Postwar Studebakers

berri

I dig the Kodak Instamatic camera in the glove box on that red '64. I got one just like that for my 8th grade graduation. Remember the flash cubes they used? It actually took pretty good pictures. Remember Kodacolor, Kodachrome and Ektachrome film as well as Kodak Carousel and Bell & Howell slide projectors!

fintail

Not cheap, but originality is popular these days, and it is a significant design. For the devotee, well bought.

uplanderguy said:

Probably the world's lowest-mileage, most-original '53 Commander Starliner Hardtop sold at auction yesterday for $32,000 plus 10% fees for a total of $35,200:

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?88306-World-s-Best-Most-Original-1953-Commander-Starliner

I always say that if I had a '53, I'd make sure to park it next to Big Three '53's at every show I could, just to show how dramatically different in styling execution it was.

uplanderguy

berri, I remember those cameras too. Kind of a neat display in that era car. I like on the '64's, how the rings around the instruments are chrome and the lenses are glass, when plastic was being used in other cars by that time. The instrument lights were red that year, and that vanity in the glovebox was standard although took up otherwise usable space.

Concerning old color cameras and film--and yes, BTW, I remember flash cubes!--my family's color pics from the '70's look faded now. Drat.

berri

I think when you get older you also get a broader, more objective perspective. Peer pressure stuff becomes irrelevant. When I was young, I'd hesitate to say I liked a Studebaker, outside of a few Hawks or Avanti's. Same went for Rambler's outside of an AMX or Javelin. Kaiser, forget it because it didn't have a V8, right? And you'd take a more ragged coupe over a clean 4dr sedan. You were either a GM, Ford, or Mopar person. I think that was a result of their bigger advertising budgets. But nowadays I really appreciate a lot of what those independent companies did, particularly with their very limited budgets. And often, maybe out of necessity, those independents could be bolder in design and styling (well, some of Virgil Exner's stuff was perhaps more than bold!). Of course, Exner was actually involved in some of the early Postwar Studebaker efforts.

I was never a big fan of the Lark styling, although it was a successful sales effort. But I do like some of that more formal post Lark styling like the 64 you posted. I also like the (I think around '53) 2 doors like you also posted that kind of then morphed into the mid 50's Hawks. I like the mid 50's 2 and 4 door Conestoga wagons as well. Like the Avanti, but preferred the competing Hawks of that era. Can't stand the early 50's short run "propeller" front ends, but liked the rooflines of the 4 doors. Well, that's the Cliff's Notes on my Studebaker thoughts

uplanderguy

I can't say I like '59 and '60 Lark styling, although they were big sales successes (by Studebaker standards). I like the '62 and '63 much better, with their 'Mercedes bends'. But I really like the '64's. It's too bad they were only sold from Sept. through Dec. '63 when management deemed them a sales failure and pulled the plug on U.S. production. I think the decision was made before the cars even came out. By that time the Corporation had several other non-auto divisions that were making money.

I too cannot stand the 'bullet nose', but my unofficial opinion is that non-Studebaker folks recognize them and the Golden Hawk first of all Studes.

Studes turned my head even as a kid, but I wouldn't have admitted it then. We were a Chevy family.

uplanderguy

Navistar buys former Studebaker Proving Ground, from Bosch:

http://www.todaysmotorvehicles.com/truck-design-manufacturing-studebaker-navistar-052015#.VVyh77lViko

The "STUDEBAKER" tree sign is still there, half a mile long I think I remember it being!

I've driven a Studebaker on the track there before. It was wonderful of Bosch to allow us to do that. The Proving Ground is about 15 miles west of South Bend on Rt. 2 and when I went, they had the big, original wrought-iron gates open and waved you right in. Banked ovals and all; a three-mile loop. Just a wonderful feeling in a Studebaker to do that.

sda

berri said:

I think when you get older you also get a broader, more objective perspective. Peer pressure stuff becomes irrelevant. When I was young, I'd hesitate to say I liked a Studebaker, outside of a few Hawks or Avanti's. Same went for Rambler's outside of an AMX or Javelin. Kaiser, forget it because it didn't have a V8, right? And you'd take a more ragged coupe over a clean 4dr sedan. You were either a GM, Ford, or Mopar person. I think that was a result of their bigger advertising budgets. But nowadays I really appreciate a lot of what those independent companies did, particularly with their very limited budgets. And often, maybe out of necessity, those independents could be bolder in design and styling (well, some of Virgil Exner's stuff was perhaps more than bold!). Of course, Exner was actually involved in some of the early Postwar Studebaker efforts.

