I think we've fought about this before, but there is no question that
the Caddy was a influence on the Studebaker design.

Jim:

The most comprehensive report on Studebaker V-8 engine development
within SDC is the excellent article by Corbin Walters in the July 1990
Turning Wheels.

Studebaker's Vice President of Engineering during V-8 development was
Stanwood Sparrow. He was also President of the prestigious SAE
(Society of Automotive Engineers) in 1949. I believe he published a
lengthy article on Studebaker's V-8 engine development in the SAE
Journal, but it has been a long time since I've seen it. It would be
the excellent reference you'd like to read, Jim; I'm sorry I cannot
direct you to it. Perhaps someone else will post a link, if one is to
be had.

To the best of my knowledge, and I have tried to read everything I
could find on this topic in the last four decades, NO ONE has ever
come forward with any  honest-to-gosh documentation that the
Studebaker V-8 was developed by merely modifying a Cadillac V-8 just
enough to avoid patent/copyright infringements. Until they do, I'll
chalk it up to urban legend. Sadly, that is what is stated outright,
not just implied, in this otherwise excellent Hemmings Muscle Machines
article on Ted's car. It's too bad that such conjecture is included,
because the article is an otherwise stellar piece, of which the author
and us Studebaker nuts...and, especially, our own Ted Harbit, may be
proud.

No parts ever interchanged between the two engines, although you can
machine a Cadillac intake manifold to fit a Studebaker. Probably the
biggest similarity distinquishing Cadillac and Studebaker V-8s from
other immediate postwar V-8s is this: The coolant passage between the
heads at the front is handled by the water pump manifold, instead of a
runner at the front of the intake manifold. This gives the Cadillac
and Studebaker water pump and intake manifolds a similar appearance,
unlike Oldsmobile and the first (1951) Chrysler Hemi V-8. I guess if
Studebaker engineers had put the head-to-head coolant runner at the
front of the intake manifold, everyone would have said they copied the
Olds V-8! So either way, they couldn't have won.

Realistically, it would be ridiculous to assume Studebaker did not
carefully examine existing, new Olds and Cadillac V-8 engines during
the early stages of development. What manufacturer does not do
continuous competitive analysis when developing new product? To the
point, when cousin George Krem and I were exploring South Bend as
teenagers in 1961 and 1962, we could jump up and see inside the
Studebaker Engineering Building (now SASCO) windows along Franklin
Street. We saw an engineering shop where I distinctly remember seeing
Studebaker techs dismantling a Corvair, a Falcon, and a Dodge Lancer
for competitive analysis. (The windows were intentionally far enough
above the sidewalk that you could not see what was going on in there
just walking by.)

Assuming the engineers did examine a Cadillac V-8 as soon as they
could get their hands on one, they sure did a dynamite job of making a
better engine than Generous Motors had in production. Read Corbin
Walters' article and you will see how the Studebaker is just flat
better and tougher all the way through. Back to this piece in the
December 2004 Hemmings Muscle Machines: Writer Don Keefe does the best
job I have ever seen, outside SDC, of documenting the engineering
features in a Studebaker V-8 that result in the engine's unusual
toughness.

But until someone has better documentation than "well, they kinda look
alike," and/or "I read it somewhere in another car journal," I believe
it is a terrible disservice to Studebaker Engineers to state they
copied the Cadillac. If they did, perhaps some such genius can explain
why the Studebaker V-8 has more head bolts, timing gears instead of a
chain, a water pump easily R&R'd without have to remove the whole
manifold from the front of the engine, ETC ETC ETC.

The Studebaker V-8 was absolutely the best piece of engineering to
come out of South Bend in any capacity after World War II. General
Motors never, repeat never, produced such a tough passenger-car V-8 in
the first wave of domestic OHV V-8s following WWII. (Just my humble
opinion, I realize, but there is no quicker way to get under my skin
than to question the Studebaker V-8!) BP

Jim Caldwell <llewdlac@gbronline.com> wrote in message news:

straight with references please.

Not Bob, but I will put forth an answer.  I always say that the Studebaker
engine design is based on the '49 Cadillac engine.  The Studebaker engine
wasn't a copy of the Cadillac engine to the point of parts exchange, but
Studebaker did base their engineering off the Cadillac engine as a starting
point.  My reference is from speaking with a past President of the Studebaker
Corporation about this subject.
 

Gary L.  
Studebaker Drivers Club Director - Northeast Zone
36 year member of Studebaker Drivers Club, Inc.