Postwar Studebakers

uplanderguy

Very cool. I'd be interested to see if they say 'only the best dealers' got 'Benz or the like. I've seen that elsewhere but I'm not convinced! If they bought tools, signage, and sent their guys for training, I personally feel they got the franchise. Curious too if their take on who cut the partnership was the same as noted in board meeting minutes from Stude, which I think is most-likely not the conventional wisdom.

I think I posted here before a pic of a warehouse full of '63 M-B's in South Bend. On a South Bend history page I recall a guy posting a few years ago that his Dad worked in the Administration Building and they had a pool of Company cars for employees to sign out on the weekends. They went to look at Purdue and took a diesel 'Benz, which he said was still pretty much of a rarity in those parts, drawing interest when they fueled up!

uplanderguy

Let me know if you happen to see the name 'Lon Fleener' in the article. Supposedly he was an upper exec in that division here. He eventually married Martha Rich, who was the Executive Secretary of Stude presidents Sherwood Egbert and Byers Burlingame. I met her a couple times. Charming, elegant older woman, but I got the vibe she was typical of an executive secretary then--seemed like she'd have been a 'gatekeeper'.

fintail

I didn't see Fleener mentioned. I can see about taking pics of the article, or if you want a copy of the magazine, I can arrange it (It'll end up in the recycle bin - I don't save them anymore, too bulky, but it is a very nice publication).

There is a good section on the eventual split between MB and Stude, and a ruthlessly poor manager on the MB side who didn't help things succeed. There was a mention of a certain investment in tools/inventory along with an open credit amount being required to gain a MB franchise. After the split, MB was able to pick and choose the best who would become standalone dealers, which isn't a surprise.

uplanderguy

Yeah, don't throw it out. Take your time with it, but I can IM you and you can send it to me and I'll send you what you want to cover your costs. Thanks!

fintail

uplanderguy said:

Yeah, don't throw it out. Take your time with it, but I can IM you and you can send it to me and I'll send you what you want to cover your costs. Thanks!

Consider it yours. When I saw the article, I had a feeling you would want it. Magazine is interesting too, always a good article here and there, and amusing classifieds (club members can be pretty proud of their cars).

imidazol97

Saw this last weekend. I have to say that despite Studebaker's popularity in the rural area where I lived, I never, never saw a red convertible. I don't think I ever saw a bright red anything STudebaker until the Lark era came along much later.

imidazol97

Only 1 Avanti in the display.

thebean

I’m not crazy about bullet noses in general, but that one looks superb. Red really suits it, I think. I’m assuming that’s a Packard Hawk in blue behind the Avanti.

texases

I didn’t find that red on 1950 Studebaker color charts except for commercial vehicles.

imidazol97

thebean said:

I’m not crazy about bullet noses in general, but that one looks superb. Red really suits it, I think. I’m assuming that’s a Packard Hawk in blue behind the Avanti.

This is a one-off Packard Hawk convertible built by a member of the Packard management. If you enlarge the picture, you can read the sign.

ab348

Yeah, I was going to suggest that the bullet-nose wasn’t born red, but was probably pea green or beige originally.

imidazol97

imidazol97

texases said:

I didn’t find that red on 1950 Studebaker color charts except for commercial vehicles.

Thx. I hadn't thought to look up colors for that year.

uplanderguy

Is that the basement of the NATMUS in Auburn, IN? Looks like it to me.

I've seen a number of maroon bulletnose Studes, but not bright red like that. I know I've seen that one-off Packard Hawk before, probably at NATMUS.

If you were in Auburn, hope you had a chance to check out the Early Ford V8 Museum in town, too.

uplanderguy

That white Avanti is an Avanti II. To get the Chevy engine to fit, the Avanti II folks had to eliminate the forward rake and reduce the size of the front wheel openings, which to my eyes takes away two very major portions of the original Avanti's styling appeal.

sda

What was the appeal of having spot lights mounted on the windshield pillar? I don’t care for the look as I also don’t care for continental kits and other add ons.

ab348

sda said:

What was the appeal of having spot lights mounted on the windshield pillar? I don’t care for the look as I also don’t care for continental kits and other add ons.

