Postwar Studebakers

uplanderguy

Among Golden Hawks, '58's are by-far the rarest, and the only year Hawks were built with 14-inch wheels. I like this one--subdued color, looks like correct cloth interior, correct tire size and whitewall width/pattern....shaky driver's door fit but probably to factory standards (LOL)...sold for $41,800--seems like a good price to me.

The door-handle guards are upside-down--ACCCCKKKKKK! I don't even like them right-side up, but I bet half of them I see are installed upside-down.

https://www.mecum.com/lots/HA0418-324602/1958-studebaker-golden-hawk/

fintail

Going through some old files, I have an old pic where a portion of the Mustang is showing. This pic was probably taken in 1979 (I am in the cropped segment to the left, and I look to be about 2). He had this car for a couple more years, when it was replaced by a similar color Horizon (with steel wheels). He liked this Mustang, but I don't think my mom had any affection for it. Looks like it is another with the combo of small caps and beauty rings:

ab348

uplanderguy said:

RE.: Dog dish caps--just a hunch, but I think a lot more restored/show cars today have dog dish caps than ever left the factory with them, LOL. They're sort of a 'cool' thing now I think. When I see an R2 Studebaker Daytona with bucket seats and dog dish caps, I'm pretty-sure I'd win the wager about whether they came with them or not by looking at the production order, LOL.

Likewise, I swear I see more '58-62 Corvettes with them at shows than probably ever had them originally. Corvettes came with full wheelcovers standard unless you got the larger wheels and tires, which production numbers online always show how very rare they were. But I bet I see as many with hubcaps as with full wheelcovers at shows.

Yeah, the rationale is that in the old days people used to buy them with poverty caps because they were going to put a set of aftermarket wheels on the car. I don't buy it. It isn't a look I care for and seems goofy to spend big bucks on a restoration only to do that with the wheels.

Fin, the '69/'70 Mustang had the hubcaps/trim rings as a popular choice. It just seemed to suit the car and they sold a lot of them that way. It was also true for the Maverick Grabber.

omarman

fintail said:

Going through some old files, I have an old pic where a portion of the Mustang is showing. This pic was probably taken in 1979 (I am in the cropped segment to the left, and I look to be about 2). He had this car for a couple more years, when it was replaced by a similar color Horizon (with steel wheels). He liked this Mustang, but I don't think my mom had any affection for it. Looks like it is another with the combo of small caps and beauty rings:

Very cool. Looks like the stock styled steel wheel and trim. In 1972 one of my teachers bought a new Mach 1 which came with the "sports wheel cover" that looked pretty good. Everyone wants the stock Magnum 500s but I think they stopped offering them around '72.

fintail

Interesting about the Mustang hubcaps. I only have vague memories of that car, as I was still a little kid when it was replaced, and was was mentioned, a lot of them seem to have Magnum 500s now. I recall seeing a flat hubcap type with trim rings on the Grabber as ab348 mentions, too.

I recall seeing pics of the fuselage Newport my grandpa bought around 1971 - I think it was decently equipped, the typical green on green, vinyl top, 4 door HT, 383 - but had dog dish hubcaps. That car would look pretty mean today, if it survived.

isellhondas

uplanderguy said:

All that stuff was (is) wayyyyy above my ability!

When they would compress those HUGE long coil springs I would stay way clear of where they were working. We did have a spring get loose one time when a spring compressor broke and it wasn't pretty. By luck, nobody got hurt. Very close call.

isellhondas

Mr_Shiftright said:

Anyone Want a Brand New '58 Champion?

Interesting story, although I think the price is magnificently silly.

Beyond silly! What[s good about it? It's a 1958 Studebaker with less than 100 miles on it!

It's a RHD bare bones stripper and just as ugly of a car as can be especially after at some point someone grafted on the quad headlights! What would you do with it? One hard stop would probably blow the master and all four wheel cylinders. It is interesting!

isellhondas

fintail said:

I've heard of the heater thing. Electric wipers rather than vacuum were a nicety then, I think, and I have seen old cars without armrests.

Come to think of it, maybe signals are a premium feature - I can think of a couple modern cars not always equipped with them, both made in Bavaria, coincidentally

I think heaters were standard but a "thrifty"shopper could save a few dollars and have it deleted.

I'm sure that was a " One Only" "Subject to prior sale" car hidden in the back of the lot!

sda

I shared this a year or so ago. My parent's bought a very low mileage '63 Olds Dynamic 88 Holiday coupe in '65 to replace a '59 Pontiac Catalina coupe that was having transmission issues and had rusted out floors. (Only 6 years old, wow). The Olds had been special ordered by an elderly man and only drove it a short while before he could no longer drive. It was an oddly equipped car. It had a white top, medium green body, tinted glass, full wheel covers, white walls, decently handsome. It had a cloth interior, ps, automatic, base 394 2bbl V8, non-power brakes, factory ac. No radio, seat belts, driver side mirror, back up lights, one speed electric wipers, no washers, heater or defroster. That was all optional. My parents had a Motorola pushbutton AM radio and front seat belts installed. It was originally purchased and was also purchased by my parents at Bert Smith Olds in St. Petersburg, FL...thus the need for the ac rather than heater. Mom kept a blanket in the car for cold days and a cloth handy to wipe the inside of the windshield when it would get fogged up. We moved to New Orleans in '68 so not having a heater took on a new reality. When dad replaced the '63 in '71 with a loaded '69 Olds 98 Luxury Sedan (LS) mom did a happy dance!

