Studebaker history went back to 1852 when Clem and Henry Studebaker's blacksmith shop in South Bend, Ind., began building wagons. They grew into what they claimed was the world's largest producer of horse drawn vehicles.

The company entered the automobile business in 1902 with an electric car, but soon switched to gasoline-powered cars. Studebaker developed a reputation for building reliable, quality cars that excelled in setting stock car speed records. It acquired Pierce-Arrow in 1928, which brought a brush with extinction in 1933, but the company survived through the 1930s Depression.

Studebaker broke new ground in 1939 with the introduction of its all-new Champion, a lighter, slimmer version of the full-sized car. It proved very popular and set the tone for the company's cars for many years.

During the Second World War, automakers contributed to the war effort. When peace came, there was a rush to return to civilian car production to meet the pent-up demand created by the industry shutdown from February, 1942 to the fall of 1945. Companies returned to building slightly modified prewar designs while preparing their new postwar models. Studebaker began producing its 1942 designs with new trim and mouldings, but the 1946 lineup did not include the Commander and President models it had offered in 1942. It only produced the Champion, now called the Skyway Champion.

During the war, Studebaker had engaged industrial designer Raymond Loewy, creator of the original 1939 Champion, to style a new postwar car. Loewy favoured light cars with svelte, tight lines, and those were the principles that guided him in shaping the new Studebaker.
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