That is one of my really big turn-offs in the old-car world. I never understood the appeal, especially on '60s cars. I really don't know what made them popular back in the '40s and '50s. But drilling holes in the A-pillar always struck me as foolhardy.

fintail

ab348 said:

sda said:

What was the appeal of having spot lights mounted on the windshield pillar? I don’t care for the look as I also don’t care for continental kits and other add ons.

That is one of my really big turn-offs in the old-car world. I never understood the appeal, especially on '60s cars. I really don't know what made them popular back in the '40s and '50s. But drilling holes in the A-pillar always struck me as foolhardy.

One of those things that are almost certainly on more period cars today than when the fad was new. Looks like an anachronism on most cars post-1952 or so.

imidazol97

Another Studebaker from the herd. I wanted to have a picture taken in the convertible above.

imidazol97

Another Studebaker from the herd.

imidazol97

Another Studebaker from the herd.

imidazol97

uplanderguy said:

I've seen a number of maroon bulletnose Studes, but not bright red like that. I know I've seen that one-off Packard Hawk before, probably at NATMUS.

I checked the Studebaker colors on one paint chart source and the bright red is nowhere on the
chart and a very deep quiet maroon is there. I don't know that I ever saw a Studebaker of that era in maroon out in the farm country where I lived.

imidazol97

The only Hawk in the place.

texases

One of my favorite grills of that era.

imidazol97

And a Packard

imidazol97

It's a Studebaker from after the World War.

uplanderguy

What a great assortment of Studes! Thanks for sharing these pics.

uplanderguy

A friend from the Ohio Stude club I belong to, who passed a few years ago, had a two-tone green '52 hardtop just like the one pictured above, and my brother-in-law has a yellow '49 Champion convertible quite like the one pictured above.

imidazol97

A couple more Studebakers. They were stored on lift racks and had no sign to try to photograph
for ID on them.

uplanderguy

My B-I-L has a '27 Dictator four-door, which rather resembles that last pic. The coupe above seems small to me, but I'm drawing a blank as to what it is.

texases

1925-ish Club Coupe? But the curved rear side window isn't showing up in my searches.

imidazol97

There weren't any placards giving info on the two last Studebakers. I had trouble getting a good shot without fooling the light sensors with the overhead lights.

Another vehicle I liked was this one. IT's not a Studebaker.

imidazol97

And every museum has its Pierce Arrow.



And a Kelly?

uplanderguy

That maroon Chrysler--I always thought those cars had a good-looking instrument panel for that period.

imidazol97

I hope everybody enjoyed viewing these pics. I only took 20 or 30 total. More pics are on google's website. No way to link that I can see. In google do a search for collection 21 erlanger ky.

You'll see this on page. Click on the picture that says See Photos and you'll see a lot of photos from the collection. I may go back in a week or so to take more pictures on a better day.

kyfdx

@imidazol97 I didn't realize that's where you went. I'll have to get over there.

sda

I realize this isn't in KY, but if you are in the Detroit area, a visit to the Packard Proving Grounds is very worthwhile. In addition to a garage full of different Packards, a tour thorough the house where the manager and engineers stayed is very interesting.

imidazol97

kyfdx said:

@imidazol97 I didn't realize that's where you went. I'll have to get over there.

@kyfdx and anyone else interested:

It's all US cars from 1900 to 1980. A lot of them are what I consider Model A and Model T types. Not my interest. Cars are somewhat eclectic and left as they were purchased, e.g., I believe 2 had University of Oklahoma sticks on the rear windows as was common on college cars from the era. The only thing I found jarring was the bright red 1950 Studebaker's color.

3 warehouse size areas knitted together sort of like IKEA. If you want to take pictures pick a cloudy day because the incoming light glare may make some shots difficult because of unwanted backlighting. OTOH
the great amount of natural light gives good color rendition on my cameras.

The cars may be moved from the positions they were in for the photos. Docent said they drive a good number of them each month to keep them in shape.

explorerx4

Studebaker mail truck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRlV5ccBaX8

uplanderguy

Thanks for posting, great clip! My Dad worked at the Greenville, PA post office and I can remember they used these. Some of these were actually built in South Bend after all other car and truck production had ended. They were all sixes, automatics, and had Twin Traction.

I'm almost certain that Zip Van emblem in the front is available NOS still.

Funny how the design was all about functionality and saving cost, but they still managed to use the upside-down-trapezoid grille, a Stude design feature for a lot of years.

