Postwar Studebakers

berri

I've always had a soft spot for sedans and wagons because they are the cars most of us actually grew up with. Of course, I also really like the 59/60 GM 4dr sport sedan flattops with the wrap around glass. I thought they were just very cool when they came out (even if a heavy sneeze could probably dent the thing since I doubt there was much structural strength and integrity). What can I say

uplanderguy

My parents had two-door cars from 1972 to 1989. I think that was largely my influence, LOL.

I have a friend whose parents drove Cadillacs from 1956-1984. His mom, who was just under five feet, liked their '60 flattop sedan the best, my friend says--she loved the visibility.

berri

The Chicago area was a huge GM market when I was growing up, but the flattop Caddy seemed kind of rare at the time. Most that I'd see were six window hardtops. I thought the Caddy flattop looked alright, not as in your face as a big Buick, but Olds, Pontiac and Chevy seemed to carry the flattop a little better. Maybe a function of wheelbase? Just my 2 cents worth (and you know what 2 cents will buy you nowadays!)

fintail

Flat tops are super cool, I'd prefer a 60 Caddy over a 59 for that model, the lower fins are better with the lines of the car.

When I was a teen, a friend of my dad's had a 60 Caddy flat top, kind of a dark purple color, he had it since he was a teen (this was in the early 90s, so that means maybe the 70s). It was a very solid car, but a non-runner. Would have sold it for under a grand, but my dad didn't want to take it on.

bhill2

I remember a warm day maybe 30 years ago when my wife, sister-in-law, her husband (my brother-in-law-in-law?) and I took his mint '60 Cadillac flat top down to a restaurant on Sunset Blvd in west LA. We took the 101 to Sunset and drove the three for four miles to the restaurant, all windows down. The response of the crowd was, umm, gratifying.

omarman

Seems like there should be a special way to describe the husband of your sister-in-law but American Heritage Dictionary states that brother-in-law includes:

1. The brother of one's spouse.
2. The husband of one's sibling.
3. The husband of the sibling of one's spouse.

bhill2

Hey. Definition 3 fits. He is the husband of my spouse's sister. Well, her ex-husband now (he got custody of the Caddy).

fintail

Saw a late 50s Hawk on the road today, looked to be a mild custom (non stock wheels and ride height, but paint looked OK). Was going to show the dashcam clip, but I accidentally erased it.

uplanderguy

For whatever reason, the Hawks that I think I see the most with aftermarket tires and wheels are the Silver Hawks ('57-59) or '60-61 Hawks (what they were all called then)--big fins, pillared coupe body. For the longest time I didn't like those cars, but I've grown to like them. Other than the fins being large, I still think they look better than most domestic two-door 'post' cars of the same years, even though the basic body goes back to '53.

It seems to me they moved a lot of those 'price leader' Hawks, because I saw a fair amount of them around my town growing up, and also still see a good number at Stude meets. Function of my age, but give me a '64 Gran Turismo like the white one I posted several posts above this one, though.

Mecum calls this car a 'Silver Hawk', but it's just 'Hawk'. These lower-priced Hawks do look good with wheels and tires.

https://www.mecum.com/lots/CA0812-133706/1960-studebaker-silver-hawk/

Thinking back, I think Hawks were one of the very few cars of that period that had chrome wheel opening trim, which I generally like on most any car.

imidazol97

Tires definitely look wrong on the 1960 Hawk.

bhill2

And the steering wheel is wrong in so many ways.

uplanderguy

And so are the aftermarket interior gauges.

fintail

Here's something somewhat Stude-related. I live near the old Studebaker dealership building in my town. Yesterday I noticed a sign on the neighboring site (home to a quick lube franchise) that permits are being sought for redevelopment into an office tower. I have to imagine something of that size will also include the Studebaker building lot, so its days could be (probably are) numbered. Current assessed value of the old building and its just under 14K sq ft lot is just under 5MM. Here it is back in the day:



Maybe soon to be yet more office space, or maybe 7 figure condos for speculators and residency purchasing capital hiders/launderers, as is the style here.

uplanderguy

Thanks for posting--great pic. Nice '62 Lark convertible too.

