Postwar Studebakers

uplanderguy

I don't recognize either car, but then I live in N.E. OH. That '62 is a Lark Regal, not even a Daytona...it was the lower-priced convertible that year so didn't have bucket seats or the woodgrained dash. The wide whites are too wide, too. That said, I grew up in a Chevy family and I way-prefer a '62 Lark hardtop or convertible to the same year Chevy II Nova, Falcon, Valiant, or Fairlane. Far rarer too, although '62 was the last year Studebaker built over 100,000 cars and trucks. Thanks for posting the pics!

jljac

The wide whites are too wide, too

I don't see anything wrong with the wide whitewall tires. In 1962 the style was changing from wide to narrow whitewalls. Earlier I posted the cover of a 1962 Motor Trend Magazine which had Avantis with wide whitewall tires too. The change came with the 1963 models.

Mr_Shiftright

Has an interesting article about the Daytona Wagon with sliding sunroof.

berri

That's the first car show where I've seen old city buses on display. Those two pics do a good job showing how Studebaker was able to take the dowdy 59 Lark and shape it into something much nicer with a shoestring budget. Problem was that in 63 there were a lot of good looking vehicles out there.

uplanderguy

Wilbur and Carol's '62 Lark hardtop has a Skytop sunroof too...an American exclusive on two-and-four-door Larks.

You are right about the whitewalls. I know they went to narrow stripes at Studebaker in '63, along with a revised roofline and flat windshield, but I didn't think the '62 whitewalls were as wide as on that convertible. I see now that they were that wide!

uplanderguy

Here is my favorite Studebaker Lark, a '64 model:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14184501@N00/5067295415/

IMO it was an excellent facelift that has stood the test of time. This car is in the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend and is the last regular production-line Studebaker automobile built in the U.S. (meaning 'Lark type' and 'Hawk'; Avantis and trucks were built on special lines in a different building). The car is a 4-speed with Avanti R1 power and has only 28 miles. Studebaker had a retail order for it but kept the car and fulfilled the customer's order by taking a similar (but not exact) car from factory inventory and adding and deleting options. This particular car is a NOS Studebaker and was originally consigned to the Stude dealer in Fleetwood, PA.

fintail

And Stude's little connection MB used wide whites through MY 1964, believe it or not.

berri

After the current supersized rims and low profile tire craze is over, I wonder if white walls will make another appearance? Personally, I'd just like my smooth riding 15 or 16 inch tires back.

berri

Uplander, I do like the look of that red coupe even if it isn't a Hawk GT. The four door doesn't look bad for a sedan either. I didn't mind the Wagonaire, but as for Studebaker wagons I'm probably more partial to the mid 1950's Conastoga models.

uplanderguy

And Stude's little connection MB used wide whites through MY 1964, believe it or not.

I was not aware of that. Our little hometown Stude dealer sold M-B too. I've read that not every dealer got to sell M-B, but it was probably limited to those who would buy signage, manuals and tools!

uplanderguy

The red '64 Daytona in the link in the earlier post above is the last 'regular production' U.S.-built Studebaker, but this Avanti with R3 engine in the Crawford Museum in Cleveland is the last Studebaker-built Avanti and last U.S.-built Studebaker automobile:

http://www.remarkablecars.com/main/studebaker/1964-studebaker-avanti-1.html

The last truck was built a day later, 12/27/63, but it seems I remember it was sold to the Government Services Administration (GSA) so is probably long-gone by now. The last GT Hawk was sold to a private retail customer and as of ten years ago survived out west. The original owner was killed in a car accident about then but I don't know what happened to the Hawk (he wasn't driving it at the time).

imidazol97

>first car show where I've seen old city buses on display.

Did you attend the show since know there were buses there. What about those hearses.

I'll have to start wearing my Edmunds T-shirt to these events and put "imidazol97" on the front.

Here's a LINK to a collection of pictures from the cemetary and funeral home show in 2009.

fintail

And wanted to hire mechanics brave enough to work on MFI, bleeding edge air suspension, etc.

Even the early W113 230SLs got wide whites. MB must have had a special agreement with a tire maker.

Mr_Shiftright

We probably won't see wide whites again. They were high maintenance and when they got dirty, they made the car look really bad; also, it was easy to gouge the white wall on a curb and then you had all these ugly black divots in the tire. And then there's the cultural problem of being regarded as "pimpy".

berri

Nice pix link

No, I didn't attend, but I saw the old buses lined up in your picture post. Growing up in the Chicago area I rode a lot of buses as a youth. Chicago had a very wide assortment of them. I don't know if that was from good competition or kickbacks - well, I probably know! I always liked the Flxible models (some of the Chicago ones were propane run believe it or not) and the trolleys.

