Postwar Studebakers

uplanderguy · September 2019

That $59K '63 Lark Daytona was $64.9K with buyer's fee. I am utterly astounded, although I'd be delirious to own the car (even though I'd add full wheel discs, the bumper winguards, and some way to included the Lark 'bird' at the top section of the rear seat back).

uplanderguy · September 2019

Zipped into the local cruise-in in my Cruze after some shopping, and came across this '50 Stude pickup...just when I think I know where all the Studes are, one will pop up. Nice fellow named Pete who is taking it to the International Meet in Mansfield next week.

uplanderguy · September 2019

The lack of a rolled edge in the bed at the tops, double-wall bed, and cab step inside the doors instead of outside separate this era Stude pickup from the others.

uplanderguy · September 2019

Just back from the 55th International Studebaker Drivers Club meet in nearby Mansfield, OH. Wonderful time and tons of cars. Here's one I tried to buy maybe six or seven years ago, but the original owners from IN did not want to sell. I had seen the car at a few meets over the years and cold-called them. I was between Studes at the time. Avanti R1 power, Powershift floor automatic (PRND21), disc brakes, in-dash tach, bucket seats. This Horizon Green color is generally not my favorite '64 color but so nice to see one that's not red, white, or black.

uplanderguy · September 2019

"The Shawshank Redemption" was filmed at the old Mansfield Reformatory. A white '62 Gran Turismo Hawk displayed today had this sign on it...apparently used in this scene.

uplanderguy · September 2019

Loved this plain-jane '53 pickup.

uplanderguy · September 2019

...and very nice, stock '63 Avanti and lady-driven '64 Gran Turismo Hawk, both supercharged examples.

uplanderguy · September 2019

21K mile '56 Golden Hawk and cute little '63 Champ pickup.

uplanderguy · September 2019

This supercharged '63 Super Lark Daytona with original Halibrand wheels (sold through the Stude dealer parts department; this one has rough-finish; polished was $20 extra!) was restored by Westmoreland Restorations (formerly Westmoreland Studebaker) of Blairsville, PA, same shop that did a very nice 'driver' restoration of my former '63 Lark Daytona Skytop. This car is in metallic Super Red, limited only to '63 cars with the complete 'Super' package, and the original-paint firewall on this car has "Super Red" handwritten on it from the factory--it was a new color offered when the "Super" package became available in spring '63.

This car judged 400 out of 400 points at Mansfield!

uplanderguy · September 2019

From a Studebaker Facebook page this morning:

uplanderguy · September 2019

'63 Diesel 96"BBC at Mansfield

uplanderguy · September 2019

From today's Hemmings blog, about women land-speed record-holders:

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2019/09/26/what-exactly-is-the-womens-world-land-speed-record/?fbclid=IwAR1EH3AF3KuterLQF3IdjkdVg7P61QiXJABiKQgLk--BGYJToQ9u-_LUO5w

kyfdx · September 2019

Really old Stude

https://cincinnati.craigslist.org/cto/d/florence-1928-studebaker-commander-big/6985806891.html

kyfdx · September 2019

https://cincinnati.craigslist.org/cto/d/florence-1928-light-6-studebaker/6985796631.html

And, another

ab348 · September 2019

Interesting '64 Wagonaire on BaT that needs some sorting, but which at present strikes me as a huge bargain with one day to go. Not a fan of the wheels, but the seller is offering a set of '65 Daytona rims and wheelcovers as part of the large spare parts cache included in the sale.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1964-studebaker-daytona-wagon-2

berri · September 2019

Now that is a "box"

I heard that the Wagonaire sliding roof often leaked, just as the rather short lived GM sliding roof SUV (forget its name) had some complaints. I still think it is a good idea, but I'm not sure the market would buy it anymore. I like that interior.

uplanderguy · September 2019

That is a steal IMHO at its current bid. I enjoyed the driving video. Those cars are stretch-out roomy for a car of 113-inch wheelbase. The seating is chairlike. I really noticed the difference when I sat in, and drove, my friend's '63 Riviera. You really drop down into it and climb up out of it.

I like Bermuda Brown, a '64 color. Studebaker didn't two-tone for '64, and that top color is Golden Sand, another '64 Stude color. The interior looks great to me, other than aftermarket radio, one aftermarket gauge, and a Lark horn medallion instead of the correct "S"--all minor of course.

