Hamilton: the Canadian epilogue, 1948–1966

1948 – 1966

The plant: Studebaker's postwar Canadian factory was at Hamilton, Ontario, in a wartime gun plant — the former Otis-Fenson works off Burlington Street, built in 1941 — chosen for its nearness to the Canadian steel industry. (The company's earlier Canadian home, the Walkerville plant taken from E-M-F, had built cars from 1912 to 1936.) On 18 August 1948, before more than 400 employees and a battery of reporters, the first Hamilton car, a blue Champion four-door sedan, rolled off the line. The plant was, in the encyclopedia's phrase, always profitable — a small, efficient operation in a protected market.

The wind-down: After December 1963 Hamilton was Studebaker's only factory, under Gordon Grundy. The arithmetic the company worked to was that the Canadian operation could break even on about 20,000 cars a year; the announced goal for 1965 was 30,000 to 40,000, and actual 1965 production came in just short of 20,000. From the end of South Bend engine production the Canadian cars ran on "McKinnon" engines — Chevrolet-based sixes and V8s built by General Motors of Canada. The 1966 run totaled 8,947 cars in the Studebaker Canada account. In early 1966 Grundy asked the board for funds to tool a 1967 restyle and was refused; on 4 March 1966 the company announced it was leaving the automobile business.

The last car, and its disputed day: The final Studebaker was a turquoise-and-white Cruiser four-door sedan, V8-powered, now restored and displayed at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend. The day it was completed is one of the few points on which the record will not settle: the Hamilton Spectator's Memory Project and the narrative of the Studebaker Canada history give 16 March 1966, while the Studebaker National Museum's archivist, quoted in the Tribune, dates the completion to St. Patrick's Day, 17 March, at 8:11 in the morning — and the Canada history's own citation line also carries 17 March. Both dates are printed here as their sources state them. The plant's 700 employees had made it Hamilton's tenth-largest employer. The move to Canada had been understood in the industry, in the encyclopedia's judgment, as a tactic by which production could be slowly wound down and the remaining dealer obligations honored; the two Canadian years performed exactly that office.

Sources:

1. Standard encyclopedia history of Studebaker, Hamilton plant and closure accounts — the first Hamilton car of 18 August 1948 and the plant's Otis-Fenson origin and steel-country siting, the plant's profitability, Grundy's leadership, the 20,000-car break-even and the 30,000–40,000 goal for 1965 against production just short of 20,000, the McKinnon engines, the announcement of 4 March 1966, the 700 employees and tenth-largest-employer standing, and the wind-down judgment.
2. Studebaker of Canada Ltd., marque history — the Walkerville years 1912–1936, the 8,947 cars of the 1966 run, the refusal of the 1967 tooling funds, the last Cruiser's completion on 16 March in its narrative and 17 March in its cited line, and the car's present display at the Studebaker National Museum.
3. The Hamilton Spectator, Hamilton Memory Project (2006), via the Canada history's citations — the last car on 16 March 1966 and the shutdown announcement of 4 March; South Bend Tribune (2026) — Beckman: the last Studebaker completed on St. Patrick's Day at 8:11 a.m.