We've discussed this before, but I always liked that late Studebaker logo and block lettering. For an old-line company that went back to 1852, it looks modern still I think.

uplanderguy

Avanti introduced 57 years ago today, April 26, 1962, simultaneously at the New York Auto Show and the Studebaker Shareholder's Meeting in South Bend:

uplanderguy

My ultimate Studebaker, color and equipment. 1964's "Jet Green". Those are the same wheelcovers as my '66 Cruiser was delivered with.

sda

I do like that combination. Elegant yet sporty.

fintail

Speaking of Studebaker fonts, IIRC I like the italicized font used on build sheets/window stickers.

uplanderguy

Yes, those fonts were sort-of like the way they italicized "Lark" and "Hawk" in ads--like in the ad for the green car, above.

That pic of the Hawk almost makes it look like it has fins, but the taillights are as tall from the back.

If I had five opportunities to go back in time, even if for a short while, one would be with today's money to South Bend right after the shutdown. I understand they had many cars in inventory in South Bend, including leftover '63's. I'd be on a mission to find a Hawk like the green one above, a Daytona convertible with R2, a '63 Cruiser with Skytop and broadcloth interior, an Avanti, a Champ pickup and a larger Stude truck.

imidazol97

uplanderguy said:

Avanti introduced 57 years ago today, April 26, 1962, simultaneously at the New York Auto Show and the Studebaker Shareholder's Meeting in South Bend:

I remember when that happened. And I remember I was so happy as a youth when I saw my first Avanti on the road. Long time ago.

uplanderguy

When I was a kid, I remember Aurora's Avanti model kit, which I got. I was intrigued and old enough to be aware of Studebaker, but I can't remember when I first saw a real Avanti. Years later our hometown dealer told me he had one in for a "Special Salon Showing" as Studebaker called it, and he said a lot of people came to hotdog-drive it but no one with any serious inclination (or money) to buy. They never did sell one. Amazingly (to me), they sold two of the nine supercharged '64 Cruisers Studebaker built, and both were black.

uplanderguy

Scenes from the Britain 1963 Auto Show. No sound. Studebaker and M-B coverage starting at about :58 in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9nPtcsHFl8&feature=youtu.be&t=103&fbclid=IwAR3ev93UDWWHTloN36b6a_dNWyjgSnVC-LMdMU6zXisCfAsNXFJFK6HPZMQ

fintail

Interesting video and point in time. Cutting things in half must have been a cool thing then, that Microbus is pretty fun, and VW nuts would go wild for it today. Surprised to see the Pagoda 230SL on narrow whitewalls, as MB didn't use them across the board until MY 1965. Also interesting that it shares time with a 300SL roadster - that was the very end of the production run for that model, and production may have ended before the show took place.

I suspect Stude sold a few cars in Europe due to their more reasonable size compared to most American cars.

uplanderguy

I saw it again today. That's definitely a painted top, as you and others had said.

fintail

Nice combination of harsh environment and likely heavy use.

Something on BaT for you

uplanderguy

Thanks, I like that car. Two small things irk for me; I never could stand a mirror out on the fender (I've seen them both here, and mounted on the door); and I always wish the R1 car (like this one) had an emblem of some sort on the front fender, like the R2 does. My eyes are always drawn right there.

I like the interior too.

fintail

Yeah that interior is fairly stunning. Best color combo and I like the round light cars. The history file also looks interesting.

uplanderguy

Lots of pics and good video; I wish the seller luck. Hearing it run was a huge deja vu for me, as my '63 Lark had the R1 engine. Great rumble. People used to do double-takes, hearing that sound emanating from a Lark, LOL.

uplanderguy

RE.: That Benz--where I took that pic is probably one-tenth of a mile or less from where the May 4, 1970 Kent State shootings occurred. Still bullet holes in a metal sculpture that was there that day. Kent tried to forget all about it but finally acquiesced and built a very nice memorial there. In 1995 CS&N played five songs for free at the site. My wife and I walked there and got up close-and-personal to them. It was a good time.

fintail

That 220D could be old enough to have been around during Kent State, too.

