The Erskine: a Studebaker make, assembled at Detroit

1926 — 1930

The make: The Erskine was produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend from 1926 to 1930, named for the corporation's president, Albert Russel Erskine, and marketed as "The Little Aristocrat." It was an assembled car in the period's honest sense: a Continental L-head six under the hood — 146 cubic inches in the first cars, rated at forty horsepower in the marque literature's specification for the final model and forty-four in another marque account, the two ratings printed as they stand — and a body designed by Ray Dietrich and built by Budd. It debuted at Paris in October 1926 and made its American debut at the National Automobile Show in New York in January 1927, the sedan at 995 dollars. The line ran four model series: the 50 of 1927 on a 108-inch wheelbase; the 51 of 1928, its engine grown to 160 cubic inches and the sedan down to 885 dollars; the 52 of 1929, the wheelbase lengthened by about two inches; and the 53 of 1930, on 114 inches, now with Studebaker's own 205-cubic-inch, seventy-horsepower six — by then essentially a base Studebaker wearing another name.

The production record: The marque's published totals, by model year, are 24,893 cars for 1927, 22,275 for 1928, 25,565 for 1929 and 22,371 for 1930 — 95,104 in all. The 1930 figure decomposes exactly: 20,619 cars finished as Erskines and 1,752 finished as the "Studebaker Six," the sum the specification record prints. A widely read marque history gives 1930 as 22,517 instead; the conflict is printed here at its size and not resolved. Two claims about the first season stand against each other and both print: the Studebaker company's own history, as the Studebaker section carries it, tells of 26,000 Erskines sold abroad in the first season; the production ledger counts 24,893 cars for the whole 1927 model year. The ledger governs the count in this section; the export figure stands as the company's account of itself. In May 1930 Studebaker pulled the nameplate, and the final Model 53s — about 1,750 cars — were sold as the Studebaker Six by the simple expedient of swapping the radiator badge and the hubcaps.

Where it was assembled — the conflict printed whole: The catalog-style summaries of the marque list its assembly as South Bend, Indiana, the corporation's seat. The marque literature says otherwise, in two accounts: the Erskine "was to be assembled not in South Bend but at the company's Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit," and everything for the car came together in the old Piquette plant. The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant's National Historic Landmark record independently places the 1927 and 1928 Erskine models at Piquette, and the Studebaker section of this history carries Piquette retained for Erskine assembly from 1927 to 1929. The 1930 Model 53's assembly seat is not separately documented in the record reached, and the gap is named rather than filled. The make's home was South Bend; its assembly line, on the weight of the record, was Detroit's — the same divided address the Rockne would repeat.

Sources:

1. The Erskine marque record (production by model year 24,893 / 22,275 / 25,565 / 22,371; the 1930 decomposition of 20,619 Erskine-badged and 1,752 Studebaker Six; the May 1930 badge-swap ending) and Hemmings' Model 53 account — the Continental six at forty horsepower, the Dietrich body by Budd, the Piquette assembly statements in two accounts.
2. Mac's Motor City Garage marque history — the Erskine assembled at Detroit's Piquette Avenue plant rather than South Bend; the Continental rating at forty-four horsepower printed as the conflict it is.
3. The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant National Historic Landmark record — the 1927 and 1928 Erskine models built at Piquette; the Studebaker section of this history for the 1927–1929 Piquette assembly, the Paris and New York debuts and the company's 26,000-abroad first-season account.
4. Classic & Sports Car marque history — the 1930 production printed as 22,517, against the specification record's 22,371.