This volume, one of the Photo Archive series books first published in 1995, features 131 black-and-white photographs. Editorial focus includes a range of light- and heavy-duty estate cars, paddy wagons, fire apparatuses, buses, beverage trucks, pickups, tankers, and tractors. More than a hundred photographs are featured, most in full-page format. The publisher explains the images were chosen to tell a story better than dozens of pages of text. Practicing what is preached, the captions (typically less than a dozen words each) are those originally supplied with the photographs. In the 21/2-page introduction, Applegate offers a brief overview of Studebaker’s origin in 1852, when Henry and Clem (Clement) began the production of horse-drawn wagons, noting Studebaker became the world’s largest manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in the world. According to Applegate, Studebaker “officially” entered the truck field in 1913, offering “three-quarter-ton delivery vehicles in panel or express versions.” None of these vehicles is included among the book’s photographs that begin with 1927. Applegate explains that, following World War I, Studebaker dropped its commercial truck offerings with the intent to concentrate on passenger cars, resuming truck production in 1927. Applegate concludes by summarizing the company’s tumultuous history through 1940. 

Book Review by Robert Gabrick