Postwar Studebakers

uplanderguy

That billboard behind the '64 in the museum is either an actual billboard or a replication of an actual one. Probably in the last ten years, some NOS billboards of this very pic were located in South Bend and placed by the museum around town. Pretty cool.

uplanderguy

Photo taken by Dennis Schrimpf in 1963 at Elkhart Lake. Talk about M-B influence up front! Brooks Stevens' son driving the "Studebaker SS", which later became the Excalibur. I've read someplace that this car was going to be used by Studebaker at auto shows, but it never happened before the South Bend shutdown. The mechanicals were Studebaker but later Excaliburs were not, of course.

uplanderguy

Recent Bob Barrick photo, captioned "Always good to have a Studebaker around".

ab348

Got the new Collectible Automobile today (Oct/19) and there are two Studebaker articles. The first is about Studebaker at Indianapolis in the 1930s, while the second is an interview with one of the execs of Studebaker Canada, who was there for the US factory shutdown when production was transferred to Canada, and was still there when the Hamilton plant was shut down.

uplanderguy

I'll have to pick that up at the newsstand. I've met Stu Chapman, the fellow in the article from Canada, a couple times over the years. I should probably just subscribe.

uplanderguy

I picked up the Collectible Automobile in question. The store, "Books A Million", still had a stack of June and August issues for sale as well as October's!

I enjoyed Stu's interview. He got one minor thing wrong, or it was written wrong, but hardtops and convertibles did not get discontinued as soon as South Bend shut down; they were also built in Hamilton through the remainder of the 1964 model year. They were discontinued for 1965, the first full model-year built at Hamilton. Of course, Avantis, Gran Turismo Hawks, and all trucks were discontinued when South Bend shut down as none of these models were being built at Hamilton simultaneously, when the South Bend announcement came.

fintail might enjoy that article as Stu talks a fair amount about introducing some M-B models in 1964 as part of his Studebaker job.

On another subject, I enjoyed one of the letters to the editors that echoes my opinion stated in another forum here--that Impala interiors in the sixties were often plusher than the entry-level Pontiac, Olds, and Buick cars. The one letter mentions an employee at Oldsmobile complaining to GM about that very thing, in the sixties.

ab348

That was Jack Wolfram, head of Oldsmobile, doing the complaining. I'm sure the response would have been "Make yours nicer then, Jack". Of course Chevy had the advantage of huge economies of scale back then so that probably helped them achieve their cost targets.

I thought there was little rhyme or reason to how the various GM divisions trimmed out their models. You would think that a comparable model further up the GM brand ladder would have at least a slightly nicer interior than one further down, but that wasn't always the case. I remember being stuck by how plain some of Buick's lower-line cars looked inside, for instance. A '60s Special wasn't much different in terms of upholstery and door trim than a Chevelle.

berri

In the first half of the 60's Impala's were considered a bit upscale, as many buyers opted for the lower trimmed Bel Air or Biscayne. The entry level Dynamic 88's were probably more akin to a Bel Air than an Impala back then. The Impala was more competitive with the Super 88 as I saw it at least. So maybe that played into the respective interior trims? Of course, back in those days the buyer choosing the 88 was perhaps more focused on the engine difference.

uplanderguy

The Studebaker National Museum was bidding on this 1931 Studebaker Indy racer today. They had previously asked for pledges to help them buy this significant car, and I pledged a modest amount. It sold for a crazy $1,105,000 today and the museum bailed on their bidding.

https://www.goodingco.com/vehicle/1931-studebaker-special-indy-car/?fbclid=IwAR0ROwbnPx2Q2C6JPymkl18WNYyZzM6c1lVf9JDVEwCyUpaekuPrTm7cT2Y

berri

Now you've got me remembering Andy Granatelli and STP

uplanderguy

Of course, back in those days the buyer choosing the 88 was perhaps more focused on the engine difference.