I was never a big fan of the Lark styling, although it was a successful sales effort. But I do like some of that more formal post Lark styling like the 64 you posted. I also like the (I think around '53) 2 doors like you also posted that kind of then morphed into the mid 50's Hawks. I like the mid 50's 2 and 4 door Conestoga wagons as well. Like the Avanti, but preferred the competing Hawks of that era. Can't stand the early 50's short run "propeller" front ends, but liked the rooflines of the 4 doors. Well, that's the Cliff's Notes on my Studebaker thoughts

My dad was certainly of the opinion that you were either a GM or Ford fan. He always admitted Chrysler had great drivelines, but they had poor body integrity and rusted horribly. I got tickled by him when I tried to drive up in his driveway in what was new to me and affordable in 1986 my 1984 Plymouth Horizon SE and he motioned to me to back out and park in the street. No Chryslers in his driveway! Then, gulp, he asked if he could borrow my car to make an important appointment because his Eldorado diesel was in the shop again requiring new head gaskets.

berri

sda - My dad was a Mopar man who became a Ford man. He didn't care for GM and would never say why even though he seemed to like some of the GM cars I owned.

BTW Uplander, he did like those mid 50's Studebaker Hawks, but they were too small for a family

uplanderguy

My birthday today and I'm missing my white '63 that's in my sig photo. This badge was on the lower section of the front fenders, behind the wheel opening. I always liked that subtle little emblem:

http://www.studebakerparts.com/studebakerparts/store/s/html/images/avantipower.jpg

If the car had a blower, it was the same emblem but said "Avanti Supercharged".

sda

uplanderguy said:

My birthday today and I'm missing my white '63 that's in my sig photo. This badge was on the lower section of the front fenders, behind the wheel opening. I always liked that subtle little emblem:

http://www.studebakerparts.com/studebakerparts/store/s/html/images/avantipower.jpg

If the car had a blower, it was the same emblem but said "Avanti Supercharged".

Happy belated birthday! I have really enjoyed your posts about Studebaker and have learned a lot. Keep them coming!

andre1969

sda said:

My dad was certainly of the opinion that you were either a GM or Ford fan. He always admitted Chrysler had great drivelines, but they had poor body integrity and rusted horribly. I got tickled by him when I tried to drive up in his driveway in what was new to me and affordable in 1986 my 1984 Plymouth Horizon SE and he motioned to me to back out and park in the street. No Chryslers in his driveway! Then, gulp, he asked if he could borrow my car to make an important appointment because his Eldorado diesel was in the shop again requiring new head gaskets.

My Dad came from a Ford family and my Mom came from a GM family, but somehow for me, the GM won out. I think it's because Dad hated Fords, probably as a rebellion against his parents. Mom had a thing for Pontiacs (might be the reason Pontiac is my favorite GM brand). And my maternal Granddad, who was a mechanic, hated Fords, but it was mainly because he was accustomed to the GM way of doing things, and he knew how to work on them better, so to him Fords were sometimes "stupid" in the way they were put together.

There were a few Chrysler products here and there, though. On my Dad's side, Grandmom and Granddad bought a new '75 Dart Swinger with a slant six that kept stalling out at random, so they traded it for a '77 Granada that dumped its transmission almost immediately...but under warranty, at least. On my Mom's side, Granddad had a 1940 Chrysler Royal, or something like that, when he met Grandmom in 1946. Their first "pickup" was a 1939 Plymouth that Granddad bought used, cut off the body aft of the B-pillar, and built a home-made bed, Beverly Hillbillies style. My Mom's first car was a 1957 Plymouth. She didn't keep it long though, because it was too "big". And in 1965, probably a bit of a loser car.

