After a big initial splash with a line of ’50s American iron, and the inevitable musclecar follow-up, M2 has been silent with new castings lately. Only a ‘57 Chrysler 300C has surfaced as a new casting in the last year or so – in both the Driver’s 101 ($3 pricepoint, no opening features, occasionally non-stock paint and wheels) and standard Autothentics ($5 pricepoint, opening doors and hood, correct paint and wheels). It would have been easy for a casual diecast buyer to wonder what the company was doing and if it would live.
But it turns out that this was just the quiet before the storm. With M2’s recent announcement that a line of Studebaker model cars and trucks will be forthcoming, they manage to stay true to what got them attention in the first place (that is, making quality models of some of the less-obvious candidates from the collector-car world) while expanding their outlook at the same time (branching out into the world of commercial trucks, with their endless paint variations and logo splashes on the doors). It also opens up the market for M2 to make some cool promotional vehicles.
Studebaker enjoys a strong following – the Studebaker Driver’s Club remains one of the largest single-marque car clubs out there – which surely plays into some of the decision making. The 2R family of trucks seen here show off the diversity of the tooling – both a civilian pickup and a much-cried-out-for vintage tow rig will be part of the model mix when it comes out. There is no confirmation, but we suspect that the release won’t be ALL trucks – it’ll be cars and trucks across the decades of the Studebaker model spectrum. No news on whether these will be only high-detail AutoThentics or cheaper price-point Driver’s 101 series versions as well, but considering how few decent small-scale Studebaker models are out there, who cares?
We suspect you’ll be able to buy these in big-box retailers, but since we found out this information from our pals at 1stopdiecast, we’ll give them the plug.