As a kid, I seem to remember buyers of the medium-priced cars being of the opinion that their cars were of higher quality than the lower-price models; better-built, etc. I don't know how true that would've been. I've mentioned this before, but I think in the sixties, Chevy put their money where you could see it--interior trim in Impalas, Caprices, etc. Of course, they were still using 283's and Powerglides in full-size cars, LOL.

berri

Whatever GM was doing in those days, it worked!

uplanderguy

My friend's Dad had been a Studebaker/Packard/Willys/Nash dealer in a smallish town in IL in the mid-fifties. He closed up shop in '56 and went to work as a Sales Manager at a Pontiac dealer. My friend said his Dad came home from work early-on and said "It's almost like they're hypnotized--they come in and say 'where do I sign?'", LOL.

ab348

Chevys even used cheaper body structures. When my buddy was restoring his '71 4-4-2 a few years back he decided it would be easier to replace the entire roof and F/R window opening areas rather than deal with repair of the substantial rust in the windshield channels. He was excited to find a Chevelle locally that had a solid body, but upon closer examination he discovered that the inner reinforcing structure was quite different - there was just a whole lot less of it. He ended up driving to the US to procure the correct roof.

uplanderguy

That's interesting. I would not have expected that, given that the letter designations for the cars were the same across the divisions.

I remember hearing adults say how superior their GMC was to a Chevy truck. I'm talking '70's. Somehow, even as a kid, I had to keep my smiling to myself.

imidazol97

I visited an orphanage today and saw this neat car. I wondered to myself if it was real familiar.

berri

Those green Ohio plates remind me of old Washington state plates WA should go back to green.

imidazol97

I thought of Uplander's car as soon as I saw while driving into the orphan cruise.

His is 4-door, this is 2-door. This one was perfect at 5 feet. Chrome is beautiful. The wheels and cheapie hub caps are exactly as I saw a lot of Studebakers outfitted in my area of the farm country and towns. I should have asked if someone knew who owned the Stude to to ask them to latch the trunk to improve my pictures.

fintail

Yep, WA had green on white plates like that off and on, including the period from around 1950-62. In 1963 they went to green on white, and remained that way until the Mt. Rainier background style in the late 80s (which remains today with minor changes).

uplanderguy

Nice '64 Commander! Only non-authentic thing I can see in the pic is the V8 emblem on the front fender is not the 'parallelogram 8' emblem used in '64 and '65.

I like the off-white wheels Stude used from '62-66. Gave the dog-dish cars a little more of a whitewall look than a wheel the same color as the car.

The two-door Studes of this era were a 109-inch wheelbase, but to my eyes they always looked a little larger than a compact car of the time. They had 15 inch wheels which I wonder if it's somehow part of that.

uplanderguy

Looks like the front fender nameplate says "Cruiser" as opposed to "Commander".

uplanderguy

In this pic you can see the factory "8" emblem on the front fender:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1964_Studebaker_Commander_(27686166302).jpg

uplanderguy

Sorry...for some bizarro reason, the jpg part won't link.

ab348

Trying this:




Firefox still on strike against images, had to manually enter the URL.

imidazol97

uplanderguy said:

In this pic you can see the factory "8" emblem on the front fender:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1964_Studebaker_Commander_(27686166302).jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/1964_Studebaker_Commander_(27686166302).jpg

I clicked on the pic in the original link and got a larger picture. I was able to right click that one and get a link that works.

ab348

Odd, when I highlighted and clicked the original link I got "page not found" and still do.

imidazol97

On my page the original link by uplander is blue up to the second underscore, then it's black and not part of the link that's activated when click on it. I copied the whole thing to a new page in chrome and pasted it into the url and clicked. Voila. The smaller picture.


I then clicked on the smaller picture and got a larger version. I then right clicked on it for the link and that's what I pasted.

imidazol97

It looks to me like my picture of the blue one has "Challenger" on the front fender when I enlarge it...
This is a new one on me...

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1964-studebaker-challenger

uplanderguy

The Challenger was the bottom-level Stude in '64--think 'Biscayne'. It had no stainless side trim. That particular car might have had it added at some point. Good catch.

