1937 Studebaker Coupe Express, J5 🇺🇸

Studebaker‘s roots were in manufacturing horse drawn wagons for farmers and the military before automobiles. They formally entered the light-duty motorized truck market in 1914 with panel side and delivery trucks. Light-duty trucks, those under 1 ton capacity, often shared chassis with the companion automobiles produced by the manufacturer. Truck production continued through World War I, with both light and heavy duty trucks,  but at the end of hostilities Studebaker abandoned all truck manufacturing. 

Studebaker re-entered the truck market from 1927 through 1931 but sales never reached expectations. Perhaps the problem all along was that Studebaker never offered a pickup truck, despite using them at their factories and having coined the unhyphenated word  “pickup”. 

In 1937, Studebaker again re-entered the truck market but this time they offered a pickup for sale through dealers. The Coupe-Express was the most car-like pickup at the time. The chassis was basically a 5A Dictator passenger car.  Front end sheetmetal and most of the cab structure were also shared with the Dictator. Yet, the truck had vent windows, a luxury that few if any trucks of the era offered. It also boasted double windshield wipers, adjustable seats, dual sunvisors, a rearview mirror and a double wall bed structure all of which were nearly unheard-of in the light duty truck market at that time.

All the amenities of the Coupe-Express made the truck more expensive than its competitors. The Studebaker was nearly 20% more costly than a Ford Deluxe pickup of the same year. Consequently, the Studebaker tended to appeal to more gentlemanly users than typical farmers. Sales amounted to a small fraction of those enjoyed by Ford but still the J5 was the best selling Studebaker truck to that time.