series President Speedways produced. Please note that these numbers are coming off the top of my head as I don't have the info in front of me at this time. As Studebaker went bankrupt in 1933 the thought is only around 500+ of all series of Studebakers were produced for that year, 81,82,91 and 92 series. With the 92 series being the big series out of the 500+ you could guess that only 50-60 were made all together for both markets.

Around 10 years ago Richard Quinn did an article in the Antique Studebaker Review about the whereabouts of all the 92 Series President Speedway cars. If I had that with me I could give you specific numbers on the cars, there are 2 Roadsters a Coupe, I want to say a Sedan that was restored around 10 years ago and is in the South Bend museum, but can't remember what the other cars where or if there was a St Regis Brougham. 

Bucket of Bolts if  you posted this question in the Studebaker Forum that the AACA host you could probably get an answer to your question if one of those cars do exist. Mr Quinn is very knowledgeable on his Studebakers and a very nice man to talk to. He has had some health issues so I am not sure if he is active at this time on the forum but he used to be up to 3 months ago.

 

I have attached a pic from Hershey with my Dad and the owner of the 2nd Speedway Roadster that he is currently restoring.

I have also added one of the car at the judging meet, that is what is was like the whole time at our vending site or at the show field.

[nzcarnerd]

43 minutes ago, coachJC said:

I will try and answer a couple of question regarding the 1933 Studebaker 92 Series Speedway President. It was our car that was at Hershey this past year and over in the show field on Saturday. It is a 92 Series President Roadster 1 of 14 built for the Canadian market and believed to be be 1 of 8? currently know to exist out of all 92 series President Speedways produced. Please note that these numbers are coming off the top of my head as I don't have the info in front of me at this time. As Studebaker went bankrupt in 1933 the thought is only around 500+ of all series of Studebakers were produced for that year, 81,82,91 and 92 series. With the 92 series being the big series out of the 500+ you could guess that only 50-60 were made all together for both markets.

Around 10 years ago Richard Quinn did an article in the Antique Studebaker Review about the whereabouts of all the 92 Series President Speedway cars. If I had that with me I could give you specific numbers on the cars, there are 2 Roadsters a Coupe, I want to say a Sedan that was restored around 10 years ago and is in the South Bend museum, but can't remember what the other cars where or if there was a St Regis Brougham. 

Bucket of Bolts if  you posted this question in the Studebaker Forum that the AACA host you could probably get an answer to your question if one of those cars do exist. Mr Quinn is very knowledgeable on his Studebakers and a very nice man to talk to. He has had some health issues so I am not sure if he is active at this time on the forum but he used to be up to 3 months ago.

 

I have attached a pic from Hershey with my Dad and the owner of the 2nd Speedway Roadster that he is currently restoring.

I have also added one of the car at the judging meet, that is what is was like the whole time at our vending site or at the show field.

 

There is a 1933 Speedway President sedan in New Zealand that was imported new by a local tobacco magnate. He also imported a '32 President sedan, and a couple of Pierce-Arrows, which have all survived as far as I know. I am not sure of the current location of the '33 but this is a relatively recent photo of it I found on the net.

 

 

[Buffalowed Bill]

There were about 600 Model 92's built. I've been around these since the 70's, I helped a friend buy and, aided in the restoration of the red 33, now in the Studebaker museum. There are about 10 surviving 92's, in all body styles surviving. The chassis would be the last of the famous straight 8, arguably the most successful of all the cars from the stock cars, that were run at Indianapolis 500. this would be the last hurrah for the Classic Studebaker. All subsequent Presidents 1933, Model 82-1942 model year would have the 250 cu" straight 8, which began life as the Commander in 1929. 

 

In answer to the original question, yes there is one that has survived. It belongs to a man who lives in Mich. I've seen the car it's nice but not a concourse restoration. He's had it for many years and unless something has changed, he's not about to part with it any time soon.-Bill

 

 

I edited my original post, deleting the owners name, for the sake of his privacy.

Edited February 5, 2019 by Buffalowed Bill (see edit history)

[nzcarnerd]

4 minutes ago, Buffalowed Bill said:

There were about 600 Model 92's built. I've been around these since the 70's, I helped a friend buy and, added in the restoring the red 33, now in the Studebaker museum. There are about 10 surviving 92's, in all body styles surviving. The chassis would be the last of the famous straight 8, arguably the most successful of all the cars from the stock cars, that were run at Indianapolis 500. this would be the last hurrah for the Classic Studebaker. All subsequent Presidents 1933, Model 82-1942 model year would have the 250 cu" straight 8, which began life as the Commander in 1929. 

 

In answer to the original question, yes there is one that has survived. It belongs to John VanHaaften who lives in Mich. I've seen the car it's nice but not a concourse restoration. He's had it for many years and unless something has changed, he's not about to part with it any time soon.-Bill

 

Would I be right in guessing the sedan in NZ is the only right hand drive one of the 10 you mentioned?

[Mark Huston]

If you can find a copy of the Antique Studebaker club magazine “The Review”  The November December 2005 issue has an extensive article on the model 92 Speedway President.    I have attached a couple of interesting sidebars from that article regarding the models offered in 1933 and the known survivors as of when the article was printed in 2005.  Of course there could be unknown examples yet to be discovered around the world.  Studebaker shipped cars around the world to Europe, Asia, South America, and the Pacific.   

[BucketofBolts]

The image by SfTamX1 of the colorized stock photo of the 2-door Model 92 St Regis Speedway is superb. 

