Car Show Classic: 1957 Studebaker Champion–Treasure Is Found In Unlikely Places

I recently met Ken Rubin at the regular Friday nite car show in Boonton, New Jersey.  He had driven his very rare 1957 Studebaker all the way down from Warwick, New York.  I haven’t seen a ’57 Stude in over 20 years, so I was naturally drawn to his copper-and-black beauty!  Of course, “Every car has a story”, and his story is a rather interesting one.

Prequel to the main story:

Studebaker was in pretty good shape in the late ’40s following World War II.  They had a very successful year in 1950 with their “bullet nose” models.  (Odd, isn’t it–this prominent circular grille element was a hit for Studebaker, but when Edsel tried their own upright oval version, it was laughed at and scorned!)  The public is so funny . . .

Studebaker had another hit in 1953 with the European-inspired Starliner Coupe.  But problems were brewing under the surface.  The standard 1953 “bread-and-butter” family sedans didn’t look as good, and sales were poor.  Competition from the Big Three was fierce.  Studebaker needed to sell A LOT of cars to break even.

The entire line was restyled in ’56 (in a way I didn’t find particularly attractive).  The old inner body shell was retained.  But for ’57 I felt the stylists worked some magic cleaning up the front end, smoothing out the overall lines, and designing new delta-wing taillight pods to help give this rather dull car some pizzazz.

Consumer Reports found the 1957 Studebakers to be rather mediocre–an interesting mixture of good and bad features.  Sales continued to fall.  For ’58, quad headlights and gigantic fins were added.  Despite this, sales dropped to crisis levels in that recession year.  So next year Studebaker discontinued its full-size line and placed all its bets on the compact Lark and a smattering of sporty Hawk models.  Sales immediately rebounded, but then gradually fell, and Studebaker production ended in 1966.

 

After Studebaker died, the cars became orphans.  A 1957 model was now virtually worthless on the used car market.  They trickled down to the most impoverished and desperate of owners, or were held on to by elderly Studebaker diehards who resisted change and didn’t want to buy another car.  Either way, once major damage occurred or costly repairs were needed, off to the junkyard she goes!

By the time I came along in the 1970s, Studebakers had vanished from the roads.  I only knew they existed because I had a copy of Tad Burness’ American Car Spotter’s Guide.

Studebaker, like Edsel, became a kind of automotive joke–sort of like the “ultimate clunker” of the ’50s.  I find this to be unfair, but if you go through life expecting everything to be fair, well . . .  Louie the garbageman on the TV show Chico and The Man had a nicely patina’d  ’57 Stude that he would bring in for service.  The joke was only Louie had the magic touch–no one could start the car but him.  Did you ever have a car like that?

In 2001 I saw and photographed a 1957 Studebaker for the first time.  This was at the LEAD EAST car show in Parsippany NJ.  As I said before, seeing a car in person is quite different from looking at a picture.

This is a top-of-the-line President Classic model, which formed the basis of the 1957 Packard Clipper Town Sedan.

Packard-style grille, interior features, distinctive Packard taillights, and a supercharged engine  (as well as a lot of sound-deadening insulation) were added to create an “all-new” Packard for 1957–a luxury “step-UP” from Studebaker.  It also sold poorly and the Packard line was dropped after 1958.

 

Side note:  I always wonder how many of these restored or well-preserved old cars that I saw two or three decades ago are still around.   I’d like to think that if they survived that long, they would still be loved and cherished to this day.  But I’ve seen too many examples where that is not the case.

Main story:

So I was at the Boonton show, and I saw a car with this familiar smiling face–yup, a ’57 Studebaker!

I walked around the car–from certain angles it looks crisp, elegant.  Classic ’50s!

Yes, it has fender skirts, which I (and a lot of you CC purists) are not fans of.  But Ken later explained that the skirts are rare and make the car look a little more special.  He actually needed a mechanic to get the skirts on, and he hopes he doesn’t need to change a rear tire anytime soon!

