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MB also had a woolcloth/broadcloth option, but it is uncommon - most frequent for the era are a plainer cloth, vinyl/Tex, or leather.
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Fin, per the '63 brochure, the Cruiser's dimensions are: 113" wheelbase, 188" overall length, width 71.25", loaded height 55.75"; shipping weight 3064 lbs. (I'm assuming this is the base car).
I'm so accustomed to looking at Studes, that I look at Big Three stuff differently, often, than I used to. At Hershey the year I saw that red '64 Daytona posted earlier, there was a '63 Olds F-85 Cutlass two-door nearby. Not a single thing style-wise on it was attractive to me, even though over my lifetime I've probably seen ten times as many of them as a similarly-sized Stude. Don't get me wrong--when GM made their compacts into intermediates for '64, all of them were good-looking IMHO.
fin, M-B had a folding cloth sunroof available in the sixties too, right?
Google finds W111 fintail dimensions as: Wheelbase: 108.3" Length: 101.9" Width: 70.7" Height: 59.4" Weight: 2910 lbs. Most powerful normal series engine was a 2195 cc (~134 cubic inch) FI I6 putting out 120-135 hp, but there was a series with a 3 liter (~183 cubic inch) putting out ~180 hp.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
I only have ever seen one '63 Cruiser in person with broadcloth, and it was on a parts car at the shop that restored my white '63, and the interior was in tatters.
The '64 offered broadcloth as an option too, but the seat design was identical to the standard cloth seat. The '63 standard Cruiser interior was the same as the Lark Daytona two-doors, but with a center armrest in the rear seat. The optional broadcloth seating ($72 extra), as in the black Skytop above, had a completely different seat design...really, much nicer than the '64.
On 80s and prior cars, it looks like something from the 40s, to my eyes. This existed virtually identically going back to early 50s Adenauers. 1980s:
1950s:
Fancy cloth in a fintail:
Basic cloth in a fintail looked like this:
The hardtops were second series cars, from late 1957 until 1962 (US cars probably registered as MY 1958-63), and had fuel injection with Borg-Warner transmisisons. Must have been an "out there" choice in the era, and I suspect appealed to the same people who admired Rolls-Royce. A little over 3000 units were built during the production run, for all markets, many survive.
This is probably my favorite '63 handout--a newspaper-y piece that opens up. Given at the auto shows. I think the whole line looks great from this angle, and of course it included the Daytona Skytop like I owned for 23 years.
I think the MB thing isn't coincidence, given the link between the companies. Both might have had similar marketing too - for people who wanted the possibility a highly equipped car, but one smaller than an aircraft carrier.
As I've mentioned a lot before, the '63 four-door styling just grabs me.
The Wagonaire roof could be locked open in a few positions, but why on an overhead shot they don't show it full-open seems a goof to me.
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That's a pretty big inventory of new cars for a town with a population of four digits!
Those are all 1964 models. The '64 Hawk and Avanti and trucks weren't built in Canada even before they were dropped at South Bend, but were sold there I believe, so my guess is this pic is sometime after Jan. 1964 by which all remaining production took place in Hamilton, Ontario.
Matter of fact, it was 55 years ago today that the last Studebaker was built, a Timberline Turquoise (like mine) '66 Cruiser with white vinyl top and black brocade interior. It was driven by a Stude exec in South Bend 'til 1969 and has 19K miles and is in the Studebaker National Museum.
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Funny that they still had "Packard" on their signage, although until April '62 the name of the Corporation was still "Studebaker-Packard", even though there'd been no product with Packard name since 1958.
Speaking of Studebaker-Packard, maybe have posted this before, but it popped up in a fintail group again. I think this is also 1962 - note the retouched tourist license plate on a Euro lights car, and the likely final run 300SL at right:
Somewhere I had heard that every 'Benz sold in the U.S. went through South Bend first, although that seems hard-to-believe. But I have a photo in one of my club magazines that shows a warehouse full of 'Benzes in South Bend in '63.
Fair amount of talk there recently about the "Partners in Progress" week-long event that happened in September '63, only three months before Studebaker announced the shutdown of assembly in the U.S. It was a thing between the cities of South Bend and Mishawaka and manufacturers there, in an effort to attract to the area new companies. I have seen pics of the big parade which featured the new '64 Studebakers. Red Skelton gave a performance at Notre Dame stadium and rode with his wife in a '64 Daytona convertible in the parade. He was a native of Vincennes, IN.
I've always heard that feelings were raw about Studebaker leaving for a lot of years. I know someone who was at the '68 national meet there and it was like that then he said. When you look back, five generations of people worked for them there. That is a long time.
Some Stude execs eventually went to MBNA afterwards.
The armrests were always small in sixties Studes other than Avantis. They are completely vinyl-covered foam. My old '63 had some vinyl worn off in the corners. South Bend didn't have NOS red nor did any vendors at Hershey the year I looked. Someone told me about an old junkyard 18 miles east of my old hometown, full of old iron. He had about a dozen '59-66 Lark-types in one place and I bought four excellent red armrests from a Cruiser for a total of five bucks. I told him I couldn't find them elsewhere and he said flatly, "Shoulda come here first".
Stude door panels, and even doors I think, of that period were thinner than other domestic products. Part of the big interior-to-small-exterior packaging I think. I think one reason I like '78 Malibu Classics is that the packaging reminds me of these Studes.
Studebaker won the bid on these trucks. All were six-cylinder, automatics, Twin Traction, and tinted windshield.
The white hubcaps are straight Studebaker truck low-line caps with the narrow "S" in the center.
I think, but am just not sure, that the nameplate/decal at the front was available NOS when I took my last tour through Studebaker International in South Bend before their move towards Indianapolis, a few years back.
The "Studebaker" script used on 1964 cars at the rear, was applied to only the right side of the Zip Van, up by the driver's door.
My Dad worked at the post office and I clearly remember these trucks in our hometown.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1963-studebaker-zip-van-2/?fbclid=IwAR0l9Qmf0iXRAeFGIYqHEG5K5VTxdO-LTaeMFOyGXPfbFPOkbOwwRqSMGiY
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Weird that the cars have wheelcovers. Here's a pic from a book I have, and shows Avantis on carriers with the wheelcovers no doubt in the trunk:
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the bright colors of an older pickup, maybe 70's. Then I realized ahead of
it was Studebaker Lark. Two door. Looked like it had chrome B pillar,
maybe hardtop? And in a light, light blue.
Looking it up maybe 59 Spring Colors Bahama Blue on a 1960?
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PS My wife and I are planning to visit the Studebaker Museum in a few days.
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And the interior blue matches the exterior well, even after all these years.
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Got a clunk somewhere in the steering column to research this summer, and the original bushings up front need replaced (OK, me crowding 240 probably doesn't help--sounds like bedsprings when I get out of the car!).
You're never 'done' with an old car, even a low-mileage one, that's for sure!
If you can, also see Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg in Auburn, IN, and if you have two days to spend (seriously), go see the Gilmore near Kalamazoo, MI--all three are relatively close together. I realize that if you have "Mrs. Ben" too much of a good thing might be.....too much for her!
I've posted pics here numerous times, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, my favorite car in the museum is the Bordeaux Red '64 Daytona Hardtop with Avanti power and 4-speed which was the last car built on the regular assembly lines in South Bend. It has 23.8 miles even though the display says "under 50".
Tippecanoe Place is a restaurant occupying Clement Studebaker's home. It's a mansion only a block or so from the museum. The small building across the street from the museum is where the Studebaker Corp. archives are located.
Safe, fun trip!