Postwar Studebakers

uplanderguy · January 2019

I am a Studebaker guy, obviously, but the rear end of those '58's reminds me of chihuahua ears, LOL.

Thanks for straightening it out!

uplanderguy · January 2019

$1755 sounds pretty cheap to me, even for the early sixties.

I heard a guy say once that he ordered a car at Freeman-Spicer early in the morning and it was assembled in the afternoon, LOL. Plant was essentially across the street, just south of the dealership.

uplanderguy · January 2019

Conestoga Camper option on the Champ introduced September 14, 1962 so that is the absolute earliest that pic could be.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/entry.php?19-63-Champ-Pickup-Introduction-of-the-Champ-Conestoga-Option-Dealer-Literature

I also see a dark-colored '63 Wagonaire parked on the street--roof rack over front of the roof.

ab348 · January 2019

I find it odd that the only sign I see saying Studebaker is the one n the roof, especially when that facade seems to be just crying out for a big illuminated circular "S" logo. Meanwhile there are 3 signs for M-B. I think the one on the building where it angles at the corner may be for Packard but I cannot really tell.

uplanderguy · January 2019

Amazingly, the big round red/white/blue 'lazy S' signage didn't originate until mid-model-year '63. I always liked that logo. If you look at the link about the Conestoga camper option, you'll see the block-letter "Studebaker" script they used until the end, but no lazy 'S' like is used in conjunction with that script in the Avanti ad, above. Mid-year '63 the two went together. That might be a Packard sign; I can't tell. Near the end, many of Stude's dealers were smaller places and I've seen some that still had "Packard" on their literature stamps into the Canada '64 era!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/26329029@N06/14914143630

uplanderguy · January 2019

I know it's South Bend but amazingly to me, there was a smaller Studebaker dealer just a few short blocks from this one. Freeman-Spicer was sort-of considered the factory store; the other dealer was Newman and Altman. N&A did not sell 'Benz but amazingly, were the people who bought an unused Studebaker building and bought rights to the Avanti and trucks and started building the Avanti again in 1965. It is amazing to me they were able to get financing for such a project, and also that Studebaker allowed them to build the car and use the name.

fintail · January 2019

Cool pic, the large canopy on the Champ caught my eye as well. I don't see any MB bits poking out anywhere.

If that's near the forlorn Ponton, that area seems to be a lot less bustling now.

uplanderguy · January 2019

Yeah, South Bend's baseball team's stadium, Coveleski Field, which is affiliated with a Chicago team (my lack of sports interest is showing), is now just behind where this Freeman-Spicer building used to be, further from S. Main St.

Mr_Shiftright · January 2019

uplanderguy said:
Yeah, South Bend's baseball team's stadium, Coveleski Field, which is affiliated with a Chicago team (my lack of sports interest is showing), is now just behind where this Freeman-Spicer building used to be, further from S. Main St.

Chicago Cubs affiliate. The minor league team is called the South Bend Cubs. (Class A).

uplanderguy · January 2019

Used to be called "The Silver Hawks", but I knew it had changed.

uplanderguy · January 2019

In one of our monthly international club magazines probably a good 20 years ago, they had an article on "Mercedes-Benz Sales, Inc." subsidiary. There was an inside pic of a warehouse in South Bend full of 1963 M-B's. I want to say that the article said that at that time all 'Benzes for U.S. sale passed through South Bend. If I come across the pic I'll post here.

fintail · January 2019

That seems like a really inefficient way to move cars, as I think MBs sold most on the coasts then.

uplanderguy · January 2019

I found the magazine...from June 1991. It's fourteen pages of pretty small print and a bunch of pictures, but I couldn't find any mention of all M-B's passing through South Bend. It did include this pic:

fintail · January 2019

Nice pic. Those 220SE cabrios were a posh item, I know I went over prices some time ago, but I think they had an MSRP north of 8K at the time. The fintail beside them could be a nice color, too.

uplanderguy · January 2019

I shared with a part-time Stude-fan friend of mine, the pics of that black '63 Cruiser Skytop with red broadcloth trim that I posted here a week or two ago, today. He was smitten, like me.

