Editing Studebaker Dictator

{{Infobox automobile
| name = Studebaker Dictator
| image  = 1937 Studebaker Dictator (4806308916).jpg
| caption = 1937 Studebaker Dictator 4-door sedan
| aka = Studebaker Director (international)
| manufacturer = [[Studebaker]]
| assembly = [[Studebaker Corporation#Studebaker Factories|Studebaker Automotive Plant]], [[South Bend, Indiana]], [[United States]]
| class = [[Mid-size]]
| predecessor = [[Studebaker Light Six]]
| successor = [[Studebaker Champion]]       
| model_years = 1927–1937
| layout = [[Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout|Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive]]
}}
The '''Studebaker Dictator''' is an automobile produced by the [[Studebaker]] Corporation of [[South Bend, Indiana]], [[United States]] from 1927 until 1937. Model year 1928 was the first full year of Dictator production.

In the mid-1920s, Studebaker began renaming its vehicles. The model previously known as the [[Studebaker Standard Six]] became the Dictator during the 1927 model year—internally designated model GE. The name was intended to connote that the model "dictated the standard" that other automobile makes would be obliged to follow.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.waaamuseum.org/collections/automobiles/530-1928-studebaker-dictator-coupe |title=1928 Studebaker Dictator Coupe |work=waaamuseum.org |location=Hood River, Oregon, USA |access-date=2024-09-13}}</ref> Dictators were available in a full range of body-styles.

The Dictator was Studebaker's lowest-price model, followed (in ascending order) by the [[Studebaker Commander]] and [[Studebaker President]] series. There was also a Chancellor model in 1927, but that year only.<ref name=hendrym>{{cite book|title=Studebaker: One can do a lot of remembering in South Bend|last=Hendry|first=Maurice M|publisher=Automobile Quarterly|location=New Albany, Indiana|page=239|id=Vol X, 3rd Q, 1972}}</ref> In June 1929, Studebaker began offering an 8-cylinder engine for the Dictator series ({{convert|221|cuin|cc}}, 70&nbsp;bhp at 3,200&nbsp;rpm), designed by [[Delmar "Barney" Roos|Barney Roos]], though the old 6-cylinder option was continued for another year.<ref name=hendrym/> There was no 1933 Dictator due to Studebaker's bankruptcy, and a redesigned lower-priced model was released in 1934 with a 6-cylinder engine. The 8-cylinder engine was then on only available for the Commander and President models.

==Name==
Studebaker marketed its Standard Six as the '''Director''' <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/79970/fd2011-pp00003653-pdf001.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |title= Director |date=1927-01-01|publisher= Studebaker (1927) |access-date=2025-05-23}}</ref> overseas.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122811674 |title=Studebaker Director Victoria |newspaper=[[The Sunday Times (Western Australia)|The Sunday Times]] |page=23 |date=13 May 1928 |via=[[National Library of Australia#Trove|Trove]] |access-date=2024-09-13}}</ref> 

Though it had not caused problems in the United States,<ref name=alpers>{{cite book|author1=Alpers, Benjamin L.|title=Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture: Envisioning the Totalitarian Enemy, 1920s-1950s|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2003|isbn=0-8078-2750-9}}{{page needed|date=September 2024}}</ref> Studebaker  discontinued the 'Dictator' name in 1937, calling it the [[Studebaker Commander|Commander]], last used by the maker in 1935. At that time, [[Raymond Loewy]] and [[Helen Dryden]] were working on new concepts for body design and customer appeal.

==Gallery==
{|
|[[File:1927 Studebaker Dictator (4604514670).jpg|thumb|1927 Business Coupe]]
|[[File:Studebaker 1927 jaslo1.jpg|thumb|1927 4-door sedan]]
|[[File:Studebaker 1927 jaslo2.jpg|thumb|1927 4-door sedan]]
|}
{|
|[[File:1935 Studebaker (14288679855).jpg|thumb|1935 4-door sedan]]
|[[File:1936 Studebaker Dictator Six (5087376469).jpg|thumb|1936 2-door sedan]]
|[[File:1936 Studebaker Dictator Six (5087378245).jpg|thumb|1936 2-door sedan]]
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{commonscat}}
* {{cite book|author=Maloney, James H.|title=Studebaker Cars|publisher=Crestline Books|year=1994| isbn=0-87938-884-6}}
* {{cite book|author=Langworth, Richard|title=Studebaker, the Postwar Years|publisher=Motorbooks International|year=1979|isbn=0-87938-058-6}}
* {{cite book|author=Gunnell, John|title=The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975| publisher=Krause Publications|year=1987|isbn=0-87341-096-3}}

{{Studebaker}}
{{Studebaker historic timeline}}
[[Category:Studebaker vehicles|Dictator]]
[[Category:Rear-wheel-drive vehicles]]
[[Category:Cars introduced in 1927]]
[[Category:1930s cars]]
[[Category:Cars discontinued in 1937]]


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