Tag: rockne

Posted on

A Rare Radiator Cap

Over the last several weeks, we traveled the highways and byways in search of car parts on the Highway 36 Treasure Hunt, the Nebraska Junk Jaunt, and the Highway 136 Trail of Treasures. We found many amazing parts, some of which will be featured here in the coming weeks, but this radiator cap is my favorite find of all:

The seller of this cap did not know what it was, and other shoppers guessed “Rolls Royce” due to the winged “R”. It does not, in fact, belong to a Rolls.

This ornate cap was originally found on a Rockne, manufactured by Rockne Motors Corporation, a Studebaker subsidiary, and named for legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne after his tragic death. The coach was enroute to Los Angeles when the airplane he was in burst into flames and crashed near Bazaar, Kansas, on March 31, 1931, just days after being named manager of the Studebaker sales promotion department. The coach and the car manufacturer were a natural pairing as Studebaker and Notre Dame were both institutions of South Bend, and Rockne had been traveling the country giving “pep” talks to Studebaker salesmen. One newspaper article said that he was employed by Studebaker to boost sales “through his knowledge of psychology and ability to lead men.”

Studebaker created the new Rockne as a memorial to the late coach, and it was launched in December of 1931. The first one manufactured was presented to Mrs. Knute Rockne, the widow of the coach. At the unveiling, Studebaker president Albert Erskine said, “It seems to be highly fitting that the finest qualities of Knute Rockne, the man, should be so brilliantly reflected and recalled by as fine an automobile as the Rockne Six will be. It is a source of great pride to us and to his family that this new automobile will honor his name and perpetuate his memory.”

The 1932 Rockne was available in two lines, the “65” and the “75,” with prices starting at $585 and $685.

It was a great-looking car, and reasonably priced, but in 1932 it had to compete with the new Ford V8 which was available at even lower prices:

For 1933, the Rockne Six was offered in the Model 10. It is shown as a sedan with suicide doors in the top photo below, and you can just make out the radiator cap:

When Studebaker’s Paul G. Hoffman introduced the 1933 models to a group of Studebaker salesmen and dealers at a Boston meeting in December of 1932, he was quoted as saying, “Our challenge to depression – there they are!”

Unfortunately, the Depression won this one. In Stephen Longstreet’s history of Studebaker, A Century on Wheels, he put it this way: “The Rockne Six was well engineered, well built. It was also low-priced. But even that price was too much for a nation selling apples at street corners.” Although sales were not bad for a brand-new automobile, Studebaker was facing serious financial problems, and the Rockne was not produced after 1933.

Coach Rockne’s personal car was a Studebaker President Eight Victoria. It was reported in September of 1931 that one of Rockne’s former players, John Edward “Jack” Chevigny, had purchased this car from the coach’s widow. Chevigny is the Notre Dame player that made the famous “That’s one for the Gipper” touchdown in Notre Dame’s game against Army on November 10, 1928. Chevigny was also a United States Marine Corps officer, and, tragically, he was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Sources:

Advertisement. Ford. The Kansas City Star, 31 Mar. 1932, p. 15.

Advertisement. Rockne Six. Argus Leader [Sioux Falls], 30 Dec. 1932, p. 10.

Advertisement. Rockne Six. The Atlanta Journal, 8 Jan. 1933, p. 15.

“Coach Rockne Killed When Plane Crashes.” The Lafayette Sun, 1 Apr. 1931, p. 1.

“Depression Is Challenged Now.” The Boston Globe, 7 Dec. 1932, p. 30.

“First Rockne Auto Is Given to His Widow.” Battle Creek Moon Journal, 23 Dec. 1931, p. 9.

Fraley, Oscar. “Johnny Has Gone to Join the Gipper and the Rock.” The News and Observer [Raleigh, NC], 28 Mar. 1945, p. 9.

“Jack Chevigny Dies on Iwo Jima.” Buffalo Courier Express, 25 Mar 1945, p. 18.

Longstreet, Stephen. A Century on Wheels: The Story of Studebaker, A History, 1852-1952, New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1952.

“Loud Explosion and Spurting Flames in Murky Sky Heralded Disaster Which Claimed Life of Rockne and 7 Others.” Daily American Republic [Poplar Bluff, MO], 31 Mar. 1931, p. 1.

“New Rockne Six Expected To Be 1932 Sensation.” The Fresno Bee, 2 Dec. 1931, p. 12.

“New Studebaker, Rockne Shown.” The Atlanta Journal, 8 Jan. 1933, p. 15.

“Rockne Accepts Studebaker Job.” The South Bend Tribune, 24 Mar. 1931, p. 5.

“Rockne Joins Studebaker.” Press of Atlantic City, 25 Mar. 1931, p. 12.

“Rockne’s Life.” Los Angeles Evening Post Record, 31 Mar. 1931, p. 1.

“Studebaker Announces New ‘Memorial’ Car.” Kansas City Journal, 1 Dec. 1931, p. 10.

“Studebaker Rockne Six Makes Debut.” The Herald Palladium [St. Joseph, MI], 1 Dec. 1931, p. 11.

Whitaker, John. “Speculating In Sports.” The Times [Hammond, IN], 4 Sept. 1931, p. 22.

Posted on

Studebaker: Part II

In 1902, Studebaker started making “horseless carriages” and sold their first one just four days before the company’s 50th anniversary.  By this time, John Mohler (J.M.) was the sole remaining brother.  America quickly fell in love with the automobile and Studebaker sold an astonishing 9.5 million dollars’ worth of them just seven years later  in 1909.

One of these early automobiles was the Flanders 20.   The 20 had some design defects, and J.M. wanted to do something about it.  Stating that Studebaker had always backed up its goods with a guarantee showing good faith, the company dispatched hundreds of mechanics to fix every 20 that had been sold.  Likely the first recall, this endeavor cost Studebaker $1 million and said much about the Studebaker ethics.

The Studebaker was popular in Europe and, by 1912, Studebaker accounted for 37% of cars exported.  World events would soon affect the company again and, in 1914, 81-year-old J.M. saw the world go to war.  The last of the Studebaker boys died in March, 1917, before he could see the war end.   During the war Studebaker made many products to aid the war effort including artillery wheels, ambulances and water carts as well as harness sets and saddles.  Studebaker even developed a caterpillar tractor at the request of the British.

The 1920s were a boom time for American companies, and Studebaker was no exception.

By 1922, the company had sales of $133 million.  Albert Erskine was now in charge of the company, and Studebaker named a new small car after him, the Erskine Six.  In 1928, Studebaker bought stock in the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company, and Erskine boasted that they had a car for anyone in any price range.  Dividends were issued at 90% of the profits in 1929.  Then, in October, the  stock market crashed and the nation plunged into depression.

Times were tough in the 1930s.  Erskine believed a new, small, low-priced car was the way to go and so Studebaker introduced the Rockne Six, named for Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne.  This was a sad chapter in Studebaker’s history as Rockne was killed in an airplane crash in March of 1931.   Studebaker was using capital to continue issuing dividends and, by 1933, the company owed banks $6 million and went into receivership.  Erskine committed suicide.  Harold Vance and Paul Hoffman steered the company through reorganization, and Studebaker began making the popular and reasonably-priced Champion in 1939.

The world went back to war, and this time Studebaker focused on building trucks and aircraft engines for the war effort.  Studebaker also designed and built the M-29 tracked personnel and supply carrier known as the “Weasel” that could attain high speeds over any type of terrain.  The Weasel continued to see service in Korea and Vietnam.  This one is at the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles in Lexington, Nebraska:

While the other car companies were selling recycled versions of their pre-war models, Studebaker was “First by Far with a Postwar Car” when it came out with all new styling in 1947.  Strongly influenced by aircraft design, the postwar Studebaker had features like a gun-sight hood ornament, wrap-around rear windows and non-glare, black light instrument panel illumination originally developed for fighter planes.  They earned the nickname “Coming-and-Going cars,” because both ends looked so similar.

Studebaker re-styled for 1950 and continued the aircraft theme with “an airplane-type hood” that was “flanked by deep front fenders of the air foil design” and also featured the chrome “spinner” in the nose and an airplane-like hood ornament.  The design was revolutionary and people either loved it or hated it.  Seriously, what’s not to love?

The last chapter of Longstreet’s A Century on Wheels is titled “And Now Tomorrow”.  Unfortunately, Studebaker didn’t have too many tomorrows left.  They merged with Packard in 1954 and had some successes such as the Lark, but eventually closed the doors for good in 1966.  It is too bad this historic American company didn’t last another 100 years.  They probably would have if the Studebaker boys had still been in charge.