Car Of The Day: June 29, 2012

Today's car of the day comes from juantoo3's collection and is Yat Ming's 1937 Studebaker Coupe Express.

Jump to: navigation, search The Studebaker Coupe Express was a coupe utility, produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, between 1937 and 1939. Unlike other concurrent pick-up trucks, the coupe express mated Studebaker's passenger car styling to a full size truck bed.
The Coupe Express was created by using the Studebaker Dictator passenger car frame, running gear, and front sheet metal. A new body stamping was made to form the cab back. An all-steel pickup box was built for the pickup models. The model was sold as a cab and chassis, with rear fenders attached, so a service box could be fabricated by the end user (such as a plumber, or depot hack).
The truck was powered by the larger of Studebaker's L-head six-cylinder flathead engines and mated to a 3-speed manual transmission. Studebaker offered a Borg-Warner 3-speed transmission with overdrive as an option. Other options included, a radio, heater, wire reinforced sliding back window and turn indicators. Two wheel options were available including a stamped steel disc wheel and a stamped steel 'artillery' spoked wheel.

For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Studebaker Coupe Express

If it ever comes time to pick a definitive small scale Yat Ming casting- one car to represent the company as a whole, I vote for this one.  An extremely well-detailed, accurate casting with an opening hood of an obscure pickup from a defunct manufacturer.  With about 5,000 units built over a three year period more than seventy years ago, there aren't a lot of these left out there in 1:1.  When Yat Ming goes for it, they really can hold their own with any other company in the 1/64 arena.

Production for the 1937 model year was approximately 3,000 units.

The truck's passenger cab was restyled in 1938 to reflect the modernized passenger car sheet metal resulted a slightly longer pickup bed. Production for 1938 was approximately 1,200 units.

The 1939 model was again remodeled to reflect Studebaker's annual design updates. Production was approximately 1,000 units. The Coupe Express model was discontinued after the 1939 model year, and Studebaker did not offer a successor model for 1940.

Studebaker introduced the M-Series pickup truck 1941, while the company used the Coupe Express name in advertising for a time, but no M-Series trucks were ever officially designated as the Coupe Express.