Uraaaa! for Tovarish Studebekker! The majority of the 67,000 US6x4 U-7 produced between 1942 and 1945 were among the almost 80,000 2½-ton 6x4 Cargo trucks supplied to Russia in WW2, the balance being the most of the 12,000 produced U-8 (identitical to the U-7, but with winch) and the International M-5-6x4.
Some US-6 came to the UK - in the following formats: 2.5T 6x6 Long Wheelbase with or without winch 2.5T 6x6 Short Wheelbase without winch 5T 6x4 (non driven front Axle) 7T Prime mover for Semi-Trailer not sure if the last two had a different designation Most seem to have been GS Bodies but there were also Machinery, Stores and 750 Gal tanker. There are several photos of these in use with the Polish troops in Italy. Noel
Some brands simply become untenable over time. How ‘The Beaver’ lost its name - Macleans.ca Studebakers were actually good cars. My father swore that his 1960 Studebaker Lark was the best car he ever owned.
Studebakers were always very good. The company just wasn't large enough to compete with the big boys after WWII. They merged with Packard in the mid fifties, which was also ailing by then. One former Studebaker manager said later that the merger was like two drunks trying to help each other cross a street.
I will concede that point, however, you folks had a hand in it as well, so to speak. "In American colonial times it was thought that prostitutes spread venereal diseases through contact with their pubic area, so the women were made "bald" in that area for health reasons. However, their clients did not like that look and business began to suffer. Therefore, pubic wigs, called merkins, were manufactured for the prostitutes. These merkins were made out of beaver pelts. Hence the term beaver."