Its a shame to see it idle ,I think I read somewhere that Stamping Machine was one of the largest in the country when it was installed.Capable of stamping out large automobile hoods and roof pannels.
The balconies(platforms with railings )were stock rooms served buy overhead crane that was up near the roof.Remember this was before just in time delivery.(CKD) Completly knocked down cars and trucks where boxed and shipped around the word for assemley in other countries.As well as Studebaker Plants in Los Angelis and Canada.And service parts depots in every major city in the world.Today we speak of globalization,Studebaker was global when things still moved by horse and steam locomotive.Their slogan was,The roads of the world are rutted deep from the wheels of Studebaker Wagons and Buggies.
Recent news has corrected me in my coments about AM General above.They are still producing Humvees.It has been reported in the news that AM General was forced to stop production,because of the strike at American Axle that is now in its 6th week.has effected the supply of parts needed to assemble Humvees.
The conveyor system in the picture is one of the reasons that the physical plant in South Bend was not efficent for 1960's automobile production.The car bodies were assembled in a mulity storey building.Then rode the conveyor to the upper floor of the final assembly building.Where they dropped through the ceiling to the assembly line on the ground floor.As longer and wider cars became popular in the late 50's and 60's the clearences of the conveyor system would not accomadate larger bodies.Some of the longer cars they produced had to be sectioned in a seperate opperation.
The trench is for railroad cars.It was a door level loading dock.It was used in the days before multi-level auto rack rail cars,to load set-up automobiles into Box cars.
Studebaker built military trucks of a design by REO in the plant in Mishawaka Ind.where they built Wright Cyclone B-17 engines during the war.After the South Bend Automobile production ceased in 1963 the military contracts were taken over by Kiaser Corporation in the same plant.Kiasers truck and Jeep production was later bought by American Motors who continued production in the plant and others.The military division was named AM General and also made postal vehicals.AM General was spun off before the purchace of American Motors by Chrysler Corporation.They developed the military Humvee(Hummer) and I believe the proto-type was built in the truck plant although production was elswhere.I think the Humvee mil-spec is out of production and AM General no longer exists.General Motors owns the rights to produce civilian Hummers.I would speculate the engines in the photos belong to the reciever of AM General.They were probably kept around to sell to foriegn governments who purchased surplus military trucks.A few Studebaker built 6x6 were still in U.S.Army Reserve and Gard Units into the 1980s.