For the Avanti seller, notice a late model MB C cabrio in the background - the connection lives on.

imidazol97

@uplanderguy

I see in the news that a Cincinnati truck company is going to use the Lordstown plant to make electric trucks.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2019/05/08/lordstown-trump-says-workhorse-buy-former-closed-gm-plant/1140985001/

ab348

While any news about Lordstown continuing in some form is encouraging, Workhorse has a looooong way to go before they are credible in my mind. I did read that GM is adding a few hundred new jobs to other plants in Ohio so that may be a landing spot for some of the Lordstown workers.

GM also announced today that Oshawa will be made over into some sort of facility that I couldn't quite figure out, plus GM intends to build an autonomous-car test track of some sort there, so that is a few jobs at least.

uplanderguy

I'm cautiously optimistic about the news. It's not the same as GM dropping a new product there, but it's something.

I'll be low-key for a few days as we are now in the hotel in Westerville for our daughter's wedding tomorrow.

omarman

Best wishes to your daughter. And while in Westerville...Schneider's bakery on state street. Not much to look at but ... the bear claws. wow. They open really early too but there will still be a line of Otterbein kids in front of you. Lol!

And Graeter's ice cream just up the street. Yogi's Hoagies opens around 11am and I'm getting hungry.

ab348

If you are on the hook for paying for the wedding, I can understand why you are low-key right now.

Congrats to all though!

berri

Best wishes to all

imidazol97

Best on the wedding.

berri

We'll probably need to go easy with Uplander Sunday since he may well be sporting a headache

imidazol97

From my experience as father of the groom in October, if nothing goes wrong, you aren't doing things right. There are always things to go wrong to give a lot of worry. Just roll with the flow and enjoy the day/ evening, afternoon, whatever. It's a time of rejoicing.

uplanderguy

Things went well! There was a slight mixup due to the ushers, who were supposed to come up and 'release' we, the families, from the front of the church after the bride and groom left the church; plus the ushers were supposed to tell people that there wasn't going to be a greeting line outside the church. Whoops. An old college friend of mine told people outside, that, LOL. After an awkward minute or two pause, the ushers came up and we (family) walked out. The cathedral was stunning though.

Here's the couple at the reception venue in Westerville with the '61 Bentley I rented for them. I asked the driver how reliable an old Bentley was. He said "Chevy 350 and Turbo-Hydramatic, no problem", LOL.

Thanks for the kind words, everybody.

berri

Very nice and the car is some added class to the event. Now, how is your headache?

fintail

Neat pic, I am sure the car added to the experience.

Rolls-Royce products used GM transmissions from the factory for a long time, but I don't recall if it started in the Cloud era - definitely in the Shadows though.

uplanderguy

For a fat guy (LOL), I just can't really drink much. I had one beer and one glass of wine the entire evening!

sda

Wonderful, and much happiness to the newlyweds!

omarman

uplanderguy said:

For a fat guy (LOL), I just can't really drink much. I had one beer and one glass of wine the entire evening!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAEJyuReWQ[/flash]

berri

Well at least it's not Curly - nyuk, nyuk, nyuk

uplanderguy

I've grown tired of "American Pickers", even though they visited a place 18 miles from my old hometown, but I did get a chuckle out of this pic on their Facebook page about a segment from their last show.

uplanderguy

Also, this '64 Daytona R2 clone sold on BAT for $16K yesterday. That's more than I would've paid for it, but I like my cars to be built as-original, which is easy-to-verify in the world of Studebakers.

Those white wheels were originally creamy white, not requiring sunglasses as on this car! I sincerely believe the vast majority of Daytonas were built with that year's handsome full wheel disks.

The '64 Daytona Hardtop I owned for a year in 2010, was this same Strato Blue color and was only 160 serial numbers away from this car--built in Canada as well. Mine had been sold new in my hometown.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1964-studebaker-daytona/?fbclid=IwAR3jjgOzvJZiIM0M7Av0rhiVxGp789y3v4Q-5eHvazD7le4_AEL27PPx1gw

Page about halfways down for pics of my similar old blue '64 Daytona, with much-tamer 259 V8 and automatic:

https://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?16626-Bill-Pressler-s-63-and-64-Daytonas&highlight=Bill+Pressler's

berri

Read somewhere that the prototype 67 Studebaker coupe was on display at the ACAA museum in Hershey, PA

uplanderguy

Yeah, it's on loan from the Studebaker National Museum. The AACA Museum apparently has a pretty significant Studebaker display there now.