The only Studebaker I can think of that was ever in the family was one that my grandmother's (Mom's side) Aunt Nancy's parents had when she was a kid. 1929 or something like that, I think. Aunt Nancy said they called it a "Brick........House", except they used all three words, rather than saying it like the Commodores did!

uplanderguy

Thank you sda, kind of you. There used to be another guy who posted quite a few Stude posts on the general old-car forum, along with me, and there were so many posts there that I was told others were complaining so we were given our own thread! The other guy left in disgust with Edmunds in general probably three or so years ago, so it's mostly just me here now....LOL

No one in my family had a Studebaker, and my Dad would never have considered one. We had a small dealer in our small town, owned by the same family for over 40 years. I believe they're the reason I got my interest--I remember a good number of Larks and the occasional Hawk and truck in our town. I always admired what they did with what they had, and they sure hung in there a long time for an independent.

uplanderguy

On this subject, a Studebaker acquaintance of mine from about 50 miles away called the other day. His '64 Avanti was to be the featured car of the Father's Day Car Show in Hermitage, PA today and the Sharon (PA) newspaper did an article on him and the car. He said the photographer told him about my hometown's former Jeep dealer (used cars and repairs only for the past decade or so) having eight pieces of NOS Studebaker door panels they located as they were cleaning their building out. My friend called him and got parts numbers. I recognize the sequence as Stude nos. but they weren't in my '59-64 Parts Catalog so I'm thinking they're older or newer. Anyway, I called the guy Friday afternoon as he was leaving for the weekend but asked him to send me pics of them and I could probably identify them that way. He said he'd do that Monday. I'll put them on the Studebaker Drivers' Club forum and hopefully find a buyer and he'll get rid of them. Win-win. Someone from VA whom I know a little bit already told me if they're for two-doors, he'll buy them, Period.

The son of the former Jeep dealer told me he thinks his Dad probably bought them at the auction when the Stude dealer closed. Later that night I called the Stude dealer (now lives in central OH) and he said that could well have been the case.

I'm anxious to see what the panels are for.

fintail

I've heard no stories of Stude ownership in my family either. There is an amusing one of my grandfather wanting a bullet nose era car, but my grandmother objecting - and that was the end of that. Funny thing is that he bought their fuselage Chrysler without telling her, and it didn't go over well either. I also remember when my sister was a new driver - late 90s, she wanted a 59 Lark that was for sale in town, with flames and mags etc.

andre1969

Didn't Mr. Cunningham have a Studebaker in the later episodes of "Happy Days"? For some reason, I seem to recall him making a comment along the lines of "I can't win...first DeSoto, now Studebaker!"

For some reason, my earliest childhood memory of Studebakers on television was "Chico and the Man". Louie the garbage man had a '56 or so. I don't know how prominently it was featured in the show, but for some reason I guess it made an impression on me.

uplanderguy

Yes, Howard Cunningham had a red '62 Lark four-door; may have been the Cruiser model with the extra vent window in the rear door; I can't recall. And wasn't Louie on "Chico..." played by Scatman Crothers (sp?). I think I remember that '56.

A friend took a series of photographs of my white Lark, me, and my family maybe seven or eight years ago. Here's my favorite angle of the car (despite me being in the pic):

http://s253.photobucket.com/user/newshooter44/media/023_22A.jpg.html

That car, with the R1 engine and dual exhausts, had a nice, deep, throaty rumble.

fintail

IMCDB is the best

uplanderguy

Thanks, fin! That is a 'Cruiser' model.

A friend posted this 2,500-mile '64 Studebaker Commander up for auction.

http://wolfeauctionrealty.hibid.com/lot/20007004/1964-studebaker-commander-coupe?tab=0

My favorite '64 color; I wish it were cleaned up. With that seat trim being correct/original, it might just be that mileage, who knows.

