Comments

It may not have caught fire yet, but there's still plenty of time. Everything's just sitting around again rotting away.

The beautiful buildings of architecture are left to decay. Let's build some cheap condos!!!

Maybe it's a short in the electrical line.

Yes, I can believe that, Tara. Does anyone care anymore? Would love to just spend a little time on all that paperwork; just for curiosity.

So VERY unsanitary!!

That is really disgusting! Don't they get rid of all that waste before they close places like this?

What is that thing that looks like a person? It's creepy! Obviously it's not a real person (I'm not much of a believer in ghost) but what is it?
I thought an old pipe but the coloring is too strange for that.....

Thank you Janice.......I have an affinity for cars in general.....and out of business auto companies. Studebaker, Hudson, Packard, Kaiser, Tucker, DeSoto.....etc etc. All promised the American car buying public the greatest automobile ........and all were shut down......by the Big Three. In some way or another.....all eventually became folklore. At least to me. That's American automotive history at it's finest. Most of these companies built fine cars. Most lacked the capital to properly manage the company. Many were absorbed by one another. Some simply didnt come to work the next day. But, it's true Automobile history. This hulking empty building once known as a thriving auto plant.....which employed thousands of workers.....is now empty and more or less forgotten. If those walls could talk ??? What would they say ?? What has that building seen ?? The times of this country. All of the events of this country this building has endured. The other car companies......the scrap engines sitting on it's floor.......the irreverent kids who feel spraypainting graffity is a good thing to do........the future wrecking ball. It's literally a part of Americana. It's what formed this country. Without those pieces of history.......things arent complete. To see the things that this building has seen while standing.......would be worth the trip !!!

You're speaking of a "Three On The Tree".....type of manual transmission !!!! They looked like an automatic......but it was a "stick shift" on the steering column. Some were 4 speeds......most were 3 speeds......hence the "3 on the tree". The "tree" was the steering column......a nickname back in the day. A 3 speed was easier to put on the steering colum.....as it only needed 4 gates for the shifter. 3 speeds forward.....and Reverse. A 4 speed is much harder to do because of the extra gear......but some did deliver that way. And......most base model automobiles were only equipped with a manual transmission. A base model Studebaker Champion or Commander.....was equipped with a manual 3 speed. By base model......you got a car.......that's it !!! No bells and whistles. Nowadays.......automatic transmission is standard equipment. That didnt start till the mid 70's actually. "Back in the day"......all base model cars were manual transmissions. Automatics were about $75 extra charge !!! At least in about 1954 !!!

Some info on your 1947 Studebaker from my research fiiles............

Costing $11 million to develop, these new Studebakers were presented in the
spring of 1946. This was the work of Robert E Bourke and Virgil M Exner
at Loewy Associates. Exner, who by the time it was released had set up its
own design studio, was actually the person responsible for the details of the
car. Commanders returned along with the Champions. The latter dropped the
Skyway name. The Champion and Commander had different fronts and
rode different chassis. The Commander wheelbase had an extra 7 inches but
since those inches were placed ahead of the cowl no extra interior room was
gained. The '47 had a body colored molding on the front edge of the hood.
Parking lights were rectangular and placed in grille opening. Front emblems
were different on Commanders and Champions. Commanders had Commander
inscript on left side of hood and Studebaker on right. Both Champion and
Commander convertibles had a one-piece curved windshield, while all others
had the traditional two-piece. Introduced this year was the Hill-Holder, which
was a pioneering Studebaker option designed to hold manual cars in place
on hills. Another advance was the employment of automatic, self-adjusting
brakes. There was also an overdrive transmission provided as optional
equipment, and this consisted of an automatic higher gear that cuts in at 30
mph and reduces the engine speed 30 percent. Other options were radio
with telescopic antenna which could be wound out or retracted from the
driving seat, a controlled spotlight mounted on the windscreen pillar, a two-
way switch which linked the horn ring to flash the headlights as a silent
warning. A special 123 inch chassis was reserved for the new Commander
Land Cruiser. Both Commanders and Champions were offered as two-
and four-door sedans, (4-doors had suicide rear doors) 3 passenger
coupe, convertible coupe and the new 5 passenger coupe which had a radical
wraparound rear window. All except convertibles and Land Cruiser were
available in both base DeLuxe trim and an optional Regal DeLuxe trim.
Some of the Regal trim differences included stainless steel rocker panel
moldings and windshield borders. Champions carried a 169.6 cui inline
six producing 80 hp and Commanders had a 226 cui inline six with 94 hp.

A total of 105,097 Champions and 56,399 Commanders were
produced during the year.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the photos of this forgotten Studebaker plant. It's probably doomed to be another Wal-Mart......or strip mall.......or Mega Convenience mart. Will the future generations ever even wonder what a Studebaker was ??? Or will it become just a part of history that's forgotten ?? Will my grandkids grandkids ever even hear the name "Studebaker" ?? Maybe. Doubtful.....but maybe. It makes me wonder what from that time period WILL be remembered. That which played a part in the formation of the fabric of this country.

Enuff waxing poetic.......carry on now........

these pictures remind me how far we have come with the treatment of our mentally challenged individuals and how far we still have to go!

No....not scary at all! *faints*

I'm pretty sure he meant sun rays, not some dude named Ray.

Here we go again!

Tastey.. it always creeps me out when i go into a place to see alot of dead animals... just like .. why here? haha its a nice shot :D

I wanna see some real ghosts

Isn't anyone gonna finish it?