As for hearses, they were almost always a Caddy where I grew up back then.

berri

Shifty, I agree on the wide whitewall detriments. But pimpy - what do you call 22 inch wheels? Maybe instead of whitewalls, the next craze will be things like those short lived red tire stripes or other colors.

Mr_Shiftright

Well 22" wheels CAN look good on show cars, etc.

I thought my '55 Studebaker 2DHT looked good with wide whites, but I would never have put them on my GT Hawk. On a 4 door early model Lark they might look okay, since this was a boxy little car, almost cartoonish in a nice sort of way.

They just make a car look heavy and old-fashioned.

fintail

They can work on some cars - late 30s through around 1961, but not so much on later cars, although they did seem to come back a little during the 70s pimptastic era.

Pele's fintail had the period wide whites, not as wide as some 50s American style tires:



These tires are being remade today, I will probably get them the next time my car needs tires (which was a while ago :shades: )

jljac

This car is in the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend and is the last regular production-line Studebaker automobile built in the U.S.

I agree with that statement and I like the 1964s best of all model years. An image I took of that car in the Studebaker Museum showed up at a car club web site in India. I notified them and they gave me credit for taking the image and linked to my site. Here is the India club web site.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/international-automotive-scene/38514-day-automotiv- - e-history-17.html#post1084220

I took that image when I was at the Studebaker Drivers Club International Meet in South Bend in 2002 (150th anniversary of Studebaker’s founding). Right after I took that image, I took this image of a former Studebaker employee named “Bud” (full name at my site) who has the very same type of car and drives it regularly. The car was parked outside the assembly plant. Bud came out from a hardware store as I was taking pictures of it I could not have hoped for a better image and it was not staged. The guy wrote me a letter about 5 years ago. I wonder if he is still around.

isellhondas

When I was a kid, our next door neighbor bought new tires for his 1958 Ford. He cheaped out and bought blackwalls which looked terrible.

He wife was so unhappy that he went and had a set of "Mickey Mouse" whitewalls installed. Remember those?

They weren't the same as the real thing!

texases

Around Cincinnati we called them 'portawalls'. You can still get them.

isellhondas

Maybe my Reatta would look good with a set!

:sick:

uplanderguy

Great pic of "Bud" and his '64 Daytona outside the final assembly building in South Bend. I remember I was out there the year that building was torn down, and you could see the overhead portion of the assembly lines running about the whole length of the building then.

uplanderguy

fintail, are the whitewalls on the dark gray Benz being reproduced? Those are the same-type whitewalls used on '63 Studebakers and there's been a good bit of discussion on the Studebaker Drivers' Club site that no one has reproduced that style yet. See pic of '63 Daytona Skytop at Chicago Auto Show, here:

http://media.photobucket.com/image/%25252763%20Studebaker%20whitewalls/lstude1/6- 3StudebakerDaytonaChicagoAutoShow1.jpg

jljac

Hey Uplanderguy, you must have been there in 2006 because the first images below were in July 2002 and the second set were taken in August 2006. (I did not take the indoor black & white images) I am certain of the second date because that is what I saw right after my Father's funeral and decided to stop by the Studebaker factory afterward. It was not a good day, but I am glad I was there at the time.

Here is a gif slideshow I made of the best images of those two days.


Thanks to Mr. Shiftright for telling me about Photobucket. I did not know I could post gif images here until now.

fintail

I know Continental remade them several years ago, I don't know if they are made this year however. At the latest local MBCa gathering, there was a beautiful 220SE ponton cabrio with correct tires that were bought from one of the usual domestic dealers.

uplanderguy

Thanks for posting the slide slow of the South Bend final assembly building in demolition and also in production. Those are the types of photos one doesn't often see on old car sites.

jljac

Thanks Uplanderguy. If you want me to put together a few images and make a multiple gif image, I can do that.

Maybe the administration building. Send me some you took and I will add in a few of my Grandfather getting his 30 year Studebaker pin inside the building. I will send it back to you and if you like it, we will post it. I will keep the images small like the last file. That is a nice size.

uplanderguy

Those pics I posted of the Studebaker Administration Building inside in 2007, weren't taken by me but were on the 'net. I did take the tour that year, and the inside of that building is still remarkable. I'd like to see the pic of your Grandfather getting his 30-year pin. Not many personal stories/pics like that on any of these old car sites.

jljac

Using images of the administration building was only a suggestion. I already posted two images of my Grandfather getting his 30 year pin.