Hard-to-believe, there was even a series cheaper than the Commander in '64--the 'Challenger'.

berri

Howard Cunningham had a red '62 Lark four-door

Kind of appropriate since he had the old Desoto in earlier episodes!

andre1969

For some reason, that dark green '64 Studebaker looks familiar. I wonder if it's been posted before? And yeah, I like that color, too. I've always had a thing for those dark metallic greens...sequoia, emerald, etc. "Tamarack", whatever that is...I think DeSoto and Ford both called it that in the late 50's.

berri

When I was in elementary school there were actually two Studebakers on my relatively short street. One was a dark blue 49 4dr and the other was one of those propeller nosed starlight coupes in a lighter blue with the wraparound backlight. Both were bought used as second cars and both hung around for awhile. A couple of blocks away, the mother of a school friend of mine had a 53 or 54 4dr which I'd hitch a ride home from school in during the bad weather days in winter sometimes. I seem to recall that it seemed lower to the ground than it's D3 competition, but then sometimes memories aren't always accurate.

uplanderguy

andre, I wonder if you're remembering a four-door '64 Cruiser in that same 'Jet Green' that was on eBay a year or two back and I had posted pics from the ad here, and a short video of it running down the road. I seem to remember that car being sold to a European of some sort.

The pic of the 2,500 mile car shows something that would normally make me scratch my head in doubt, but the photo of the serial number tag on the door jamb shows an unpainted area a bit underneath it...amazingly, they did not paint a square area where the tag went and they were rarely a perfect fit to completely cover the unpainted area.

sda

uplanderguy said:

Yes, Howard Cunningham had a red '62 Lark four-door; may have been the Cruiser model with the extra vent window in the rear door; I can't recall. And wasn't Louie on "Chico..." played by Scatman Crothers (sp?). I think I remember that '56.

A friend took a series of photographs of my white Lark, me, and my family maybe seven or eight years ago. Here's my favorite angle of the car (despite me being in the pic):

http://s253.photobucket.com/user/newshooter44/media/023_22A.jpg.html

That car, with the R1 engine and dual exhausts, had a nice, deep, throaty rumble.

Even without the sunroof a very handsome car. I would think having the sunroof was rare. Absolutely tremendous!

bhill2

berri said:

When I was in elementary school there were actually two Studebakers on my relatively short street. One was a dark blue 49 4dr and the other was one of those propeller nosed starlight coupes in a lighter blue with the wraparound backlight. Both were bought used as second cars and both hung around for awhile. A couple of blocks away, the mother of a school friend of mine had a 53 or 54 4dr which I'd hitch a ride home from school in during the bad weather days in winter sometimes. I seem to recall that it seemed lower to the ground than it's D3 competition, but then sometimes memories aren't always accurate.

The first car I remember my parents having was a lemon yellow used '51 Commander 4-door (suicide rear doors) that they bought when he was still a student. I remember it primarily because it had woven plastic seat covers and if you slid across them and touched the door handle the static electricity would rearrange your hairdo. Anyway, when he graduated they bought a new VW Beetle. Go figure.

uplanderguy

Thanks, sda. The sunroof option was rare, but in total nobody knows exactly how rare. I'd never seen a real one before I bought the car. Someone went through the roughly 36,000 1963 V8 build sheets ("production orders") in the mid-eighties to find out how many of those had an Avanti engine (supercharged or non-supercharged). I got my hand on that list and there were 628 '63 Lark two-door sedans, hardtops, and four-door sedans built with Avanti engines. My wife and I went to South Bend armed with the serial nos. of those 628 and looked at each build sheet to see how many of those had sunroofs. Fourteen was the answer and ours was the first serial number with both options in the model year.

I've posted this here before, but here's the build sheet for that car:

http://www.studebakerskytop.com/jtskyktopShipper63V5224.jpg

berri

The only other suicide doors I remember from the very early 50's was the 49-51 Mercury and I think Lincoln. They were a bit more popular in the 40's.

uplanderguy

I think you're right, berri--I can't think of any others besides Lincoln and Merc either.

