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1909:
2011 (cladding changed, dealer no longer at this location, building has since been gutted and rebuilt, but retains some original shape):
I also found this fun image of the same dealer, other side of building (cladding different again, but it's the same location):
I know the dealer where the fintail was sold new was originally a Packard dealer, and I suspect that happened in other cases, too.
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1) The Packard pickup--I clearly remember it being exported (Argentina?) to fulfill a Packard dealer's franchise contract.
2) That M-B dealership building still looks really nice! What happened with the late-'54 Studebaker-Packard merger was--Studebaker had a larger dealer organization and if a town already had each dealer, nothing changed. If a town had a Stude dealer but not Packard (more often the case than the other way around), the Stude dealer picked up Packard. A lot of Packard-only dealers bailed after '56 I've heard, with Edsel being the convenient lifeboat of opportunity. I think a Stude dealer got M-B if they were willing to buy parts, signage, and have their employees trained. While I've heard many good comments from locals about my hometown Stude-Packard-MB dealer, he was still a small-town dealer.
3) The '63 Chicago Auto Show pic is a great pic; thanks for posting! My favorite car is the Rose Mist Cruiser, with what looks to me to be the optional broadcloth upholstery. The most-elegant, most-European, compact sedan available in the U.S. at the time IMHO and also IMHO the best-looking four-door Studebaker ever built.
That red Hawk was a one-off and that very car was on display at the Studebaker National Museum a year or so ago....on loan from the owner.
4) That green '63 Lark Daytona convertible is similar to the Green Mist one in the Auto Show pic. It has so many authenticity nits to pick it's giving me a tic (LOL), but thanks for posting; still sharp!
5) The '66 postcard is a rare item, but I have one a friend gave me who bought out a dealer in NW NY some years back and part of the deal was an entire box of these. The '66's had flow-through ventilation so where the taillights were on the '65, the extractor vents were placed there, and the taillights placed where the backup lights had been previously. In Jan. '66 Studebaker started chroming the extractor vents. Both '66's I've owned had the chromed ones added later. I used to like that, but wish now my current car had the painted ones on. They're in the trunk but could use paint.
The Algonquin Green '66 Daytona Sports Sedan on the postcard resembled the one Frances Bavier ('Aunt Bee' on the Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D.) owned, and drove on the latter show. I hate that color, personally--reminds me of Chevy's 1969 'Frost Green'.
This is the building from a 1909 magazine article, I believe the fintail in the little pic I posted is parked just in front of where the big touring car is here:
The land in the neighborhood where that dealership was located became too valuable for a car dealership - the building was later gutted but the original shell left intact (happens a lot in Seattle, to soothe the feelings of those who don't like to see old buildings razed), and built upwards from there.
Also makes me think of the building where the fintail was sold new, this was a Packard dealer until 1957, then switched to MB:
This one is a landmark in the area, and I doubt will be redeveloped anytime soon.
Packard pickup (I knew about early trucks) is a new one for me.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
http://www.mercurypickup.com/mercury-truck-history/
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True to its overpricing form amazon.com has it offered for $260. Currently. That will
likely go up as more people load the page indicating interest in the product.
I did find
A century on wheels, the story of Studebaker; a history, 1852-1952
by Longstreet, Stephen, 1907-2002
did show up on an Ohio library group search, but not the one I hoped.
It may be in the Ohio State library (the library of the State of Ohio).
But those have to be read on location, IIRC.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I thought that book sounded familiar to me--I'm ashamed I haven't read it yet. When my good friend and hometown Stude dealer passed in 2018, his daughter sent me three boxes of things the family thought I would want--and they were right! One was that book, signed by my dealer friend. I have to believe Studebaker sent its dealers one. Also stuck in back was a one-page article from Forbes, dated 9/15/67, entitled "Studebaker Corp.: Dreams vs. Reality".
Incidentally, my dealer friend donated a copy of "The Studebaker Century, A National Heritage" years back, to our hometown public library, with a plate in front inside, in memory of his parents.
1966 was the last year of Studebaker production of course, and there were only a total of 873 Daytona Sports Sedans built that year. I owned one previous to the '66 I own now. Bavier's six-cylinder example was only one of 253 assembled.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4jz3k7
https://www.amazon.com/Century-Wheels-Story-Studebaker/dp/B000MMK59C
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
https://youtu.be/RZ7aOR9E9IM
I didn't watch that show often when it was in syndication when I was a kid. I wonder if any MBs popped up.
Regarding that book, wonderful artifact of the local dealer, but I will be Debbie Downer: Amazon price algorithms can get a little weird sometimes (Alibris sometimes has wacky prices too).
