Preston Foster's custom 1939 Studebaker vacation wagon with Martha Driscoll, in 1941 (thanks Steve!)

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-209#post-13266927

When Dutch Darrin sold his company to Packard in 1939, three of his former employees Burt Chalmers, Rudy Stoessel and Paul Erdos formed Coachcraft, Ltd. in Hollywood in early 1940. Burt had worked for a Hollywood Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg dealer and knew a lot of movie stars who wanted custom camping station wagons. Coachcraft got a hold of a designer and engineer from Douglas Aircraft to come up with drawings.

Most of the wagons were based on a 166-inch wheelbase 1940 Studebaker ambulance chassis, but the one for actor Preston Foster was built on a 1939 Commander with a 116.5-inch wheelbase.

As for the front-mounted spare, Studebaker Commanders did NOT have fender-mounted spares on either side, they had the spare in a well under the carpet in the trunk. However, since now there was no trunk, the fender-mount was custom made.

Foster's wagon had a distinctive ash-framed body customized for camping. Seats fold down to form a bed, and a tent could be raised on telescoping poles to enclose the rear and side of the car, exactly as your picture shows. It had air-conditioning, and a two-way short-wave radio. Opening the rear deck lid and rear 'doors' exposed "a sink with draining board, a gasoline stove, a refreshment cabinet [think liquor], shelves for supplies and a refrigerator. The latter was powered by a small gasoline motor situated behind the grille between it and the radiator. The motor also provided 110-volt power for the interior lights."

(for anyone that hasn't been reading along for a long time, Steve is astonishing in his research and either knows or learns a hellava lot more than me, and is terrific in sharing it so I can pass it along in a post so much more improved because of his contributions) 

He forgot that I have no effing idea who the hell Preston Foster was, so I looked that up, and he was pretty famous, and was in tv shows, movies, and radio, whose career spanned nearly four decades. On Aug. 15, 1958, he received the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after being chosen in a drawing.

Actor, composer, songwriter, guitarist and author. He moved from Broadway acting (1928-1932) into films, was in the Coast Guard in WW2, achieved the rank of Captain, and after his Hollywood career, he was the executive producer at the El Camino Playhouse in LaJolla (the rich part of San Diego) California.  He wrote the MLB team song for the San Diego Padres!

He has 118 actor credits in IMDB, and most recognizable, is the 1943 My Friend Flika, the tv series 77 Sunset Strip in 1964

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0288003/