In South Bend this past May when I was out there, I saw a nice (condition!) '50 Land Cruiser 4-door with the suicide doors, that had a sign that it could be rented out with driver for weddings. At 124 inch wheelbase, it was the longest postwar Stude wheelbase made. It was pretty elegant inside for the time, too, but ugh, I can't get past that bullet-nose! LOL

berri

I always felt that the longer wheelbase on the upper level Studebakers carried off that 4 dr look better. Just the reverse of the 59/60 GM Flattops.

bhill2

uplanderguy said:

I think you're right, berri--I can't think of any others besides Lincoln and Merc either.

Without wandering too far off the thread topic, I will mention one exception. In the early '50s Chrysler offered an eight-passenger sedan / limousine with suicide rear doors. You could get it as a Dodge, a DeSoto, or a Chrysler.

berri

Oh yeah, I remember that with the big windows behind the back door. I think they also made some odd Plymouth business coupes without back windows back then too (hey, that Studebaker Starlight Coupe was kind of strange too )

andre1969

Yep, I forgot that the those 8-passenger sedans had suicide doors. DeSoto and Chrysler/Imperial offered them up through 1954, but I think Dodge dropped theirs after 1952, as they went to that stubbier body for 1953-54.

Interestingly, those 8-passenger sedans weren't *that* expensive, for what all you got. My great-uncle's mother had bought a '53 DeSoto Firedome 4-door sedan brand new. It had a base price of $2643, but by the time you threw on all the options, it was pushing $3500. The Firedome 8-passenger sedan had a base price of $3,529. So, that '53 Firedome, which my Granddad ultimately bought from the estate, and I wanted when I was a kid, was actually more expensive than a stripped-down 8-passenger sedan. In theory, at least...I'm sure most of those stretched cars were pretty well-equipped.

For '55-56, the long-wheelbase model was limited to Imperial, and they started around $7000 in 1955, $7700 in 1956. For 1957, they were farmed out to Ghia, and the price jacked to $15,075!

It's kind of sad that they eliminated those more affordable limousine/8-passenger sedan styles, and jacked up the price so much. Sort of the end of an era, where you didn't have to be a one-percenter to have a limo! But, they were slow sellers. For instance, the '53 Firedome 8-passenger only sold 200 units. And I don't think Ford or GM were doing factory limos by this time, with the exception of Cadillac. I can't remember if Lincoln did or not?

It's cool though, that Studebaker would actually feel the need to fill a niche for a roomier car with their Land Cruiser/President models. Even if they didn't go the 8-passenger route, they still offered a model with more room than the more high-volume cars.

fintail

Studebaker had their own font it seems, too. Very early 60s looking, to my eyes. And your car is/was lovely, very European in a way. I can see why you miss it.

uplanderguy said:

I've posted this here before, but here's the build sheet for that car:

http://www.studebakerskytop.com/jtskyktopShipper63V5224.jpg

uplanderguy

Thanks, fin. That slanted font was used on the '63 window stickers too, but the Canadian-built '64 I had had a more upright, 'normal' font to the window sticker.

uplanderguy

I received photos of the NOS Studebaker door panels the former Jeep dealer in my small hometown found upstairs, still in their Studebaker sleeve-boxes. Not a matched set in there! They are all for 1961 and 1962 Lark Regal 4-doors--well, one is for a '62 Lark Cruiser and has the map pocket on the door. None are red or black, common colors...there's blue, saddle tan w/white, green, taupe. Closest thing to a set is a RF and LR in the same color for the same year and model.

I put pics on the Studebaker Drivers' Club forum, but I doubt there's much interest. I'd hate to see the owners trash them. Oh well. I tried.

uplanderguy

Well, I put a guy on the Studebaker Drivers' Club forum in touch with the guy, and he bought two of them--both front doors, same panel but different colors. He didn't care about that! Last Saturday, I was in my hometown for a Heritage Days Car Show--500 cars in a town of 6,000 population!--and at Perkins for dinner, a group of four of us were eating, my friend with a Studebaker hat on, and my former hometown Stude-Packard-MB dealer up from Columbus, OH for the show, and the Jeep dealer introduced himself. He offered to give our local club the six remaining panels for free. We said 'yes' and he ran home and brought them back, and my friend put them in the back of his '64 Studebaker Champ 1/2 ton pickup for our next meet, then show. Anything's a plus, but I can see us being stuck with them--all four-doors, no matching sets. Still, nice of the former Jeep dealer to give them to us.

