Engine Room

a glimpse into the future, if robots ever take off.

This is the best set of pics since the boat-yard!

OK, dumb question- are these actual old "brand new" car engines from the original factory? If so, how old do you think they are, decade wise?

wow, that is crazy, look at all the engines that were wasted, do you think that they will recycle these??

Wonderful shot! Look at 'em all, lined up like soldiers!

rumor has it these are multi fuel "duece-and-a-half" motors for vietnam era army trucks

I bet those things could still be a worth a fortune, esp. part for part! It's kind of cool to imagine hooking that thing up and starting it up, just like it was brand new. Wow.

This reminds me of those old photos you see in the factories of the WWII era.

What a find! Great angle on this shot too, you can really see how big the room are..

Oh man - It must've been an amazing feeling walking into this place...

There must be a tremedous load on this floor. Was this ground level or one of the upper floors?

New old stock? That is amazing! Worth a fortune to the right people

yay, im glas you got a pic of this!!

I would be very surprised if these were Studebaker engines. I see a 'flex fan' on the front of one. They most likely are used engines, either to be rebuilt in one of the still active buildings or merely for storage before rebuilding. Some appear to large inline turbocharged 6 cylinder engines. They all have a similar profile so it's possibly they are of the same basic model. It also looks like many of them still have their transmissions attached.

These are not car engines, likely class 7 or even small class 8 truck engines. International Harvester was at this plant and they could have a remanufacturing center still here or they just abandoned them. Since they don't meet BIN II they're worthless today.

Hmmm....free engines anyone? :-p

I find the assumptions that people make to be rather entertaining. New Old Stock engines? Yeah, how about no. Free engines? Yeah, how about trying to steal them. However, there are some people who seem to know a bit more than most on here. As many people have noted, these buildings were surely used by various companies for many purposes over the years. That is a pretty safe assumption to make. We are not looking at a room full of top secret or rare Ferrari engines that remained undiscovered prior to this photograph.

I wonder what the buses in the background are for?

Are these engines still at the plant, and what kind are they? They look like diesel engines to me, but i could be wrong. Thanks

They are multi-fuel LDS465 engines out of military 2 1/2 ton M35 series 6x6 trucks

I'm told Studebaker engines were sold as industrial engines under the "Onan" brand. These could be sold for pump engines,etc. Anybody know for sure?

America has the biggest pile of disused shit ever. top pic man

Andy, it's "oy vey" and it's usually used to say "woe is me" or "Oh no"...in this case it could be used as "holy crap that's a lot of engines!" :0)

Ok, this one does have engines.

Onan generators were and are not Studebaker engines, although Studebaker Corp. owned Onan and produced generators at a plant in Scotland. The decendants of the Studebaker Corporation still own Onan.

thanks clark, didnt know that. i was going to comment to happy but you enlightened me.

they prbably are new old stock,based on the're on there clean aperense.their is no sing of wear,just surface rust.if they are m-35 engines they are worth plenty since these trurcks are still used by many municipalitys includeing fire departments and town maint. department.(bjb68bjb@yahoo.com)

These are the old 2 1/2 ton army truck engines , and they are waiting for the melt down, After Viet Nam the military tried to sell off as many as they could and these are whats left these engines are worn out, ------- JUNK

My M-275 has one in it and its turbo.It has been running since 1971.

This pic is worth a 1000 words., unfortunately this will have to do for now..

My friend and I found this room while exploring the facilities last spring before they demolished the stamping plant. Yep, they are the big six-bangers out of 2.5 ton military trucks, and they are most definately a surplus purchase. Many of the filter housings have maintenance stickers on them from various Army transportation depots and motor pools. Great site, by the way...I miss exploring the old buildings, and it is nice that someone captured them on film before the wrecking ball came

OK .. does anyone else see the orb and the old man face in the center of the pic? Or am I just going nuts?..
BTW.. I L O V E Motts pictures!

Studebaker built military trucks of a design by REO in the plant in Mishawaka Ind.where they built Wright Cyclone B-17 engines during the war.After the South Bend Automobile production ceased in 1963 the military contracts were taken over by Kiaser Corporation in the same plant.Kiasers truck and Jeep production was later bought by American Motors who continued production in the plant and others.The military division was named AM General and also made postal vehicals.AM General was spun off before the purchace of American Motors by Chrysler Corporation.They developed the military Humvee(Hummer) and I believe the proto-type was built in the truck plant although production was elswhere.I think the Humvee mil-spec is out of production and AM General no longer exists.General Motors owns the rights to produce civilian Hummers.I would speculate the engines in the photos belong to the reciever of AM General.They were probably kept around to sell to foriegn governments who purchased surplus military trucks.A few Studebaker built 6x6 were still in U.S.Army Reserve and Gard Units into the 1980s.

They are LD-465 Series Multi-Fuel Engines for use in the M35 series 2 1/2 Ton 6X6 Truck....They were mainly run on Diesel Fuel, but they could be run on other fuels including Gas....

so h.r. gieger-esque! wonderful lighting.

Wow ,I live around here and i never explored any of the buildings. most are gone now .Dad and my uncle both worked at studebaker,I used to deliver parts to" allied stamping" back in the 70s when it was still in use and A.M.General off chippewa blvd,which built the army trucks(in the 70s)......

Recent news has corrected me in my coments about AM General above.They are still producing Humvees.It has been reported in the news that AM General was forced to stop production,because of the strike at American Axle that is now in its 6th week.has effected the supply of parts needed to assemble Humvees.

I work at AM General. The American Axle strike only affected production of the H2 not the military Humvees. We currently produce 80 trucks per day all of the up-armored variety. I recently transfered to the Chippewa plant which is now used as our parts warehouse. I located this site while searching for some history about the Chippewa plant. If anybody has any info on that I would like to hear from you.

If those are Multi-fuel engines, they ran on diesel, gasoline, JP4 jet fuel, pretty much anything. They do look used. New engines wouldn't have the radiator hoses on, open to the air like that.

Studebaker was always active in war efforts. They built their own military trucks, "US6" is what they called them, but they ran monster V6es. Studebaker also made late model vietnam and korea trucks with V8s. Maybe these are surplus NOS (new old stock) engines. If they are, remember that in the later years, studebaker didnt always build their own engines, Post 1963.

What I see here are large six's with tranny's. I own a M35 due and a half .
MINE IS A 1953 Studebaker with a Contenital . It doesn't matter what year a M35 is a M35 is a M35 , Studebaker and Reo along with other companies took the military contract , My truck is bolt for bolt the same as the Reo.

I can see in the fore ground what appears to be a air compressor that looks the same as mine . These are Multi fuel engines.
During Vietnam the military upgraded the Duces from the motor I have to the multi fuels.
I'd say these are change out motors that were stock piled and left there and forgotten. To be used or sold as surplus later.
The fact mine was never changed out makes mine a little more rare as far as M35's go not that M35's are rare but they are more rare under the Studebaker name.

am general had a contract to rebuild old trucks,

AM General bought Diamond Rio in the 70's and CCC truck's to build 10 ton army truck's.

Woah, neat find. Makes you wonder why they left so many engines behind to simply rust away.