Thanks for posting. I'll be curious to see what it ends up bringing.

uplanderguy · September 2019

I LOVED this Bermuda Brown '64 Gran Turismo Hawk I saw at Mansfield. Current owner bought it at a Chicagoland Stude dealer in Dec. 1966 for $1,300, less $100 trade for his '53 Commander coupe. He had the purchase paperwork on display. I wish it had the original exhaust tips, but I'd still happily have it in my garage.

uplanderguy · September 2019

Speaking of 'boxy', I never liked how on GM wagons from '61 to '64, the rear door windows and frames were a complete, straight-up rectangle. GM wagon bodies then were built by an outside supplier, Ionia, which may have had something to do with it.

https://www.alamy.com/a-1963-chevy-station-wagon-image69022972.html

uplanderguy · September 2019

kyfdx, looks like both those '28's are probably being sold by the same guy. Thanks for posting. Pre-'41 or so, I know very little about cars in general.

uplanderguy · September 2019

That brown Wagonaire sold today for $12,450.

uplanderguy · October 2019

How terribly sad--the B-17 crash at Hartford yesterday. That plane was restored supposedly, but Studebaker built engines for the B-17.

kyfdx · October 2019

uplanderguy said:
How terribly sad--the B-17 crash at Hartford yesterday. That plane was restored supposedly, but Studebaker built engines for the B-17.

They were here in Cincinnati about a month ago. Not "them", specifically, but an antique airshow. I took a picture of the bomber going over my son's apartment.

Rides were $495. When you think about the safety record of military planes in WWII, even outside of the enemy issues, it is a little scary.

Sad.

berri · October 2019

All kinds of potential issues. I'm assuming experienced pilots made sure it didn't get fueled with Jet A. It wasn't gaining altitude, so I wonder if metal fatigue somewhere like flaps or rudder. That can be hard to spot sometimes. Very sad to see that loss of aircraft and people. Propliners can actually be kind of complicated compared to a jet. Airliner accident rates were much higher than jets.

ab348 · October 2019

A news report I saw said they radioed that #4 engine was failing or on fire (the latter may be from a witness on the ground) and could not gain altitude.

berri · October 2019

Hmm, #4 by itself should still be flyable. Maybe wing damage as well. Didn't sound like it was overloaded or unbalanced loading. Burns are horrible injuries. I feel bad for those affected.

uplanderguy · October 2019

Dusting this old October photo off. Taken by a photographer friend about eleven or twelve years ago near Mantua, Ohio:

Car was factory-built with the Avanti R1 engine, tach, A/C, Twin Traction, reclining seats, and tinted glass in all windows. The production order shows Firestone 500 tires, which I later learned were considered something of a performance tire. I only knew them a decade or so later as radials with separation problems, LOL.

ab348 · October 2019

That's such a great-looking car.

Did it have issues that led you to offer it for sale? Or was it an offer you just couldn't refuse?

uplanderguy · October 2019

I sincerely loved that car, and I loved that I knew some history of it. I met the original owners and knew every owner from about 1969 on. From '65 to '69 I don't have the owner trail.

It was starting to need some refreshing (would blow some blue smoke when started, etc.). The original owner wanted to buy it and use it as a daily car in AZ, which I talked him out of. I didn't have it for sale at the time anyway. About six months later, I was starting to think about daughter no. 1 going to college. People in the S.D.C. knew I owned the car, and a fellow from Australia was persistent in asking me about it. I was honest about description and the photos I sent, and he asked what I wanted. I gave him a price which I thought was on the high side, and he 'bit'. It was an easy transaction.

The women in my family say that's the only Stude I've owned that they liked, LOL.

fintail · October 2019

Forget if I asked, did you ever find any kind of production breakdown for one so optioned? Has to be quite uncommon.

uplanderguy · October 2019

Yes. In the club's monthly magazine in 1989, someone had gone through all 36K '63 V8 production orders (build sheets) and wrote down specifics as to, first, if the car had an Avanti engine, then body style, transmission, color, etc. I'm thinking there were 1,300-something R-powered Larks and Hawks for the '63 model year. But the previous researchers didn't record Skytops in those numbers.

I asked 'pretty please' (since I wasn't an 'anybody' in the national club, LOL) of the parts vendor who had the build sheets, if I could look through them to see how many were built with both Avanti engines and the Skytop. He said 'sure'.