uplanderguy

Well, now that I have all the panels at my house, I do see that one is for a '61 Lark Regal two-door hardtop or convertible--it (and the box) are longer than all the others. That'll probably be the only one our local club region can sell! LOL

uplanderguy

If anybody reading is on Facebook, go to Studebaker National Museum's Facebook page and check out the vivid color photo of a new '58 Golden Hawk in front of a building at Saint Mary's College in South Bend. There are no people in the photo and it looks as if it could have been taken yesterday.

And hey, the car's not white or gold!

I'd love to step right into that picture.

To me, it's so neat to see old pics in vivid color. In black-and-white photos, one almost imagines life itself being colorless back then!

As Bob Seger says, "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then".

bhill2

uplanderguy said:

As Bob Seger says, "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then".

That is probably my favorite line from a Bob Seger song. I read somewhere that the first time Seger saw the lyrics to 'Against the Wind' he thought that line was nonsense and didn't want to sing it. I really don't know what he was thinking. It applies here too. Seeing an example of the beautiful Golden Hawk I wish I didn't know what happened to Studebaker. Based on some of the cars it turned out, it deserved better.

fintail

Nice color. Reminds me of this web archive of shots from a Life magazine photographer or something similar, spanning roughly 1940-65. I can't find the link now, but many of the shots were so crisp, they looked like modern pics.

When I was a lot kid, I watched a bit of old TV shows on Nickelodeon (I still think "Dennis the Menace" can be funny, and Joseph Kearns is underrated) - all in B&W. Because of TV, I had this idea that life was in black and white until around 1965, then everything just changed to color.

uplanderguy said:

If anybody reading is on Facebook, go to Studebaker National Museum's Facebook page and check out the vivid color photo of a new '58 Golden Hawk in front of a building at Saint Mary's College in South Bend. There are no people in the photo and it looks as if it could have been taken yesterday.

And hey, the car's not white or gold!

I'd love to step right into that picture.

To me, it's so neat to see old pics in vivid color. In black-and-white photos, one almost imagines life itself being colorless back then!

As Bob Seger says, "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then".

lemko

Spotted at Macungie:

uplanderguy

That is funny. I used to have that sticker in the quarter window of my dark blue '64 Daytona Hardtop, but I'd only display it at shows with that.

That's a '57 Commander two-door sedan, BTW. Not necessarily a favorite Studebaker of mine, but I did always like the low beltlines of those cars.

Thanks for posting!

berri

The 57 Stude and Packard aren't my favorites either, although for some reason it makes me sometimes think 57 Pontiac. But that coupe looks in great shape with a nice looking color combination. Anyway, I kind of think the 57 Studebaker lineup looked best in Conestoga wagons or 4 door models. I think I'll take that 59 Pontiac flat top behind it though, thank you!

andre1969

I think the '57 Stude and Packard are kind of interesting, in showing just how advanced that '53 body really was. IMO it still looked fairly up to date by 1957. I don't know if there were too many other 1953 cars that could say the same, although maybe that's not a fair comparison, as most cars that were out in '53 dated back to '48-49, although the Fords were new for '52.

uplanderguy

I do like the proportions of the '56-57 models, especially the Packard Country Sedan (station wagon).

And the taillights on the '57 Studebaker resemble those on the '57 Pontiac too, amazingly.

uplanderguy

The Studebaker-Packard-MB-Simca-Sunbeam dealer in my old hometown is for sale (the building, that is).

It was last used as a laundromat up front; various car-related things rented the back (shop) out.

Built in '46 after they had rented another place in town for twenty years before that. At the Stude Museum archives, I found an architectural drawing of this building with their name on it.

I hate the peaked roof, added later!