Those bold, new-for-’57 taillights.  STUDEBAKER across the trunk in big, proud letters!

Hood ornament:  Pure Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon.  A true work of art.

Rather plain yet avant-garde instrument panel topped by the colorful “Cyclops Eye” speedometer which rotates like an old bathroom scale.

Ken was great to talk to, and he later emailed me a description of how he managed to acquire this unusual and fascinating car:

“I wanted to share a story of how I acquired my Studebaker which I find kind of amusing, but at the same token turned out to be one of the best automotive purchases I’ve made on multiple levels.

I had my mind set on looking to purchase an iconic Checker Marathon, that had to be a retired NYC Taxi. Yes. the iconic yellow Checker!

Looking for one of these types of cars comes with great difficulty.  Taxicabs were not meant to be a collector’s item. They were built to be utilitarian.  They never stopped running.

The ones that were left for sale were basket cases.   One day in the summer of 2023, I was doing some house work and my wife walked outside and handed me the phone.  “HERE!! TALK TO THIS GUY!!!”  Wha? Who!?  “He has a Studebaker for sale!!”

“I have no interest in Studebakers!!”  (I hoped the poor guy was on mute.)  I struck up a conversation with the gentleman. It actually turned out to be a very nice conversation, and all the while my wife was scrolling through pictures.  My whole facial expressions kind of relaxed a bit.  The pictures I was looking at were just gorgeous.

It was a freshly painted 1957 Studebaker in two tone paint–Coppertone Mist/Black, and the interior was matching Coppertone Mist and black with fresh seats and headliner in vanilla and light brown.

The gentleman explained to me that there is nothing wrong with the car, he just spent a lot of money doing a cosmetic restoration.  He realized that he wasn’t going to see a return on his money, and that he had to get it out of his garage because he had an upscale model Studebaker, the Studebaker “President”.

As requested, he sent plenty of “still” pictures, video of the car starting, running and driving, and switching gears.  He was more than happy to oblige to all my requests.

Moving forward now, one year later, and I’m often driving this car by myself on long trips.  About 500 miles later to date, and this old girl has become one of my most reliable cars. It has never broken down–it starts, runs, and drives every time.”

 

“Driving the Studebaker makes me realize why it was a very well loved car.  The 185 cubic inch inline Flathead 6 is a buttery smooth engine with adequate power.  The manual 3 speed on the column shifts smoothly. It is not a heavy car, with a curb weight of only 2785 lbs.  Even though it has four wheel drum brakes, it does not take much effort to stop this car.  I love the fact that this car does have an overdrive feature.

It works nothing like any modern car.  Once I get the car up to speed to shift into 2nd gear, the manual/electric overdrive will kick in once the car reaches 35 MPH.   The accelerator pedal is then released, and you feel a definite “kick”.  This is the tranny kicking into overdrive. This will get the car to about 40 MPH.  You can now shift into 3rd gear–but the cool factor is:  it’s actually 4th gear.  The old girl can cruise quite comfortably at 65 MPH which can be monitored by the cyclops barrel speedometer rotation.

The suspension with 67 year old technology does well.  It feels a bit bouncy but controlled, while absorbing road irregularities quite well.  I’m sure with the addition of modern steel belted radials, the ride quality would be even more smooth and quiet.  I can talk to my passengers at conversational levels without yelling.

Two very important points I must make:  This is just a terrific car.  I actually don’t see a reason as to why this can’t be a daily driver.  And the second point I must make here is . . . yes . . . I did end up with the iconic yellow Checker Marathon!”

Godspeed, Ken!  Follow your highest passion and the universe will conform to your wishes.

 

So I’m very glad I got to meet Ken and see his little gem of a car.  It always warms my heart to see something like this preserved.  About 99% of its compatriots have gone to the big crusher in the sky, but somehow this Studebaker remains and can still be seen tooling down the streets and highways of New York and New Jersey.  Beating the odds is such a wonderful feeling!