Mr_Shiftright

uplanderguy said:

Among Golden Hawks, '58's are by-far the rarest, and the only year Hawks were built with 14-inch wheels. I like this one--subdued color, looks like correct cloth interior, correct tire size and whitewall width/pattern....shaky driver's door fit but probably to factory standards (LOL)...sold for $41,800--seems like a good price to me.

The door-handle guards are upside-down--ACCCCKKKKKK! I don't even like them right-side up, but I bet half of them I see are installed upside-down.

https://www.mecum.com/lots/HA0418-324602/1958-studebaker-golden-hawk/

Those are odd colors for a Hawk, but it's an interesting car. The superchargers on those are very difficult to rebuild, and generally require a level of precision that the average DIYer (or restoration shop) doesn't not have at his disposal.

Nowadays the aftermarket offers much more efficient "blow-through" superchargers.

ab348

Stumbled upon this photo today taken in 1974 showing what was then our local M-B dealer and which prior to 1966 had also been our Studebaker dealer in town. They remained in business in a spiffy new showroom up to about 10 years ago when they were bought by a large dealer group here and moved to an even spiffier new facility. I believe that is their used inventory in the lot to the right. If you click on the photo it blows up to an impressive size and I think the orangey-red vehicle in the bottom right is a Studebaker?




A couple of newer shots, first the building Isnor Motors moved to and sold Benzes from until they were bought out (no longer a dealership by 2009 when this pic was taken):



Then the facility that they were moved to and what remains the M-B dealer today, on a large lot not really captured well here:

fintail

Cool old pic. The MB sedans in the pic might not have been brand new, but not too old - MY 1968 at the oldest. The SL in the pic (beside the fuselage car) could be as new as 1971.

My eye is also drawn to the Mustang fastback.

uplanderguy

My first thought was that the orange sedan at the lower right was a Plymouth Cricket, but I think it could also be a Valiant of the '67-70 vintage (like used in the move 'Duel').

uplanderguy

Now, I think that car is an AMC Hornet.

fintail

I think the orange car is an AMC, too.

omarman

I don't think that orange car is a Hornet. Looks a bit too small in scale and it's missing the gas cap between the taillights.

fintail

Searching pics online, I think it is indeed a Cricket, definitely not a Hornet.

uplanderguy

Proves that old adage, I guess..."Go with your first guess!".

omarman

Back in '02 a retired neighbor across the street had a '74 AMC Hornet. It was well kept, very nice. Inherited from his mom I think.

By '04 he traded it in for a new Cavalier. His widow moved away after he passed and I think she or one of his kids still has that one. I think I still have a pic of that old Hornet. Looked bigger than the orange car posted.

uplanderguy

RE.: That '58 Golden Hawk--the '58 factory gold (I think it was called 'White Gold') is paler than the vivid '57 gold. About the superchargers, there are two pretty well-known guys in the national club who rebuild them--one in Nevada, and the other around Dayton, OH. Admittedly not many for a club of around 11,000 members in all.

uplanderguy

Found a couple M-B pics from my friend who was the Stude-MB dealer in my hometown. The black sedan was his Dad's car.

uplanderguy

uplanderguy

Curved parts counter decorated for Christmastime, 1950, Carl E. Filer Co., Greenville, PA:

fintail

220S/SE Ponton on wide whites, nice car. 190SL would have been pretty exotic in small town PA in the 50s, too.

uplanderguy

They added M-B in late '57. Since the neon window sign still shows "Commander V8", my guess is that this is no later than '58. Plus the overhang needs painted, as in another '58 photo I have. Later pics show it fixed/painted. '58 was a bad year at Studebaker.

My friend Ed said his Dad very-much enjoyed that Benz.

uplanderguy

Back then,our town was a mix of professional bucks and a lot of factory-working-types, some of whom made good money (such as those who worked at the diesel shops at Bessemer and Lake Erie railroad just down the street from Filer's). My friend tells of a dirty-looking guy who came in gawking at a new Golden Hawk in the showroom, milled about, and pulled $4K out of his pants pocket and bought the car.

fintail

MBs then mostly sold to people interested in the technical aspects and build quality, the badge seekers weren't into it yet. If the Ponton is an SE, it is fuel injected, which would have been noteworthy then.

I think then, a nicer Ponton like that might have cost somewhere in the upper 4K to around 5K range, with the 190SL maybe 1K more. Relative to incomes and other cars, they weren't as expensive as today, either. Of course, the Adenauer and 300SL were a bit more expensive, the latter over 10K I am pretty sure.

