Studebaker question

[epbrown]

What's this?



I've been watching this car (it's a Studebaker Lark) on eBay and I've never seen this fold-out desk/make-up station/glovebox thingie. Is this aftermarket or an option?

[BattleRabbit]

The passenger vanity was a factory option, but I believe it only appeared on the Lark Daytona Wagonaire. Let me find the TV Ad Studebaker did for the car that features the vanity...

[BattleRabbit]

There's the TV spot.

I think my Studebaker fanboyism is well known around these parts. I think without realizing my level of Studebaker-fanboyism my political science professor is allowing me to do my capstone paper on the UAW and ERISA. This means I get to write about the end of Packard and Studebaker for school. It's a freaking dream come true!

[epbrown]

The passenger vanity was a factory option, but I believe it only appeared on the Lark Daytona Wagonaire. Let me find the TV Ad Studebaker did for the car that features the vanity...

Thanks for the response, however the car in question is a 1963 Studebaker Lark Coupe. I ran across the car is my usual pass-thru looking for Hawk GTs. A passenger vanity - that's one crazy option! And how often do you need to take your kids' slide with you on a trip?

[BattleRabbit]

That's very interesting, I've been to the Studebaker national shows a few times, and in the hundreds of Larks that always show up the only vanity setups I've seen have been in Wagonaires. Very interesting to find that it was also available in the coupe!

[epbrown]

That's very interesting, I've been to the Studebaker national shows a few times, and in the hundreds of Larks that always show up the only vanity setups I've seen have been in Wagonaires. Very interesting to find that it was also available in the coupe!

Maybe you can help with this - I've been trying to find an old thread with either vwlarry or David Votoupal (probably both) talking about Studebaker design and no search terms I'm using come up with it. Any chance you remember the thread title?

[ATL_Av8r]

Should put "paging BattleRabbit" in the thread title.

[BattleRabbit]

Maybe you can help with this - I've been trying to find an old thread with either vwlarry or David Votoupal (probably both) talking about Studebaker design and no search terms I'm using come up with it. Any chance you remember the thread title?

VWLarry started one about the 1953 Studebaker Commander titled something like "In 1953 the finest European design came from South Bend."

[cityjohn]

I think I've seen that foldout option at car shows.

Slightly off-topic but nevertheless Studebaker-related: If you watch old episodes of Mister Ed (yes the talking horse) you'll catch glimpses of new Studebakers. Kind of refreshing when every other show featured Big 3 sponsors.

[barry2952]

I think I've seen that foldout option at car shows.

Slightly off-topic but nevertheless Studebaker-related: If you watch old episodes of Mister Ed (yes the talking horse) you'll catch glimpses of new Studebakers. Kind of refreshing when every other show featured Big 3 sponsors.

Funny you should mention that. This showed up on one of the FB car sites today.

[BattleRabbit]

Mr. Ed's personal trailer was usually towed by a Studebaker Champ!

[barry2952]

Maybe you can help with this - I've been trying to find an old thread with either vwlarry or David Votoupal (probably both) talking about Studebaker design and no search terms I'm using come up with it. Any chance you remember the thread title?

There is an article in the October 2012 Hemming's Classic Car entitled "Inside Packard Styling" covering 1951 through their demise, after merging with Studebaker. You might find it interesting and relevant.

Studebaker planted a forest on their property spelling out the company name. It had largely overgrown, but I've heard they are trimming to restore the signage, some say visible from space.

[barry2952]

Mr. Ed's personal trailer was usually towed by a Studebaker Champ!

Probably one of the most ungainly pick-ups of all time. We had one in our show last year. It's so imbalanced, visually, that it's cute, in an ugly kind of way. I believe I heard that they bought the bed from Dodge and slapped it on a car chassis.

That front bumper doesn't even look close to right, does it?

[BattleRabbit]

The Champ was actually the front of a Lark slapped on to the old 2r5/C-Cab chassis. It was pretty well antiquated. Early ones had the same bed as the mid 50s pickups. Later models had the bed you pictured which was licensed from Dodge.

[barry2952]

The Studebaker Museum is a must-see, if you're a fan. http://www.studebakermuseum.org

It was there that I learned that the work "tinker" came from the sound heard in their yards where they shaped the metal bands of their wheels in the horse and wagon days. The steady hammering made a "tink-tink-tink" sound.

[BattleRabbit]

I've actually been there twice! Drove to their original South Bend location with my grandfather in his '56 pickup back in 2004 or so(the national meet was in SB that year), and went again to their current location in 2008 with my grandparents on another cross country trip. I have to get in contact with their archivists to get information on Studebaker's negotiations with the UAW on pensions post-Packard for a paper I'm writing.

Upstate NY-South Bend in a '56 Studebaker has made me immune to wind noise in modern cars. Taking a truck which was designed to top out at 55, and then cruising down I-90 for two days at 70 is a LOUD experience.

[epbrown]

VWLarry started one about the 1953 Studebaker Commander titled something like "In 1953 the finest European design came from South Bend."

In the words of Lucy Van Pelt: "That's it!!" The '63 Lark on eBay got me thinking about swinging by the museum in South Bend this week, which reminded me of that thread, but I just couldn't find it until now. I'm enjoying some of the pics in that thread again.



Though I like the more contemporary lines of the Hawk GT from 1962-on, I like the 1953+ coupes too. I prefer the '53 because they don't have the all-chrome snout that Studebaker insisted on in '54 because "everyone's doing it," but I've read the later coupes drive better.

[barry2952]

I'm thinking that convertible is a custom. Am I correct?

[bherman13]

...., some say visible from space....

I'd just like to say everything is visible from space. With lenses that can read newspapers from outside the atmosphere, it's becoming a misunderstood word.

Now, visible from space....with the naked eye.... is a different comparison.

[vwlarry]

I'm thinking that convertible is a custom. Am I correct?

In a recent issue of Hemming's Classic Car magazine was an article, written in the first-person, by the owner/creator of this beautifully realized one-off Starliner convertible. He used a Lark convertible top adapted to the roofless coupe. The man worked most of his life at Studebaker, btw.

BTW, here are three of my Studebaker threads:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...ght=studebaker

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...ght=studebaker

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...ght=studebaker

[BattleRabbit]

I'm thinking that convertible is a custom. Am I correct?

There was one I saw at the meet in South Bend which was shortened(to a 2 seater) and used a widened top off an MGB or Fiat Spider... I can't remember which! As far as I know there were no production convertible post-53 Commanders/President/Hawks.

[barry2952]

Were there any factory or factory authorized coach builders that made any from new cars? It wasn't all that uncommon for people to have a new car "personalized".

[BattleRabbit]

There may have been, but there were probably very few. I didn't see any "real" ones at the national shows in South Bend or Red Wing, MN, or at regional meets. It doesn't seem like it'd be too difficult(in the scope of custom convertibles) to make one like Larry showed using the top off a '59-'60 Lark convertible and the appropriate bracing.

Some weird factory specials I have seen based on that platform though included a hearse, a lot of Conestoga based ambulettes, a utility van(apparently 1 of like 3), and a long wheelbase sedan.

[barry2952]

I saw a 4-door Avanti at the Orphan Car Show. That's a Unicorn if I ever saw one.

[Swallow Doretti]

There's the TV spot.

I think my Studebaker fanboyism is well known around these parts. I think without realizing my level of Studebaker-fanboyism my political science professor is allowing me to do my capstone paper on the UAW and ERISA. This means I get to write about the end of Packard and Studebaker for school. It's a freaking dream come true!

All I have to offer is that I have a Corgi Wagonaire with the sliding roof you'd love.