Here's the realtor listing (optimistic I'm afraid) with photos:

http://www.northwood.com/Real_Estate/PA/Greenville/43_S_Race_Street/571-3-1069440/

Here are some older pics of the building, in operation:

http://www.studegarage.com/IMAGES/sign/broadway_filer_oct03.jpg

http://s571.photobucket.com/user/BobPalma/media/carlfilerpartscounter_zps7c3ca3be.jpg.html#/user/BobPalma/media/carlfilerpartscounter_zps7c3ca3be.jpg.html?&_suid=144275211717806271371248012658

http://studebakerdealers.blogspot.com/2011/07/carl-e-filer-greenville-pa.html
--sixth pic from bottom is me getting the door to the Parts Dept. out of there in 2004. I use it as my desk now.

For fintail, I have a photo of a yellowish-cream 190 convert in front of the building in around '60 but no images to post here of it, sadly!

Here's my former '64 Daytona Hardtop, which was sold new there:

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh48/newshooter44/100_0690_00-1_3.jpg

I guess the six individual service bays out back was considered unusual at the time this building was built, although really it was just the best use of the smallish lot I'm sure.

fintail

The price of that place (I agree, the roof looks terrible) boggles my mind. A vacant acre in my zipcode would easily cross into 7 figures and would sell in a heartbeat.

I just looked up the old Stude dealer building in my area, about 5 blocks from me. A 3300 sq ft building on .33 acre, estimated value, 2.62MM.

uplanderguy

Greenville is a small town, not a suburb, which had a heavy industry base which has mostly left so is depressed, although Main St. still looks nice, and the large and beautiful churches, post office, and couple of train stations (not used anymore) are still there, not having been torn down and replaced with boring '60's and '70's architecture like where I live now. I still love the old town. But that's why the price strikes you as low.

I think I've posted this before, but here is a color photo, and a large one, of the building in '56 when they delivered one of only 276 '56 Packard Caribbean convertibles:

http://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/dealer/pics/php6uD4xP.jpg

This very car was at the Amelia Island auction in 2004 but did not sell. Here is a write-up about the car:

http://www.rmsothebys.com/am04/vintage-motor-cars-at-amelia-island/lots/1956-packard-caribbean-convertible/16468

Long story, but I saw the car in North Carolina in 1998. It was mounted on Packard wire wheels at that time.

uplanderguy

I'm liking this very authentic-looking '64 black Cruiser on eBay now. Appears to have the factory optional broadcloth seat trim. I'll be curious to see what it ends up bringing. As usual, even though I don't have the $$ to spend, it's about as far from me as it can be and still be in the continental U.S.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Studebaker-Cruiser-4-Door-Sedan-/331659524948?forcerrptr=true&hash=item4d3872bb54&item=331659524948

fintail

That black car is maybe a 5 hour drive from me. That upholstery seems kind of old fashioned, or somewhat European, to me. MB had a couple of cloth interior choices at the time - a lower pile cloth, and a plush wool (I think) velour type - I think that Cruiser falls in between,

Small town real estate is cheaper here too, but maybe not as cheap as there. I spent the weekend in a smallish town (>20K population, sluggish economy) where my mother lives, housing prices get to me. I should see if I can find any period pics of the old Studebaker building down the street from me.

uplanderguy

The broadcloth was wool, from what I've heard. No domestic car that size, that model year, had seat trim that could match any of the seat design or materials in a '64 Cruiser, IMHO. I've only seen one in person with broadcloth, and maybe only pics of five others ever. You could get dual headrests in front, or on one side too.

I'd have to have the steering wheel painted (as my restoration shop did for my '63), or buy NOS which I think are available in certain colors, and center that "S" in the center of the wheel!

Those outside mirrors are 'ugh'. Too bad this car didn't have the swoopy mirror on the driver's door which was originally designed for the Avanti but used on other '63 and later Studes.

This car has disc brakes, exclusive to the domestic market at that time.

EDIT: A Studebaker friend pointed out, by blowing up the instrument panel pic, that it's a Canadian car from the serial no. tag, so it had the all-white wheel originally and to be correct--I hate the all-white wheel...LOL. But that pic also points out that it has the factory FM radio, which the seller didn't even mention. That's a desirable option for Stude folks.