With its short three-month production season and a radically styled new car on the way, 1946 became known as Studebaker’s forgotten year.
Skyway Champion 3/5 Passenger Coupe
On April 30, 1946 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York, Studebaker introduced its radical new 1947 product line, laying its claim to the slogan, “first by far with a postwar car.” (Read about it here.) But in the eight short months between the official end of World War II on September 2, 1945 and the launch of the 1947 models, there was indeed a 1946 Studebaker, too. Due to the brief production schedule and the relative lack of promotion, the ’46 season at Studebaker has often been called “the forgotten year.”
Skyway Champion chassis
Like the products of most all the domestic automakers, the ’46 Studebaker was in fact a ’42 model with very minor updates. The big Studebakers, President and Commander, were discontinued as production focused on the successful low-priced Champion line. Mechanically, the changes were few: same 110-in wheelbase chassis, same 169.6 cubic-inch L-head six with 80 hp. Detail changes included heavier bumpers and a new steering wheel. In fact, under the skin the 1942 and 1946 Champions were much like the 1939 original, a fairly advanced mid-sized car at its introduction.
Skyway Champion Cruising Sedan
The simplified ’46 lineup included just one model, now renamed the Skyway Champion to jazz things up a bit, and four body styles. The four-door Cruising Sedan, the biggest seller, featured quarter windows and front-opening rear doors. The short-roofed Coupe was available in three or five-passenger versions, while the longer roof of the two-door Club Sedan enabled a more generous rear seat. Styling changes for ’46 were minimal, with light revisions to the grille and the parking lamps relocated in the headlamp rings.
Skyway Champion Club Sedan
In one of his first published road tests in Mechanix Illustrated in June 1946, Tom McCahill checked out a Cruising Sedan in the Arizona back country. At the time, the soon-to-be-famed McCahill was just warming up his flamboyant prose style, so here his observations were more restrained than they would later come to be. But he did declare the Skyway Champion superior to the British cars of similar size he’d driven. He added, “If you are looking for a car with ruggedness, economy, and small-car maneuverability than one with a roomy interior and a high-powered engine, by all means give the Studebaker serious consideration.”
On October 23, 1945, the modest 1946 Skyway Champion line was formally introduced. But due to an 18-week labor strike at a major parts supplier and other delays, volume production at the South Bend, Indiana plant did not begin until December 7. Then barely three months later on March 8, 1946, production was halted to retool for the ’47 changeover. As a result, only 19,275 cars were built in the ’46 model year, more than half of them four-door Cruising Sedans. With 1946 forgotten, Studebaker moved on to the boldly styled ’47s.
Barely 20000 cars for 1946. Surprised they didn’t just skip and release the new model for 1947 early.
it says strikes delayed volume production, without the strikes I imagine the company would have sold many thousands more
Yes, the original plan was to begin production of 1946 cars in October of 1945 if not sooner.
Tooling wasn’t ready
For that matter I wonder why not put the ’42 back in production without even the most token of changes?
Every manufacturer did basically what Studebaker did. Back then, even a small change was made from year to year to have a way to differentiate it from what went before.
There was enthusiasm for new cars per se. However, owing to gas and tire rationing, there were plenty of good prewar cars around as well.
Prewar cars were completely worn out (and needed tires). Until at least 1948, dealers had a customer waiting for every new car. It’s the main reason that Kaiser got off to a good start despite being stiffly priced.
I have a 46 Cadillac limousine number 11 of 11 ever made for sale my number is 850-955-4022
Jeff L. says “Barely 20000 cars for 1946. Surprised they didn’t just skip and release the new model for 1947 early.” and that’s a valid question
Paul A Dietzel on November 3, 2025 at 3:15 pm said:
Jeff L. says “Barely 20000 cars for 1946. Surprised they didn’t just skip and release the new model for 1947 early.” and that’s a valid question. Studebaker was eager to be “first by far with a brand new car” and they were but it’s not like they knocked the Big-3 out of contention either. The public was so hungry for new cars that they didn’t necessarily need a brand new design as well and Chevy and Ford etc. also sold as many as they could build. Stude could have kept building the old design until ’49 and they would have started on even ground with the rest. Fair or not the “New” ’47 Stude design was yesterday’s news when Ford/GM/Chrysler ’49s debuted. Of course it all became moot when Ford started their price war in ’53
Studebaker’s design team wasn’t subject to the same restrictions on postwar product planning that Detroit was, because Raymond Loewy Associates was on contract, and not part of the company. Therefore they could work on a new product when GM, Ford and Chrysler couldn’t.
Was that new product needed? No, probably not. But Studebaker management liked the idea of beating Detroit with something new, and it worked for them, at least at that point.