Studebaker Corporation was justifi-ably proud of being "First by Far with a Postwar Car" in 1946. The introduction of all-new 1947 models in April '46 upended the industry and it took a good three years or more before the last of the prewar-style stragglers caught up. Indeed, by then, Studebaker was ready with a second generation of its postwar look. It would be one of the few fresh faces of 1950, a year still sprinkled with more innovations than that outward sameness suggests. To" be sure, the '50 Studebakers that went on sale in August 1949 were not thoroughly new, for their rear sty ling was but an adaptation of the smooth 1947-49 theme-though now with vertical tail-lights. In '46, pundits asked of the Stude's roughly symmetrical style "which way is it going?" Now there was no question: pointed prow that many called "bullet nose." In the middle of the "face" was a circular chrome fairing with a projectile hub like an airplane-propeller spinner. The main air intakes, in a moth-wing style, were pushed below this feature. "Studebaker has done it again," bragged the brochures, "the boldest step yet in refashioning automobiles for smarter looks and safer, simpler, more relaxed driving"-which was only mildly over-stated. If anything was certain it was that no one would mistake an oncoming Studebaker for any other make of car.
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