My wife and I went out to South Bend in 1991 and spent two or three days looking through the serial numbers already recorded as Avanti-engine cars by the previous researchers, and stopped and only looked closer at production orders for two-door hardtops, four-door sedans, and two-door sedans, the only body styles available with a Skytop. This was 628 build sheets (cars).

Fourteen cars were built with both an Avanti engine (R1 or R2) and a Skytop. Ours was the first serial number (car completed 9/28/62).

Eleven were Daytona two-door hardtops, like mine; two were Cruisers (top-line four-door sedan), and one was a Custom (mid-trim level) two-door sedan. Seven of the fourteen had A/C.

The car, although white, always stopped traffic at Stude meets and shows, due to the combination of options.

I wished I had had the restoration shop take it a little further, but at the time I couldn't afford a body-off and wanted an authentic driver and they did a great job within my limitations.

I have only seen two other Avanti-powered Skytops (only available for '63) in person--both were Regal Red Daytona Hardtops and both were R1's. One was a Powershift (floor-shift automatic) and the other a 4-speed (owned by the same owner since 1965). Ours was a column-shift automatic. But for three of eleven Avanti-powered '63 Daytona Hardtops with Skytop option to survive, not bad.

fintail · October 2019

That's pretty cool. I know some people are put off by weird minutiae like that, but I am into it. And yours indeed qualifies as "rare". I hope the new owner 10000 miles away appreciates it - I think Studes have a following there too, so it probably is cherished.

imidazol97 · October 2019

I applaud the detailed gathering by folks in the Studebaker kingdom. That information disappears easily with time. It takes work on the parts of some and the willingness to share the information seems to be a strong point.

I would love to know what happened to the 50 Studebaker 4-door in pea soup green that we had in the early 50s.

fintail · October 2019

I wish every brand could put together something like a Marti report. It seems Stude people can do it, although with some footwork.

I still remember a story about my grandpa wanting a bullet nose car when they were current, but my grandma objected, and they eventually got a Ford.

ab348 · October 2019

I agree with the sentiment about having all that detail to sift through. Unfortunately the Marti report takes it to meaningless extremes, like this one:

"The only one made like this one with both a heavy-duty battery and wide oval tires!!!" The very definition of a distinction without a difference.

uplanderguy · October 2019

I got talking to a guy at the last local cruise of the season a couple weeks ago, with a beautiful bone-stock black '68 Mustang GT 2+2 with 428. I normally won't go out of my way to look at sixties muscle/pony-type cars, but I appreciate 'stock' in anything. The guy had what surely looked like a Ford window sticker, with numbers-font that could've fooled me. He said it was part of the Marti report package he got for his car.

I'm fuzzy on this so probably shouldn't be quoted, but I thought he told me the whole shebang from Marti was almost $300.

imidazol97 · October 2019

@uplanderguy
Do I recall correctly that you are a President McKinley fan?
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/ohio/articles/2019-10-07/historic-mckinley-collection-donated-to-statehouse-museum#targetText=COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) —,juh-NAYR'-oh).

imidazol97 · October 2019

ab348 said:
I agree with the sentiment about having all that detail to sift through. Unfortunately the Marti report takes it to meaningless extremes, like this one:

"The only one made like this one with both a heavy-duty battery and wide oval tires!!!" The very definition of a distinction without a difference.

Wow.
My 1967 Mustang would really be unique. 3 on the floor. 289 cu in 2 barrel carb. Limited slip differential. 3.00 rear end ratio. In some dark blue color with metallic brass color flecks in the paint.

fintail · October 2019

Yeah, the tire thing is kind of kooky, I can get into being to the level of the 1:28 or 1:11 detail though, things like colors and larger option groups.

I'd like to find the serial number of the 68 Fairlane sedan my dad had when I was a teen and do a report like that. White on white, 289/3 on the tree, dog dish caps, no other apparent options other than an AM radio. Can't have been common.

uplanderguy · October 2019

Do I recall correctly that you are a President McKinley fan?

Really, I'm a Harding fan--and there aren't a ton of us, although there's more than fifty years ago, LOL.

But I also find McKinley interesting. Thanks for that link.

Perhaps the thing that I find the most interesting about Harding--other than the constant B.S. regurgitated over 90 years--is that although he died in 1923, his mistress, who had his daughter--lived until 1991!

His tomb in Marion, OH looks like it belongs in D.C. It's huge.

