The Mammoth ’31 Studebaker: Gone in a flash…

Car companies used to do some really cool, innovative promotional stunts like this. Big, bold and blazoned projects that told the world, “Buy our cars, cause we can do anything!” Such was the case of this 2.5:1 scale model automobile, built by Studebaker’s Experimental Body Shop to replicate the new 1931 President model and placed on the lawn outside their Proving Grounds in South Bend, Indiana. It was created as a giant prop for a promotional film called ‘Wild Flowers’, and the body panels were made of mainly of white pine, gracefully hand-formed in the Studebaker factory and assembled on the lawn where the car stood. The final result was painted two-tone green, and stood over 14 feet tall and weighed 11,000 pounds! Firestone even produced the 10 foot tall tires for the car, and the wire wheel spokes were formed from electrical conduit. It even had a functioning rumble seat… How cool is that?

Sadly, sitting out in the elements and a bit of vandalism took it’s toll on the poor car over the next 5 years, and with little options to save it, workers burned the beauty to the ground, planting pine trees on the spot that stand to this day.