It's a pretty dumb show, even by sixties standards, LOL. Alan Young, who played Wilbur Post, was a guest of a national S.D.C. meet maybe in the last 20 or 25 years, aboard the Queen Mary I believe. I wasn't there. He spoke and signed autographs. He was supposedly a very friendly fellow, not unlike the Wilbur character.
Frances Bavier actually belonged to the national Studebaker Drivers' Club for one year--1972, the year she moved to North Carolina. She's actually in the roster, with her address. Apparently didn't derive enough enjoyment to renew.
My dealer friend told me once that the dealers had to co-op "Mr. Ed". I remember him saying, "I hated that show", LOL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgNxi2rz6X4
A truck I'd seriously like is a '63 or '64 Champ 1/2 ton, has to be the long bed, with the Deluxe cab (funny what passed for "Deluxe" back then, LOL), narrow whitewalls as factory, and in a light color. There was a non-metallic light brown that I like on those for some reason.
This one has the sliding rear window (part of the 'Deluxe Cab' option), 289, 5-speed overdrive, and Twin Traction. No other domestic pickup was offering the sliding rear window and 5-speed trans at the time.
I know a guy who has a '63 big (2 ton) Studebaker Diesel that's very cool. It's surprising even to me that Studebaker was still building large trucks that late. They are very, very rare. Here's his:
https://mystarcollectorcar.com/june-2015-1963-studebaker-2-tona-long-hauler-from-day-one/
Still amazing to me they were cranking them out until Dec. 1963.
Big Stude trucks had rounded curves that reminded me of Mack trucks.
You want to talk old styling--Dodge built the same essential Power Wagon from 1939 to 1968! I still think they're cool. Sort of like the Jeep Station Wagon--'46 or so to '65. I still like those too though.
My Dad was always a bit amused and bemused at my Stude fandom, LOL, although he graduated with my friend the Stude dealer and always said he was a nice guy in school and "...always had wheels".
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Stude dealers who held on this long tended to be small dealers. I'd like to be able to walk in a dealership this size these days. Very rare to find a photo like this, of a dealer in that time where Studebaker was losing dealers. They went from 1,915 U.S. dealers in December '63 to 450 by mid-March '66.
Resistance to all cars being made in Canada; GM engines; and Hawks, Avantis, and trucks gone. Also, no more convertibles or two-door hardtops for '65. I'd venture to say that only the Studebaker very loyal types bought them. I assume it was hard to sell a Studebaker in South Bend during these times, although the Corporate office and factory parts stash was still there, which is more than can be said about any other car manufacturer there.
Still a fan of the size and character of these last cars. The red Daytona would have had a high-quality, smooth, leather-like vinyl with buttons, bucket seats standard.
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My mom has always been into that kind of decor, when I was younger I'd buy every aluminum tree I saw at yard sales, and give them to her as kind of a gag gift. She probably had over 10 at one point. She gave most of them away, as others wanted them - now that they have some value, that's even more amusing.
Come to think of it, this is Christmas before last - she'll put up a small aluminum tree, a big one with color wheel, and a "real" (fake) tree:
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
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We get a live tree now, but my wife is into all white lights and very few multi-colored glass ornaments. Bit of a snooze.
Here's something not seen every day, on this Australian dashcam channel, a Hawk has a close call (start at ~5:12, as the time-specific link doesn't seem to work today):
https://youtu.be/bT0Sf2WLPac?t=312
That Hawk is an interesting color combo.
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https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1966-studebaker-cruiser-2/
Authenticity nit: Cruisers didn't have chromed roof gutters.
This car is earlier than mine but someone along the way, like mine, installed the Jan. '66 update of chromed rear flowthrough ventilation extractors. I don't like that. My painted ones are in the trunk but need paint. Cleaner in body color I think.
Roomy interior in reasonable-sized exterior, and nice seating among cars of that size, that year, IMHO; rare and the final model year. First Studebaker products were built in South Bend in 1852. I bought mine for the "workability" of the 283, although that's the only issue I've had with the car so far, LOL.
2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech, 2006 Acura TL w/nav
Saw this elsewhere, apparently this facility in Seattle also sold Studebaker later on - pic is from 1952. Cool to see a couple of clean looking prewar cars in the lineup:
I think I mentioned this, but a guy I know wrote a book about Byers Burlingame, the last president of Studebaker and the guy who made the South Bend shutdown announcement along with the Board. Information in the museum archives indicates that he went to Germany to meet with M-B officials about getting out of the agreement as the North American distributor for 'Benz, and no one there would meet him! One might think it would've been the other way around. The 'disconnect' did occur in 1965.
I think right around 1965, MB must have had the sales volume and customer loyalty to think they could do it on their own. Certainly by the time V8 cars hit the market around 1970, they had no problem selling everything they brought over.