I'm a member of the Harding Home and Presidential Sites. A presidential center is being built in Marion right now, to open in 2020, the centennial of Harding's landslide win.

imidazol97 · October 2019

imidazol97 said:

ab348 said:
I agree with the sentiment about having all that detail to sift through. Unfortunately the Marti report takes it to meaningless extremes, like this one:

"The only one made like this one with both a heavy-duty battery and wide oval tires!!!" The very definition of a distinction without a difference.
Wow.
My 1967 Mustang would really be unique. 3 on the floor. 289 cu in 2 barrel carb. Limited slip differential. 3.00 rear end ratio. In some dark blue color with metallic brass color flecks in the paint.

And my Mustang had Wide Ovals.
And it had heavy duty suspension.

uplanderguy · October 2019

I posted this pic a few years back, but the original owners of my white '63 gave me this pic taken at Yellowstone in 1964:

uplanderguy · October 2019

Here's that '68 Mustang 2+2 GT with 428 with the Marti report I saw a couple weeks back. It is a nice car and among Mustangs I always liked the 2+2 body best of all in '65-68:

ab348 · October 2019

For me the '67/'68 'Stang styling was the high-water mark for them and the fastback was the best of that group. Unfortunately the popularity of Bullitt has driven pricing of those fastbacks over the moon.

fintail · October 2019

In my area I spot a 65-66 Mustang fastback now and then, light powder blue, bone stock looking on hubcaps and whitewalls, kind of fun seeing one that isn't made to look butch and tough. I can't recall if it has an engine badge, would be funny if it was a 6.

Speaking of Studebaker, days are numbered for the old dealership building in my town, as seen in this period ad:

Then:

And now:

It has been home to a family-owned locksmith business for at least 40 years, bought back in the days when the luckier demographics around here could afford to buy such things. I noticed the other day, the locksmith business has "relocating" info on the window. I checked the assessor, and the site sold in August. 3300 sq ft building, certainly a teardown, on a 1/3 acre lot sold for $7.8MM

ab348 · October 2019

fintail said:
I noticed the other day, the locksmith business has "relocating" info on the window. I checked the assessor, and the site sold in August. 3300 sq ft building, certainly a teardown, on a 1/3 acre lot sold for $7.8MM

Holy jumpin'!!!

uplanderguy · October 2019

Yikes!

ab348, I've noticed my whole life that some '68 Mustangs have a rear quarter side marker light like the style in the pic of the black car, above, and others have a flush-mounted perfectly-rectangular light with no bright surround. This guy told me early ones have the flush one. Back then as you know, it was funny that something visible got changed by an automaker in the middle of a model year.

ab348 · October 2019

Well, now you made me go and look it up. Here's what I found:

Early 1968 Mustangs built before 2/15/68 use a rectangular red reflector with a body colored bezel, inserted into a cut-out or indentation in the quarter panel. This reflector is licensed by Ford and has the correct FoMoCo logo. Sold individually, fits either side. Use 2 per car.

Cars built after 2/15 use bolt-on reflectors with oval-shaped chrome trim, #83380

Evidently the early cars not only had one that looked different, but was just a reflector. The later ones had a light with a different shape and a bright bezel.

uplanderguy · October 2019

For styling, I like the '65-66 Mustang 2+2's best of all. As a general rule, I seem to like the first model year(s) of a design the best, before changes were made just for the sake of change at next year's new-model showings. The '56 Ford is the first obvious exception to that rule I can think of--I like the small details waaaayyyy better than the '55.

uplanderguy · October 2019

Better picture of my old white Lark Daytona Skytop, from the front, where some of its sorta-'Mercedes Bends" show up....plus, I'm not in this pic!

I can't figure a way to produce the pic here, from the link.

I just got a PM from a woman in Colorado who writes a Studebaker Drivers' Club regional newsletter and she found this pic on the S.D.C. site, back from when the photographer posted them there, and asked me if she could use it in her next club newsletter. I said 'sure' and asked her to credit the photographer.

Visible is the white Lark 'bird' in the center of the rear seat back. Those panels now are impossible to find and no one is reproducing them. I see otherwise stunning cars using the '64 seats (which are close) because there's nothing else out there. Sadly, I had a N.O.S. rear seat back for that car that I'd bought at South Bend way back when and never needed it, so sent it with the car to Australia.

http://www.studebakerskytop.com/billpresslerpics1.jpg

Postwar Studebakers

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