I like my '66 as an honest, unrestored, low-mileage car with a very nice interior and the rare factory wire caps, but I'd trade it in a heartbeat for that '63. I just love that car.

I used to be a snob about four-door cars but I've outgrown that, LOL.

Wish I could walk into Freeman-Spicer and order one like that black Skytop. I'd probably add the supercharger and maybe make it a four-speed, though.

bhill2 · January 2019

A Cruiser with a blower and a four-speed would certainly be a conversation starter. While you’re at it, order two. I’ll give you the pick of the litter.

ab348 · January 2019

Dunno if this was posted here previously - a photo feature on the '63 Studebaker Hawk:

http://blog.consumerguide.com/photo-feature-1963-studebaker-gran-turismo-hawk/

uplanderguy · January 2019

I have seen that particular Hawk before, but I'm not sure if it was on that website.

Years ago, I didn't like the '63 Champagne Gold with red interior, but I've grown to really like it.

Those last Hawks to me were elegant in a simple way, and were long-hood/short-deck when most Big Three cars (not all, admittedly) were still short-hood, long-deck.

That car doesn't have the optional tach, which leaves an awkward blank spot on the instrument panel. Weird that Studebaker didn't put a blank bezel in there, but just left the area completely blank.

uplanderguy · January 2019

On a Facebook page I got involved yesterday in a discussion about this '64 Studebaker Commander plain-jane that was sold at auction a few years back and discussed here then, that had fewer than 400 miles.

I like the form-follows-function instrument panel, that was used in this low-priced car. Padded on the bottom of the panel, and although probably not a safety item (LOL), the chrome-ringed instruments and glass faces look more expensive to me than the plastic/plastic used by about everybody else then. No idiot lights. Inside hood release too. Lack of radio made not-so-obvious with a plastic plug or the like.

sda · January 2019

For a base interior, the dash looks much better than most. I like the full gauges and lack of idiot lights. Though the seats are plain, they look like they are well padded and comfortable.

uplanderguy · January 2019

They always advertised "chair high seating" and that I do believe. Once or twice I picked my mother up at her nursing home to take her for a ride in my '63 and she had no trouble getting in and out on her own, unlike either my Cavalier (at the time) or minivan, LOL.

benjaminh · January 2019

uplanderguy said:
On a Facebook page I got involved yesterday in a discussion about this '64 Studebaker Commander plain-jane that was sold at auction a few years back and discussed here then, that had fewer than 400 miles.

I like the form-follows-function instrument panel, that was used in this low-priced car. Padded on the bottom of the panel, and although probably not a safety item (LOL), the chrome-ringed instruments and glass faces look more expensive to me than the plastic/plastic used by about everybody else then. No idiot lights. Inside hood release too. Lack of radio made not-so-obvious with a plastic plug or the like.

Nice instrument panel.

uplanderguy · January 2019

Recent photo posting elsewhere. The fellow's grandfather was a Stude/M-B dealer in FL and this pic was taken in 1960 at the port of entry when the DKW's first started coming in. Studebaker handled them also. Two-stroke engines that smoked when new. This guy said the upholstery would crack when a customer would get out of the car in the showroom, and he remembers being five years old and passing his father broken down alongside the road in whatever DKW he had driven home the night before, LOL!

fintail · January 2019

Neat pic. That panorama roof MB O319 minibus is quite collectible now.

ab348 · January 2019

fintail said:
Neat pic. That panorama roof MB O319 minibus is quite collectible now.

Man, I guess. Nice ones go for 6 figures at auctions. I don't understand it, but there you are.

fintail · January 2019

I see a very nice restomod brought big money at a Sotheby's auction, maybe an outlier and it was very well done. But that said, even a normal one won't be cheap, in VW Microbus territory anyway.

ab348 said:

Man, I guess. Nice ones go for 6 figures at auctions. I don't understand it, but there you are.

ab348 · January 2019

Mecum sells them frequently for 6 figures. Some are even legit. They are sometimes counterfeited from more pedestrian models.

ab348 · January 2019

Stumbled across a couple of interesting Studebaker pictures today. First this, with the proud father of the Avanti posing:

Then this brochure illustration of what must have been pretty rare even then, a '59 Studebaker 4x4 pickup:

That is one purposeful-looking truck.

uplanderguy · January 2019

Raymond Loewy and Sherwood Egbert in the Avanti pic. The white car must be super-early as it has neither the "Avanti" front end nameplate nor the C-pillar 'pirate's buckle' emblem.

As is obvious, I like Studebaker Avantis, but one small thing I wish they would've done is put a small emblem or nameplate behind the front wheel openings, on all models. Only supercharged cars got one and it's the first place my eyes go in a pic.

That truck was considered old-hat at the time, but I always liked how they went with that fiberglass grille with the vertical 'teeth' in '57. That cab style continued in one ton and larger trucks right up to the end of South Bend production.

Thanks for posting!

uplanderguy · January 2019

I've posted this earlier, but I love that the club historian-of-sorts, who was into Studebakers even back then, gave me one of these from a box he has:

Very late, as it has the mid-'63 model year logo and emblem, and also has a postal zip code.

Egbert "resigned" on Nov. 25, 1963, the Monday after JFK was assassinated. On Dec. 9 it was announced that U.S. assembly operations would end.

Funny that there's no phone number on it. I've seen it on other exec's cards--their number was Atlantic 7-1111.

I always liked the font of their emblem, and the red/white/blue 'lazy S' emblem...they strike me as modern for the early sixties.

fintail · January 2019

The "Studebaker" font does look modern - kind of a modified Helvetica font, which is timeless.

uplanderguy · January 2019

Just came across this photo in our driveway from this past summer. We're covered in snow today. I need to get out to the space and check on the car.

Of course, photos gloss over some of the nicks and patina of the car, but for a non-mechanical guy like me, I was fortunate to find an original, low-mileage (26.6K), totally solid car like this. Yes, I like the '63 and '64 models better but I think the Chevy engine will allow me to get local service easier.

This car was bought new in April '66, a month after the last car was built.

Production of 1966 Cruisers: 1,844 V8's; 414 sixes.

ab348 · January 2019

I wonder if the logo and name font was done by Loewy's firm?

uplanderguy · January 2019

That's a good question; I never thought about that!

uplanderguy · January 2019

Got this from the museum for my car. Googling shows the original owners were born in 1904 and 1905. Museum said this was the last new Studebaker sold by this particular dealer. I have to believe the Hutchinsons wanted one last Stude and traded in their '53 in the process. I'm sure the dealers were dealin'.

ab348 · January 2019

Here is another shot of Loewy, this time with a '54 (?) Starlight "targa" concept:

Mr_Shiftright · January 2019

uplanderguy said:
Recent photo posting elsewhere. The fellow's grandfather was a Stude/M-B dealer in FL and this pic was taken in 1960 at the port of entry when the DKW's first started coming in. Studebaker handled them also. Two-stroke engines that smoked when new. This guy said the upholstery would crack when a customer would get out of the car in the showroom, and he remembers being five years old and passing his father broken down alongside the road in whatever DKW he had driven home the night before, LOL!

DKWs can bring pretty good money nowadays, upwards of $20K for a restored one. Go figure.

fintail · January 2019

Speaking of that MB minibus, about 15 years ago, I encountered one slumbering in a backyard off an alley:

I was quite excited to "discover" this, and the next time I saw the well-known MB guru who I patronized at the time, I told him about it. Of course, he already knew about it, and said the owner was another one of those "I'm gonna restore it someday, not for sale" types. I moved the next year, haven't seen it again.

uplanderguy · January 2019

ab348, actually, that targa-top is a '53. The only visible differences between a '53 and '54 are that the '54 has larger front bumper guards and several vertical slats in the front grilles, giving somewhat of an 'egg crate' appearance.

Like most people, I like the cars I remember seeing, most, but I sure can appreciate the '53 and '54 Studebaker 'Loewy coupes'. So trim and restrained compared to most-everything else domestic at the time.

