Wheels: Studebaker Porsche

The year is 1952, and independent automaker, Studebaker is spitballing ideas to increase sales and marketing reach. They recently opened a plant in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and are extending their international influence overseas. Following World War II, British authorities at that time were still in control of parts of Germany, including the Wolfsburg Volkswagen plant and gave Studebaker the opportunity to take over that facility as an outright gift, taking it off their hands. But the VW plant was still heavily damaged from Allied bombing activity, and the Nazi genealogy was a marketing nightmare so Studebaker declined.

Still, Richard Hutchinson, head of Studebaker’s export operations, intrigued by the Beetle, contacted VWs importer and had one shipped to Studebaker headquarters in South Bend, Ind., but Harold Vance, president of Studebaker had no interest in the deal and quickly nixed it. Volkswagen’s U.S. importer, Max Hoffman, kept in touch with Hutchinson and arranged a meeting with representatives from an upstart German automaker to discuss design ideas. The head of this small firm, a man named Ferdinand Porsche, was doing design and engineering consultancy work while his burgeoning company grew. Porsche and his team came to South Bend with a Porsche 356 coupe and a concept Type 530, essentially a 356 with a longer wheel base and larger cabin designed to be a sports car for four passengers. This prototype didn’t impress Hoffman or the Studebaker execs, but they did sign an agreement with Porsche worth $500,000 (about $5.5 million today) to try again.