The prototype of the 179 Studebaker President is the real 1957 4 door sedan.

In the 1958/59 season, there was at the Meccano Liverpool factory a huge production of passenger cars, of which 11 American, including the 179 Studebaker President in October 1958. A month later another Studebaker was produced, namely the 169 Golden Hawk. Meccano Liverpool apparently had a good relationship with the Studebaker company. They were both first included in the 1959 catalogue. It should be noted that several of these American passenger cars also were issued in police, fire, taxi and ambulance versions, producing even more American models.

The 179 President is in the 1959 catalogue depicted with ridged hubs instead of the spun hubs in the introduction advertisement of MM of October 1958, who characterizes him as a beauty and he is. My 179 has still the ridged hubs. The price 3/7 on the box is the price listed on the Meccano Dinky Toys price list of August 1961, so the old stock of ridged hubs had to be used up first (almost 3 years!). The 179 later got the spun hubs, but I couldn't find any 179 with suspension.

Available at the same time is the 169 Studebaker Golden Hawk, also depicted with ridged hubs. The 1959 catalogue clearly shows the transition period from ridged hubs to spun hubs depicted in the models.  Most are still with ridged hubs, but already 7 models are shown with spun hubs, which according Richardson were first mounted on the 192 De Soto Fireflite in December 1958. There were a lot of new features coming. These spun hubs were necessary to make the suspension system possible, which quickly appeared on the 150 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith in January 1959. The independent suspension system were fitted to most DT passenger cars from that time on. The application of windows was also introduced from now on and more features are soon coming such as interior with steering wheel, directional control and spring suspension. From now on, new features were listed in an outline on the box of passenger cars.

Jan Oldenhuis 15 February 2021