Send a few images of your Studebaker. The image below was made from two images. The Aero Theatre was the closest theater to James Dean's home when he was living in Santa Monica and going to college in 1950-51. Built by Donald Douglas in 1940, it was open 24 hours a day then so that workers building airplanes at the Douglas factory could see movies any time.

Mr_Shiftright

That '55 is the exact car and color I had.

jljac

I believe you had a President, Mr. Shiftright, but one cannot tell the difference by looking at the image because a Commander with Regal trim looks like a President from that distance (except for the President Speedster). Thanks for letting me know about Photobucket. No good deed goes unpunished.

If anyone wants to make free gif images, you can do that here http://gickr.com

jljac

I just stuck this together using the free Glickr site. This is an example of why why I like the 1964s so much.



Coming soon, gif images of a rare 1958 Studepacker Catfish.

Mr_Shiftright

Yes I had a President. Good memory! I later painted it black and gold for some strange reason. Never had much trouble with it. It was a very sturdy, faithful car. I kept it until I drove my first Alfa Romeo and then I said: "Oh, THAT'S what a sports car is supposed to feel like!"

uplanderguy

I'd proudly park that '64 Daytona convertible in Golden Sand next to any '64 Chevy II, Falcon, or Valiant convertible, and at 703 units it's far rarer than any of them. I was surprised to see when I visited the Archives of the Studebaker National Museum a couple years back, that my small hometown Stude dealer, Carl E. Filer Co., delivered a Bordeaux Red '64 Daytona convertible, black bucket seats, 4-barrel 289 and 4-speed. I don't recall the car and of course no one else in town now does either!

lemko

Love the front end of the 1964 Studebaker, the back end not so much. Make the car a bit wider and a lot longer, it would make a really nice Chrysler Newport.

jljac

I never noticed a similarity between the 1964 Lark and the Chrysler Newport, but now that you mention it, I have to agree.

uplanderguy

The roof of the '64 is pretty stylized; taking the top off doesn't do the rear end much justice. Actually, other than size, if you compare a '64 Daytona Hardtop to an Imperial Coupe of the same era, I think there are similarities. Stop laughing! The downward slope of the front end, shape of the quarter windows, and the creased, squared-off roofline. I'd post a couple side-by-sides, if I knew how to do it!

jljac

The early Lark convertibles were pretty neat too. This one is owned and driven by a nice lady from the San Diego area.



My Aunt decided to learn to drive when she saw a yellow Lark in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She was in her mid 30s at the time and not from the Studebaker side of the family. She got a yellow one just like it and that ended up being my first car. Images taken at La Palma Park in Anaheim, CA

uplanderguy

Those early Lark convertibles have a 'cuteness' that's missing in the later ones, I'll concede. I always called '59 and '60 Larks, "Boo Boo Bear" Larks because for some reason they remind me of Yogi's little sidekick!

jljac

I accidently deleted my Aero Commander gif image from Photobucket and found out it disappeared here too. Sorry.

berri

But American Graffiti is playing, where is the 58 Impala - just kidding!

uplanderguy

Speaking of American Graffiti, I know who Paul LeMat is, but who is Clark LeMat??

jljac

That evening Candy Clark and Paul Le Mat appeared in person and answered questions from the audience about making the movie. Candy Clark was the Connie Francis-type "bitchin' babe" who gave Toad a good time that night in the movie, and who spoke the famous words, "Girls don't pay - guys pay!" (Truer words were never spoken.)

This movie theater often does things like that. The two images were taken about a year apart. It took me more than ah hour to get those two parking spots to take the pictures.

jljac

I guess Mr. Shiftright fixed my first gif image of the Aero Commander because it was gone on Thursday morning but is back now. (I did not check it Friday). It is OK with me if the first post is deleted so it does not appear that I intentionally posted the same image twice. Avanti always.

jljac

Before Chevy had the Sting Ray, before Plymouth had the Barracuda, and before Rambler had the Marlin, Studepackard had the Catfish. . . . I mean the Packard Hawk. Actually, I would love to own one.

Mr_Shiftright

No offense but I find that car enormously unattractive, in spades. It's all wrong, all the time.

jljac

The Packard Hawk should be judged with its contemporaries. It and the full size Studepackard were the first American cars to get rid of the chrome grille, so they should get crefit for that.

The class of 1958 did not have a homecoming queen. Each of the other four automakers has at least one contestant below. Which one gets your vote?

imidazol97

The best looking is the Oldsmobile.

These mgifs move through the images far too fast. It's distracting while reading the post.

Is there a way to slow them down?

berri

The best looking is the Oldsmobile.

From the front maybe. Isn't that Hash as 57?