1929 - a new Dictator on the block

NY Times - June 9, 1929

The Studebaker Corporation yesterday announced its entrance into the $1,200 eight-cylinder field with a new Dictator car

- Up to the present, the Dictator has been a six. There are now three Studebaker eights, the other two being the Commander, also optional as a six, and the President, both of which are larger and higher in price than the Dictator. The new eight-cylinder models are: two-passenger coupé, $1,185; four- passenger coupé, $1,235; five-passenger 4-door sedan, $1,325, and five- passenger Regal sedan with folding luggage grid and six wire wheels, $1,435?

The new Dictator is mounted on a 115-inch wheelbase, which is two inches longer than that of the six. Body lines of the new car are longer and lower, and the wheels are smaller while the balloon tires are larger. In appearance, the car suggests the Commander and President, except for the design of the hood louvres, which are arranged in groups of three and set off by pin striping. Body contours are accentuated by raised moldings and curved windshield pillars topped by a polo cap visor. The deep, narrow radiator, head and cowl lamps, cowl beading, and large hub cars are chromium. Seats are wide and deep and upholstery is mohair except in the case of the business coupé, which is finished in leather. Front set and steering wheel are adjustable, and the steering wheel is the Husted steel-core type. Non- shatterable glass is used in the windshield.

The equipment includes cowl ventilator, automatic windshield cleaner, coincidental lock to steering and ignition, speedometer, oil pressure gauge, engine thermometer, gasoline gauge and ammeter.

Divided seats in the club sedan fold forward and permit entrance to the car through either door. By pressing a button at the base of the seat, each can be moved through a range of several inches.

The engine is an eight-in-line of the L-head type, developing seventy horsepower, with a taxable horsepower rating of thirty. Bore and stroke are 3 1/16 by 3 ¾ inches. Piston displacement is 221 cubic inches.

Advanced carburetion and downdraft manifolding are said to insure quick, responsive performance, and the carburetor is equipped with semi- automatic choke control. Lubrication if full-pressure feed to main, connecting rod and camshaft bearings. An oil filter on the motor makes it unnecessary to change engine oil except at 2,500-mile intervals, after the first 1,000 miles of running. A heavy statically and dynamically balanced crankshaft is mounted on nine main bearings and fitted with a Lancaster vibration dampener. Pistons are of cast iron and connecting rods are drop-forged steel.

Ignition and starring systems are Delco-Remy, and there is a manual control starter that prevents jamming or stripping the gears. Gasoline is supplied to the power plant by means of a fuel pump.

A single-disk clutch with a slightly conic driven member, semi-floating rear axle, Hotchkiss drive, semi-elliptic springs, hydraulic shock absorbers on all wheels, double-drop frame construction and four-wheel mechanical brakes are among the other features of the car. =========1929-30 Studebaker service bulletins/repair manual: