1947 Studebaker Commander.

One of several photos I have featuring old American cars, probably taken in Singapore.

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Studebaker Commander photo

This chap features in a number of the photographs I have in the old car photos section. In this picture he is stood in front of what I think is a Studebaker Commander, built around 1947 I'm told. I wonder if S6203 still survives? perhaps in a hedge or behind an old garage somewhere. Note the optional spotlamps fitted to this Stude, and the AA (Automobile Association) chrome badge fitted above the numberplate.

Jim in Australia, who is a dab hand at identifying old number plates, thinks that this was probably taken in Singapore ...

"This plate is almost certainly SINGAPORE. Prior to 1963 it would have had an S prefix. It would have been part of the Strait Settlements and Malaysia till 1963 when it became independent of Britain and Malaysia.

From 1963 they had white/black; British style plates; "S" 000 to "S" 0000 serial formats followed by "SA" to "SF", "SK" to "SY", "SBA" to "SBZ", "E", and "EA" to "EZ" prefixes.

Sri Lanka did use an S prefix, but only to 1928. From then they used X, then Z (1936) then CE from 1940, and then a bunch of different combinations of C,Y,E,L,N always in 2 letter format. Again I hope this helps."

More photographs of classic Studebakers feature elsewhere on oldclassiccar.co.uk, taken at an enthusiasts gathering in the US a few years back - click here to view these Stude photos.

The Studebaker brothers first produced their own car back in 1902, an electric vehicle, with internal combustion-engined cars joining their range a couple of years later. The Commander shown here was an early-postwar model, introduced while Raymond Loewy was heading up the design team.

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