I love how 'plucky' Studebaker was in those last few years, for being the country's Number 5 automaker.

uplanderguy

Snowing a good bit today, and I stumbled across this photo from this past summer....I had swapped Cruzes with my daughter and her older one was in getting brakes and a thermostat, and my wife had her Equinox, so the Cruiser was my only means of mobility that day.

I'm missing a day like that today. The car's a '66, last year they were made, original paint and interior and 27K miles.

The couple who bought it new were both in their sixties and traded in a 1953 Studebaker sedan. They bought this car a month after the final car was built, at a dealer in Grand Junction, Colorado.

uplanderguy

I'll have to pick this April 2023 issue of 'Collectible Automobile' up at the newsstand. Article written by well-known Stude expert Richard Quinn. This cute little '61 half-ton is owned by the Studebaker National Museum.

uplanderguy

The Stude Museum posted this 17 minute color video of the 1960 Press Preview and Dealer Driveaway. No audio. I didn't watch the whole thing but skipping along through it found it fascinating. I'm almost certain my dealer friend as well as an Akron Stude friend of mine both attended the 1960 Dealer Driveaway (my friend worked for an Akron Stude dealer then). Amazing to see so many new Studes in one place.

There's M-B footage, a little, too. 5:23 and 10:17.

This was taken out at the Proving Ground, 15 miles west of town on US2. The house in the movie is still there and looks exactly the same. The property and three-mile oval are owned and operated by Navistar now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fecPLkoOlQ

fintail

uplanderguy said:

The Stude Museum posted this 17 minute color video of the 1960 Press Preview and Dealer Driveaway. No audio. I didn't watch the whole thing but skipping along through it found it fascinating. I'm almost certain my dealer friend as well as an Akron Stude friend of mine both attended the 1960 Dealer Driveaway (my friend worked for an Akron Stude dealer then). Amazing to see so many new Studes in one place.

There's M-B footage, a little, too. 5:23 and 10:17.

This was taken out at the Proving Ground, 15 miles west of town on US2. The house in the movie is still there and looks exactly the same. The property and three-mile oval are owned and operated by Navistar now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fecPLkoOlQ

Cool stuff! Maybe the US launch of the fintail, which began production in September 59 (I think), and replaced the 6 cyl ponton sedans, which is probably why there's only a 4 cyl ponton in the show. All fintails were 6 cyl until 1961. The fintail with blackwalls is a base 220 while the whitewall car is a 220S or SE.

The open car the people are sitting in during the later segment is a W189 300d (d for 4th series car, not diesel, which would be a D) cabrio, an Adenauer cabrio. A striking car, expensive and more expensive to restore, maybe one of the last with functional landau bars:

uplanderguy

Check out the red Adenauer at 3:33, also.

I've been in front of the 'Proving Ground Mansion', in that circular driveway, half-a-dozen times. Everything looks exactly the same, including the gates out to Route 2.

I called my friend Ed D. who was there, and he got in his car and drove the half-hour over here to watch. He was very entertained. He remembered being on the buses that took him out to the track where the dealer's cars were.

Interesting that there are no Hawks to be seen. They weren't built until Feb. '60 to use all material for Lark production which had been going gangbusters. The Champ is visible in a tent, but the sign says "New Pickup" and has some non-factory trim on it. It, too, wasn't introduced until mid-'60.

It blows my mind, all the people in this video, and in front of the 'mansion'.

It reminds me that even a small car company, is still a very large company.

fintail

The red car at 3:33 is a 300d hardtop. With the windows down, they are something unusual - lots of open space between the front and back without a pillar:



I think that series of Adenauer was also the first MB available with an automatic, a Borg-Warner unit.

When was that film made? Looks like a shindig for sure.

uplanderguy

Fall '59. Things were still going great.

2:28 is the front of the Administration Building downtown.

3:52--After watching all the Larks pulling in the gate, that '59 Pontiac looks cartoonish to me, even though of course I know they sold very well.

fintail

That's really early for fintails, production apparently started in August. Interesting they already have the US spec 4 light headlight arrangement (rather than the flush composite Euro style, way ahead of its time), shows the cars were at least partially designed from the start to have appeal in this market.

uplanderguy

Date is September 12-14, 1959

fintail

Might be some of the earliest fintail film out there, around a month after the start of production. I might share that to a couple fintail groups.