RE.: The M-B van--I have never seen one in person, but I remember seeing a pic of one in front the Studebaker Proving Ground on Rt. 2 west of South Bend, unloading division presidents' wives for lunch with Mrs. Egbert I think.

uplanderguy · January 2019

Just sold for $93,500:

https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0119-367259/1958-packard-hawk/?fbclid=IwAR2pm12jnTYCyT7UPyppbrYEXu92As0iCgFsetFzq_OPoQ4KAsuEq0b1aBc

To my eyes, probably the prettiest Packard Hawk I've seen. I think the only egregious thing is the 'toilet seat' on the decklid.

ab348 · January 2019

@uplanderguy , I know you raised this on your FB page a while back, but here is a bigger pic of the last transporter of new Studebakers leaving the South Bend plant. You may have posted this here in the past but I just found it online. It blows up nicely if you click on it.

uplanderguy · January 2019

Thanks, ab. I love that pic, and I love the '64 two-doors.

I believe that hardtop on top is the last South Bend 'regular assembly line' (i.e., Lark-type and Hawk) car, built on 12/20/63. I believe this for a couple reasons: 1) I think the front fender badge is oval, indicating Avanti power as that last car is, and that is an unusual option on Lark-types 2) Studebaker decreed no photos of the last car as they didn't want people to think they were completely exiting the car business, so folks were anxious to see the last South Bend car....I can't think why anyone else would just take a random photo in the shipping area. 3) Snow on the ground, and the last day the assembly line operated was December 20.

A friend of mine feels the hardtop is too dark to be the Bordeaux Red car which was the last and is in the museum. Bordeaux Red is a bit darker than Big Three reds of the time. For the reasons above, I'm still saying that's the car. Daytona Hardtops were unusual enough for the '64 run, yet Avanti powered ones....and again, I think otherwise, no newspaper would've cared about a picture.

I know I'm biased, but I think the '64 hardtops look so lean. As mentioned, the last car has 23.8 miles and is literally a NOS Studebaker. Hasn't been out of South Bend until a month or so ago, when it was trailered to the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals show near Chicago. Four-speed, Twin Traction, disc-brake car.

uplanderguy · January 2019

Of the 111 cars built on the line that last day, 31 were Hawks, way-more than the usual mix. I'm sure they were fulfilling orders and probably 'building out' and using up parts as Hawks were not built at Hamilton, ON for '64 and were completely done December 20, 1963. Our Ohio club newsletter editor has a '64 Hawk 32 V8 serial nos. before the last car. Astonishingly, he and I were at a Stude meet in York, PA a few years back and we were looking at a '64 Hawk for sale...it was ONE serial number before his!

(You might ask, 'Who can remember a serial number?' My friend's was 64V-20170; even I always remember that.

)

uplanderguy · January 2019

RE.: M-B van owner and "I'm gonna restore it some day; not for sale"--can't tell you how many guys like that I've heard about over the years.

What's even worse to me is the guy who advertises a car or truck for sale with a line like, "If I can't get $X I'm gonna cut it up and sell it for (parts or scrap)".

That is such an absolute turnoff to me that even if I wanted the vehicle, I couldn't deal with a ******** like that, LOL.

ab348 · January 2019

Blowing up the picture, it does look like an oval emblem on the front fender.

Here is another pic I found from earlier in that year - Studebaker's display at the 1963 NY Auto Show:

The mannequin is rather unfortunate.

uplanderguy · January 2019

The real model almost looks like a mannequin!

ab348 · January 2019

Ha! I thought the same thing and had to look twice!

uplanderguy · January 2019

Here are my two toy Wagonaires--one is Matchbox (in front) and the other is a Corgi--both made in England. Both are '64-65 models. The Matchbox is actually a bit more accurate as to the front-fender '8' chevron emblem, even though the car is smaller than the Corgi.

I had the Matchbox as a kid (not this particular example) and even then, it was my favorite. It came with a plastic hunter aiming a rifle, and two hunting dogs. That it has a trailer hitch makes me think Matchbox may have offered a boat or trailer of some kind to tow behind it, separately, but I don't know.

fintail · January 2019

Matchbox made a boat during the same era as the Wagonaire that matches well with it:

Also a camping trailer of the same era:

uplanderguy · January 2019

The boat, particularly, would look nice behind the Wagonaire!

Postwar Studebakers

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