Innovations of Distinction

The role many of America’s Independent automakers adopted was that of innovator. They took pride in introducing change to the automotive world, because it served to set them apart from the crowd. It helped that many of their ideas were exactly what the public wanted.

For example, in 1936, Studebaker introduced “Hill-Holder,” a device for manual transmissions that prevented the car from rolling backwards when stopped on a grade. Since nearly every car had a manual transmission, this was a very welcome innovation. Years later, Japanese automaker Subaru claimed to be