Mr_Shiftright

uplanderguy said:

RE.: That '58 Golden Hawk--the '58 factory gold (I think it was called 'White Gold') is paler than the vivid '57 gold. About the superchargers, there are two pretty well-known guys in the national club who rebuild them--one in Nevada, and the other around Dayton, OH. Admittedly not many for a club of around 11,000 members in all.

The superchargers require extremely accurate machining, so those fellows obviously have the equipment to work within those tolerances.

berri

When I was a little kid I remember riding in an old (was it called Starlight or something like that) with all the little pieces of glass wrapping around in the rear. But despite that, it always seemed claustrophobic in the back seat to me. It was his mom's car. The dad of another friend drove a used 4dr Studebaker Commander to and from work. It was pretty neat to ride in at that age because I'm pretty sure it had suicide doors like the 49-51 Mercury's. When you are very young, or very old, it seems you can get attracted to unique stuff. Unfortunately, come around high school until retirement it seems more about norms and conformity.

uplanderguy

The Land Cruisers of that era are very nice cars IMHO--plush but tasteful interiors; long wheelbase, suicide doors. The Starlight coupes sure had no blind spots! My friend claims the compartents underneath the rear-seat armrests in those cars would hold a six-pack, LOL.

fintail

Here's an unusual Studebaker - and cheap!

ab348

They seem to have come back to life with a whole range of products! Somehow I suspect it is not the same outfit.

https://www.amazon.com/Studebaker/b/ref=w_bl_hsx_s_wi_web_9495498011?ie=UTF8&node=9495498011&field-lbr_brands_browse-bin=Studebaker

fintail

The original Studebaker went from wagons to cars, maybe this new one can go from radios to cars.

berri

No Scotsman with that fake gold trim

Mr_Shiftright

It's been done before! Remember Muntz and Crosley?

berri

Muntz did TV's too IIRC

uplanderguy

I have a red Crosley 'box' radio on my desk right now. It was a Father's Day gift several years ago and I love it. One knob to turn on and off; one knob to tune across the horizontal dial. Ah, simplicity!

omarman

I've got kingsford charcoal briquettes stored out on my patio and just waiting for the first opportunity to grill. Thank you Mr. Ford!

uplanderguy

LOL

ab348

This just popped up on BaT, a hot-rod '64 Lark:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1964-studebaker-commander-special/

uplanderguy

Interesting '64, thanks for posting. To my eyes, the '64's have stood the test of time well, styling-wise. I never liked the Canadian cars' all-white steering wheels though.

I'm in South Bend now; took this pic for fintail. Old Benz very-near the former Studebaker Administration Building--president's office and boardroom on top floor.

While I was taking this pic, guy hollered out a window, "Wanna buy it?". He came down and we talked a bit about the car--he mentioned no price. He said it was a '60 220SE, which I have no idea about. Claimed it's a dual-carb six cylinder. I just thought it was ironic that a Stude-era MB was so close to Studebaker's corporate headquarters building.

Under the hood there was a tag that said "Made in West Germany".

It would be an, ahem, fairly big restoration.

fintail

Yep, that one would cost a lot more to restore than its value. Patina is big these days though, if it is structurally OK, maybe just make it roadworthy, clean it up, and drive it.

If it's a 220SE with carbs, it has been modified - 220SE would be FI (same engine as my fintail).

Mr_Shiftright

Nothing that $75,000 wouldn't fix up nicely.

uplanderguy

Front view.

uplanderguy

At Studebaker National Museum--1963 Gran Turismo Hawk, supercharged, four-speed, disc brakes, that was on display at the Chicago Auto Show and was also on the cover of Motor Trend. The black portion of the roof no doubt influenced the offering of vinyl tops on the Hawk the next model year. The Avanti in the background is the car that set numerous speed records at Bonneville back then.

uplanderguy

Out at the swap meet early yesterday morning--'53 Starliner hardtop:

uplanderguy

...and Avanti on repro Halibrand wheels. Halibrands were optional only through the parts department at the time.
Those exhausts are surely not the originals but look just like them. The president of Studebaker, Sherwood Egbert, wanted the car to have "the loudest exhaust legal". A "Silent Muffler" was actually a no-cost option, LOL.

uplanderguy

Corner shot of my favorite car in the museum, '64 Daytona Hardtop, last car built on the regular line, saved by the company and given to the City of South Bend. It now has 23.8 miles. 240 hp Avanti engine, 4-speed, disc brakes, tach. Was an ordered unit but was replaced at the last minute by an unsold car in inventory which had options added and deleted to fill the order.

uplanderguy

Pic of the Daytona on the carrier truck after assembly, before the final decision to keep the car:

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/21/automobiles/south-bend-ind-to-recall-studebakers-1963-departure.html

fintail

Missing a headlight, that never bodes well. It looks straight though, and I don't see obvious rot.

That Daytona must be a great object to study for original fit and finish - one can judge the quality of paintwork and interior materials.

The 53 is very pure.