Studebaker's
proving grounds were acquired by its former supplier,
Bendix Corporation, which later
donated the grounds for use as a park to the
St. Joseph County, Indiana, parks department. As a condition of the
donation, the new park was named
Bendix Woods. The grove of 5,000
trees planted in 1937 that spelled out the Studebaker company name still stands and has proven to be a popular topic on such
satellite photography sites as
Google Earth [19].
Today, the former proving ground is owned by
Robert Bosch GmbH and it continues to be active some 80 years after it was built.
After the final closure, Studebaker continued to exist as a closed investment group, with
income derived from wholly owned
subsidiaries. The policy of diversification had resulted in acquisition of companies such as
Schaefer, which made commercial refrigerators,
STP, which made automotive oil treatments,
Gravely Tractor,
Onan Electric
Generators,
Clarke Floor Machine and
Paxton Automotive, making automobile
superchargers.
There was even a commercial airline,
Trans International Airlines, founded by
Kirk Kerkorian.
After 1966, Studebaker and its diversified units were acquired by Wagner Electric in 1967. Subsequently, Studebaker was then merged with the Worthington Corporation to form Studebaker-Worthington. The Studebaker name disappeared from the American business scene in 1979, when McGraw-Edison acquired Studebaker-Worthington. McGraw-Edison was itself purchased in 1985 by
Cooper Industries, which sold off its auto-parts divisions to
Federal-Mogul some years later.
