The Rockne: built in both of the company's cities

1931 — 1933

The make, apart from the memorial: The Rockne's story — the coach's appointment to Studebaker's sales-promotion work, his death in the Kansas air crash of 31 March 1931, the first production car presented to his widow, President Erskine's words at the unveiling — is the Studebaker section's, and stands there whole. This entry is the production record. The car itself was created by Ralph Vail and Roy Cole, two independent Detroit automotive engineers; their Cole–Vail prototype underlies the smaller of the two production models. The Rockne Motors Corporation, a wholly owned Studebaker subsidiary, was set up in Detroit. Production ran from late 1931 to July 1933, for the 1932 and 1933 model years.

Two models, two cities: The Model 65 rode a 110-inch wheelbase with a 189.8-cubic-inch L-head six of sixty-six horsepower, priced from 585 dollars; it was built at Detroit's Piquette Avenue plant, the old E-M-F works, production from 22 February 1932. The Model 75 rode 114 inches with the 205.3-cubic-inch six of seventy-two horsepower, from 685 dollars, based on the Studebaker Six; it was built at South Bend, production from 15 December 1931 — the one car of the two small makes that South Bend's own lines unquestionably turned out. Rocknes were also built at Walkerville, Ontario, and assembled abroad under license: about ninety of the 65s and 75s by A/S Skabo Jernbanevognfabrik in Norway, and some by De Forenede Automobilfabrikker at Odense, Denmark. For 1933 the line contracted to one model, the Model 10 — the 65 revised, its engine raised to seventy horsepower — with a few hundred 75s carried over and a commercial panel delivery based on the 10. Studebaker entered receivership on 18 March 1933; Rockne 10 production was moved to South Bend, where the last cars were built from April to July 1933 and called, in those months, the "Studebaker Rockne." Production ended in July 1933. The Rockne was, in its one full year, the best-selling Studebaker product of 1932.

The count, reconciled and conflicted: The chassis-serial accounting, as the Studebaker Drivers Club's Rockne pages compile it, gives the Model 65 at 16,132 cars in the United States and 728 in Canada; the Model 10 at 13,236 and 459; and the Model 75 at 6,565 for 1932 and 437 for 1933 in the United States, with 284 and 38 in Canada — 36,370 American-built and 1,509 Canadian, 37,879 in all. The trade account prints exactly that total, 37,879, and its components agree with the serial record (16,860 for the 65 with Canada counted in, 13,695 for the Model 10); the marque history's summary of "just under 38,000 — about 24,000 for 1932 and about 14,000 for 1933" is the same record rounded. The Smithsonian's "about 23,000 produced during its year of manufacture" is that 1932-year figure, not the make's total. Against all of these stands the catalog summary figure of 30,293 carried in the marque's standard encyclopedia-style entry, unreconciled with the serial accounting; both print, and the serial record is the one this section's arithmetic follows.

Sources:

1. Mac's Motor City Garage and Conceptcarz marque histories — the Rockne Motors Corporation set up in Detroit as a Studebaker subsidiary; the Cole–Vail creation; the Model 65 at Piquette from 22 February 1932 and the Model 75 at South Bend from 15 December 1931, with engines, wheelbases and prices; the best-selling Studebaker product of 1932; the summary total of just under 38,000.
2. The Studebaker Drivers Club's Rockne pages, as compiled in Bogomolov's marque gallery — the chassis-serial production accounting by model, year and country, totaling 37,879; the Norwegian assembly by A/S Skabo Jernbanevognfabrik and the Danish assembly at Odense, from the gallery record.
3. Tomorrow's Technician trade account — the 37,879 total and its decomposition; the Smithsonian Institution's Rockne account for the 1932-year figure of about 23,000; the marque's catalog summary (30,293) printed as the conflicting figure.
4. The Studebaker section of this history — the memorial narrative entire, and the 18 March 1933 receivership; the move of Rockne 10 production to South Bend for April–July 1933 as carried in the marque record.