[Xander Wildeisen]

What is the year/model of the car to the left of the AirFlow?   https://www.ebay.com/itm/1935-DeSoto-Airflow-Sedan-SG-NO-RESERVE-AUCTION/192897735320?hash=item2ce999da98:g:~ucAAOSwmxVceY03

[13CADDY]

21 minutes ago, Xander Wildeisen said:

What is the year/model of the car to the left of the AirFlow?   https://www.ebay.com/itm/1935-DeSoto-Airflow-Sedan-SG-NO-RESERVE-AUCTION/192897735320?hash=item2ce999da98:g:~ucAAOSwmxVceY03

looks to me like a 32 st. regis

[Hudsy Wudsy]

On 2/4/2019 at 1:31 PM, CHuDWah said:

 

 

I think one thing that makes 33-34 cars so beautiful is many have some variation of the "teardrop-waterfall" grille and split or "center-dip" bumper(s) - the height of art deco style IMHO.

I concur, but also add that the rearward slant of the grilles gave them a daring, windswept look,

[8E45E]

If anyone really wants an excellently restored Dictator St. Regis brougham, a local member has one for sale.  It was the car restored by Al Bank in the 1970's and it has held up well.

 

 

[CHuDWah]

23 hours ago, Hudsy Wudsy said:

I concur, but also add that the rearward slant of the grilles gave them a daring, windswept look,

 

 

Yup, that's about when manufacturers started using "streamlined" design.  The idea was to reduce wind resistance but it also helped the appearance.

[Buffalowed Bill]

The Speedway, as well as all 1933 Studebakers have always been special to me. I had some input in a friend's purchase, and aided in the restoration, of the 33 sedan now in the Studebaker museum, in South Bend. Thirty years ago, I also had to turn down the 33, seven passenger car, in British Columbia.

 

The 1932-33 Studebaker share the same body style, with the 1932 Pierce Arrow Model 54, and the 1933,  836/1236. While the body stampings, and everything from the cowl forward, the gas tank cover and the running boards, are different, the body lines are essentially the same. Thirty five years ago I asked Otto Klausmeyer, Studebaker engineer and later PA technical editor, about the source of the design. I was interested in finding the name of the stylist who originally penned the design. I also asked if he could shed some light on the reasoning behind the process for determining its use for both marques. While he didn't give me a name of the stylist, he did say that the reason for the two using the same body lines, was because AL Erskine, as president of Studebaker/Pierce Arrow, was very partial to the design. He said to understand the process you had to realize how important Erskine was to every aspect of the company. To understand, think about how much impact Henry Ford had on Ford motor company. This is what Erskine was to Studebaker, and later Studebaker/PA.

 

I have owned a 1933 Pierce Arrow 836 for forty two years (I also own a 1931 President, 80R "Four Season Roadster"). As I indicated I have also been closely connected to the 1933 Speedway, and all 33's for that mater, for almost as long. So seeing the two cars together, has afforded me some special, if not unique perspective. 

 

As an aside, the 1932 Graham Blue Streak was the styling game changer for the whole industry. Northup's beautiful design became motivation for virtually every styling change, for the next few years. 

 

Bill

[Hudsy Wudsy]

On 2/3/2019 at 10:10 PM, Steve9 said:

I can’t believe someone hot rodded the car in West’s post. What a waste. Cheesy mags too.

Not just hot rodded it, but cut into the front fenders and made a wider side mount well for those tires.

[BucketofBolts]

It appears to me still that the 1933 Studebaker Speedway St Regis President coupe is still a model that appears not to have any existing units that survived. Am I correct? [See first post on this topic].   Would be super if this vehicle survived. 

[Buffalowed Bill]

Trying to understand the last post. There is a contradiction in the terminology used. There is a coupe and there is the St Regis Brougham. The coupe would be a three window coupe, while the St Regis Brougham is a close coupled, two door sedan. As I indicated in a previous post that there is at least one and maybe two St Regis Broughams that have survived. The coupe is a little more up in the air. I believe that there is one of those which has survived, but I will do some checking and make sure.

Bill 

[BucketofBolts]

See post from 58L-Y8 made 2/2/2019. With the shorter units there was a notch in the bottom of the door so that the door would open with the rear fender. On the longer Model 92 the wheelbase at 135 inches made it where the door was square with no notch as the fenders did not interfere with the door. The Model 92 was more costly and longer and made a more sleek look. The green & blue colored photo of the earlier black & white 1933 factory photo found on page #1 of this string post is the lost series 92 (my opinion). From my observation no surviving units of the Model 92 for the 2-door St Regis Speedway President have survived. My belief is that less than 100 of these units for this model 92 (St Regis Speedway President) were ever made. If I am wrong I would love to see a surviving example. 

[BucketofBolts]

I assume no news has surfaced regards the 1933 Model year Studebaker --   Model 92  St Regis President 2-door Brougham at 135 Inch wheelbase? It was the longest and most costly 2-door car for Studebaker for the year 1933.   If any are for sale I am an interested buyer. 

[KURTRUK]

As mentioned before...Richard Quinn is your man for this question.  Surprised he hasn't appeared yet.  Although chances are better of him seeing this if it had been in the Studebaker Forum section.

[John_Mereness]

You probably just need to call all the members in the Club with a President and ask.  

 

That said, while I do not support such things, you may end up making one if it is your end all be all goal to have one (I assume it van be done with a Commander  or ... and a President combined). 

 

[BucketofBolts]

Only interested in Model 92 as per the above QUINN image restored or un-restored.  Just hopeful that with an Estate sale there might of been a barn find that may have surfaced.