The Challenger was the only '64 Stude that had the Lark 'bird' emblem on the C-pillar. The Commander had an S-in-circle. So that blue car might be a Commander that has the incorrect front fender nameplates.

imidazol97

The window tag on the StudeBaker said "Commander." I never read the side of the fender as I was taking pictures. I may have seen the label Commander inside the car, but that may have been another earlier car that I photographed.

benjaminh

berri

Not a fan of the spinner front end personally, but I do like the shade of blue and the rest of the car.

uplanderguy

Thanks for posting benjamin. I'm not a fan of the '50-51 either, but my wife is. Those were the highest-sales-volume Studebakers ever built, so somebody must've liked them, LOL!

uplanderguy

The Studebaker Drivers' Club International Meet is in Mansfield, OH--never been so close to me and never will again in my lifetime--in a couple weeks. I'm going over Sept. 12-14 and the car show is Sat. the 14th. I'm having my '66 Cruiser judged, which I haven't had done on one of my cars in decades. I must be a masochist.

I was talked into (by a Stude friend) putting the factory wire wheelcovers on for judging on Thurs. and for the show on Sat. They are loose on the car I think, so I'll put them on Thurs., take them off, and put them back on Sat. for the show, then take them off again. I also don't want them to 'disappear' in the hotel lot overnight, which sadly, that kind of thing has happened at international meets before.

berri

The propeller Studebaker probably reflects postwar fascination with aviation and at that point the prop planes were abundant. Harley Earl over at GM seemed fascinated with aircraft tails and fins.

berri

PS - I can see why your wife likes that look. I've always been a fan of the old airline propliners like the Lockheed Constellation and Electra (turbo prop) or the Douglas DC-7.

ab348

I think the bullet-nose Starlight coupe (the "which way is it going?" model) is very cool.

berri

Liked the suicide doors, but always preferred them on the longer Commander wheelbase.

bhill2

The first car that I remember my folks having was a lemon yellow '51 Commander four-door. My strongest memory is the woven plastic seat covers which, if you slid across them to get out, would give you a jolt of static electricity that altered your entire day.

imidazol97

bhill2 said:

The first car that I remember my folks having was a lemon yellow '51 Commander four-door. My strongest memory is the woven plastic seat covers which, if you slid across them to get out, would give you a jolt of static electricity that altered your entire day.

I'd forgotten about those plastic seat covers that generated static. They were indeed life threatening.

berri

That explains a lot bhill2

bhill2

And I have empathy with the Frankenstein monster when he is reanimated.

fintail

This was posted on another forum I frequent - looks like the passenger cell held up well anyway:

uplanderguy

Thanks for posting; I had seen this pic a few years back. That's a '59.

This Lark sold for $59K at Auburn this weekend. I think that may well be a record for a Lark. I'd seen this car at a meet a few years back and it is a beauty, although I bet the build sheet would show it was built with the full wheel discs (I don't understand the fascination with dog dish caps if the car wasn't built with them; also, Daytonas in '63 required the optional wraparound bumper pieces and this car doesn't have them). Also, the rear seat back lacks the small center Lark bird emblem in white. Still, a beautiful example of a rare R2 supercharged model.

https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/af19/auburn-fall/lots/r0326-1963-studebaker-lark-r2/801237

The white R3 '64 Avanti, next-to-last serial number, sold for $95K this weekend.

berri

Ouch, but I like that Willys FC tow truckwith the BIG horns!

ab348

I bet the steering on that tow truck was very light on that call, at least on the way back to the shop.

fintail

Dog dish caps, I bet some people think it looks "mean" or like a sleeper or something. I remember my dad's barely-optioned 68 Fairlane had dog dish caps.

"Mama's Little Baby" on that FC makes me think of Sylvester from "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World", which is probably roughly contemporary to the image.

imidazol97

ab348 said:

I bet the steering on that tow truck was very light on that call, at least on the way back to the shop.

Probably like a Corvair.

berri

I recall growing up that many of the gas station Jeep or Willys service trucks just had a board, or some such on the front fender to push vehicles. Of course, you can't do that with today's vehicles. If a car was badly wrecked there were towing companies with bigger trucks.

uplanderguy

Concerning the passenger compartment of that crunched Lark looking relatively safe, I remember reading someplace that in '58, the center section of the cars were beefed up in some way(s), as far as various measurable ways of rigidity. I have to believe that would have passed over into subsequent model years.