The 1947StudebakerM-5 Coupe Express competed handily with truck fromFord , Chevrolet , and Dodge . Unlike Studebaker ’s 1937 - 1939 Coupe - Express manikin , which were car - pick-me-up hybrids , the 1947 Studebaker M-5 Coupe Express ( no hyphen ) descended from a seam of dead on target trucks .
Studebaker in 1941 had rocket back into the truck business it had temporarily abandoned . It fielded the M5 home of trucks , a unspecific line of 1/2- to 1 1/2 - ton models . Spanning 113- to 195 - inch wheelbase , these offerings had 90 percent of the truck market covered .
Classic Truck Image Gallery
The truck rebirth was built on profits from the Studebaker Champion car , which had rescue the society beginning in 1939 .
The half - gross ton M-5 pickup truck was shout the Coupe Express . Far unlike from the 1937 - 1939 car - based Coupe - Express models , it was a genuine truck . But in a canny bit of conception engineering , the Studebaker M-5 Coupe Express shared many components with Studebaker ’s rider cars , thus greatly reducing tooling costs .
Underhood was the Champion ’s 170 - cid L - head six , with 80 bhp . The dashboard was Champion , as were some organic structure panels , headlamp rim , and thesteeringwheel . hubcap were borrowed from the Commander .
Base Studebaker M-5 Coupe Express pickups were comparatively spartan , like most trucks of the twenty-four hours . But for around $ 25 , the DeLuxe Equipment Group added brightwork on the grille and hood , a chrome driver ’s mirror , hood ornament , body - people of colour ( or else of inglorious ) fenders , and an internal light .
option also included bumper guards , grille guard , chrome rear bumper , glare , foglamps , radio – even whitewalltires .
Civilian truck yield halted for the warfare , but by 1947 was move full tilt ; 1947 Studebaker M-5 Coupe Express output pass 23,000 for the year and entire M - series yield topped 52,000 .
The 1947 Studebaker M-5 Coupe Express name for $ 1,082 . Changes over the prewar modelling were underage , but a bare tyre was now included and the option tilt spread out modestly . A hood ornament was stock from mid-1947 ; previously , it had cost $ 4.75 extra .
The Studebaker M-5 Coupe Express was virtually unaltered in 1948 because it was schedule to be discontinued in favor of a raw postwar design in March of that yr .
