Studebaker Dictator
{{Infobox automobile
| name = Studebaker Dictator
| image = 1937 Studebaker Dictator (4806308916).jpg
| caption = 1937 Studebaker Dictator 4-door sedan
| aka = Studebaker Director (international)
| manufacturer = Studebaker
| assembly = Studebaker Automotive Plant, South Bend, Indiana, United States
| class = Mid-size
| predecessor = Studebaker Light Six
| successor = Studebaker Champion
| model_years = 1927–1937
| layout = Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive
}}
The Studebaker Dictator is an automobile produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, United States from 1927 until 1937. Model year 1928 was the first full year of Dictator production.
In the mid-1920s, Studebaker began renaming its vehicles. The model previously known as the Studebaker Standard Six became the Dictator during the 1927 model year—internally designated model GE. The name was intended to connote that the model "dictated the standard" that other automobile makes would be obliged to follow.{{cite web |url=https://www.waaamuseum.org/collections/automobiles/530-1928-studebaker-dictator-coupe |title=1928 Studebaker Dictator Coupe |work=waaamuseum.org |location=Hood River, Oregon, USA |access-date=2024-09-13}} Dictators were available in a full range of body-styles.
The Dictator was Studebaker's lowest-price model, followed (in ascending order) by the Studebaker Commander and Studebaker President series. There was also a Chancellor model in 1927, but that year only.{{cite book|title=Studebaker: One can do a lot of remembering in South Bend|last=Hendry|first=Maurice M|publisher=Automobile Quarterly|location=New Albany, Indiana|page=239|id=Vol X, 3rd Q, 1972}} In June 1929, Studebaker began offering an 8-cylinder engine for the Dictator series ({{convert|221|cuin|cc}}, 70 bhp at 3,200 rpm), designed by Barney Roos, though the old 6-cylinder option was continued for another year. There was no 1933 Dictator due to Studebaker's bankruptcy, and a redesigned lower-priced model was released in 1934 with a 6-cylinder engine. The 8-cylinder engine was then on only available for the Commander and President models.
Name
Studebaker marketed its Standard Six as the Director {{cite web|url= https://www.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/79970/fd2011-pp00003653-pdf001.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |title= Director |date=1927-01-01|publisher= Studebaker (1927) |access-date=2025-05-23}} overseas.{{cite news |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122811674 |title=Studebaker Director Victoria |newspaper=The Sunday Times |page=23 |date=13 May 1928 |via=Trove |access-date=2024-09-13}}
Though it had not caused problems in the United States,{{cite book|author1=Alpers, Benjamin L.|title=Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture: Envisioning the Totalitarian Enemy, 1920s-1950s|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2003|isbn=0-8078-2750-9}}{{page needed|date=September 2024}} Studebaker discontinued the 'Dictator' name in 1937, calling it the Commander, last used by the maker in 1935. At that time, Raymond Loewy and Helen Dryden were working on new concepts for body design and customer appeal.
Gallery
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
{{commonscat}}
- {{cite book|author=Maloney, James H.|title=Studebaker Cars|publisher=Crestline Books|year=1994| isbn=0-87938-884-6}}
- {{cite book|author=Langworth, Richard|title=Studebaker, the Postwar Years|publisher=Motorbooks International|year=1979|isbn=0-87938-058-6}}
- {{cite book|author=Gunnell, John|title=The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975| publisher=Krause Publications|year=1987|isbn=0-87341-096-3}}
{{Studebaker}}
{{Studebaker historic timeline}}
Category:Rear-wheel-drive vehicles
Category:Cars introduced in 1927
Category:Cars discontinued in 1937
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