On Bendix and Avco....
Well from what the picture states...they had a much longer association than previous. My guess is that for a time, they must have had a working arrangement like Kenmore w/ Sears. Outsourcing the names of the parent company Avco Mfg., with the manufacturing being done by the Bendix Home Appliance Divsion of South Bend.
Or to relate to my first case, RCA/Whirlpool/Seager Co's, manufacturing for Sears Roebuck and Company, for their private Kenmore label. It may well be a stretch of the imagination, but it seem like a good thought process to me.
I was recently in South Bend Indiana, and go there mainly for the Studebaker National Museum, and where you can see a few remaining structures of the Studebaker complex. Eerie and sad, I decided on my first aftenoon to do a "find" of where Bendix was located.
I went out west of town on Colfax Avenue, and switched over to Mc Kinley...after driving around for what seemed to be a while.. I got onto Sample Street that goews from Mishawaka, all the way thru SouthBend and ends up becoming a short highway that dead nds back into 80-90. I finally spotted where the Bendix Home Appliance institute was; 3300 W. Sample.
Because not only did it still say it on the front of the building, but the current occupants told me that (it's a partly a resale shop now) that it was a part of Bendix, and they did test washers there.
You woldn't have known it, by the current looks of the place.
I asked them where the factories were, and I was told that they were fairly close to where Studebaker Corporation was. And then the old lady of the store said that many of these structures were demolished in the late 1960's, and even more so as of late. In fact i was told that their current baseball stadium that just sprang up over the last few years was built on once upon a time Bendix soil.
I headed back to my motel in Niles Mi, ...never more dissappointed by progress. But the "institute" is still there as of July of this year...but I don't know how MUCH longer as they also siad that thier property was up for sale, due to the high crime rate, and poor reception of resale in an obviously depressed area.
south Bend if ou really look does depress you. Because their is still enough "abandoned industry" , to see that this town was once bustling with activity...with both auto's and Appliances.
Bendix Corporation still has some operations in South Bend, in fact they puchased Studebaker's proving grounds out on Buisness Route 19 south east of town where from above there are evergreen tree's that still spell out the word Studebaker, when it's Bendix that owns it. Bough it proper in summer of 1966.
Anyway...that's my info for now....Jee I should have started another thread for this topic...
