The company after cars: diversification, Studebaker-Worthington, and the end of the name

1963 – 1979

The diversified company: Egbert's Studebaker had already begun buying its way out of the automobile business before the closing: by the 1963 annual report the corporation's divisions included Onan (engines and generators), STP (the oil additive), Gravely (tractors), Clarke (floor machines), CTL (missile and space technology), Franklin (appliances), Schaefer (commercial refrigeration), Paxton (superchargers), and a stake in Trans International Airlines, beside the automotive operations. After 1966 that diversified portfolio was the company. The South Bend vehicle work that remained — the General Products Division, building military and postal vehicles on the government contracts — was acquired by Kaiser Industries, and in 1970 American Motors bought the division; it exists today in the line of AM General. Studebaker's parts and service operation (SASCO) remained in South Bend for decades before the work moved to southern Indiana, in the museum archivist's account within about the last decade before 2026.

The mergers and the name: In May 1967 Studebaker merged with Wagner Electric, and in November 1967 it merged with the Worthington Corporation to form Studebaker-Worthington — one current encyclopedia text dates the Worthington combination's completion to February 1968, and both datings are carried in the record. McGraw-Edison acquired Studebaker-Worthington in 1979, and the Studebaker name then disappeared from the American business scene, a leasing company (Studebaker Leasing, of Jericho, New York) excepted; McGraw-Edison itself was bought by Cooper Industries in 1985. The name that had been on wagons in 1852 thus ended its corporate life 127 years later, on no product of its own.

Sources:

1. Standard encyclopedia history of Studebaker — the 1963 annual report's division list, the General Products Division's passage through Kaiser Industries to American Motors in 1970 and the AM General succession, the Wagner Electric merger of May 1967 and the Worthington merger (November 1967 in the text, February 1968 in the current revision), the 1979 McGraw-Edison acquisition and the name's disappearance, and Studebaker Leasing's survival.
2. South Bend Tribune (2026) — Beckman on the parts and service presence in South Bend until roughly a decade before, and its move to southern Indiana.