Studebaker WW2 history

[motto (RIP)]

I believe the US6 came into existence because General Motors could not meet the demand for the CCKW and was unwilling to go into a close relationship with another maker for parallel production of the vehicle as Ford and Willys did with the Jeep.
Many parts were interchangeable between the split diff GMC and the US6 with the biggest difference being the power plant. The US6 using a Hercules JXD 6 cylinder side valve 320 cubic inch engine whilst the GMC used an in-house 6 cylinder overhead valve 270 cubic inch unit.
A total mystery to me is why both trucks used a similar overdrive transmissions which was then cancelled out by an under drive transfer case. A similar result could be achieved using significantly fewer parts with transmission and transfer case straight through in top and high range.

David

[Lang]

Dave

Maybe they already had the 5 speed overdrive in general production for their civilian trucks and did not want to reinvent the wheel.

The transfer case was an add-on bit to a standard rig so why not use that to achieve the desired gear ratios for military use creating the least work and expense..

Lang

[Mike K]

I bought a set of NOS US6 seat covers at Auto Surplus, Mitcham, they had a large amount of US6 stuff. I also got a main wiring loom and cut it up for my jeep project .

Colin on the counter told me they were considering scrapping their US6 stock or selling it to the Israel govt. He said they had purchased US6 trucks from the Russians. I also bought new headlights , removed the mounts and fitted Dodge mounts to the US6 headlight bodies.

The NOS parts were packed with shredded WW2 newspapers. They had hundreds of NOS tailights and the WW2 trico wiper motors 2 in a box, 5 bucks a box. Boxes full of early CMP rubber tailights $2 per light this was early 1980s. I still have some NOS wiper arm kits I bought there , the new parts were finished in at least 3 different shades of WW2 era factory applied OD green .

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Here’s a Studebaker tractor in use with the RAF towing a Queen Mary trailer.

Very unusual!

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[Mike Cecil]

A 6x4, too.


David Doyle is about to release his tome on the Studebaker. Should be an interesting and comprehensive read if his DUKW book is anything to go by.


Mike