I had not realized that I was starting Studebaker week here at CC, but since it seems to be rolling, it shall continue, at least for today.
Every time I go to South Bend, I look for Studebakers. On my last trip, I came into town on a rainy Sunday afternoon. This car was the first Stude to greet me as I approached the city.
The ’49 Land Cruiser may have been on a trailer, but it was a pretty solid car that looked drivable with a minimum of effort, so it seemed worth the full CC treatment. Although I had high hopes for this ’64, it was rougher up close than I expected. Although the car is remarkably rust-free, the inside looks more like a storage place for interior parts than an interior, and I would be surprised if it is drivable. While this may be more of a lawn ornament than a car, it is still the final Gen-U-Wine Studebaker, and merits at least an outtake.
It is my vow (mark it down here) to find a decent 64 Stude, the last of the South Bend-built models and my favorite Studebaker sedan after the ’49, on which to do a full CC treatment. Until then, we will have to make do with this one.
When you think about this cars antecedents and all of the derivative models that Studebaker squeezed out of the basic design,its pretty amazing. This was a company that was always counting its pennies. A trim change here, a new fender line there,all while selling the same basic car for a decade and a half. This when GM changed some of its models yearly.
I’ve always thought that the last two years of Studebakers were very handsome cars,even if they were pretty non-descript. I have run across lots of them in the classifieds over the years at great prices,and have been tempted,but their reputation as rust buckets always made me afraid that I was buying a down payment on thousands of dollars of bodywork that could never be recouped when I wanted to get something else.
I am loving this week of Studebaker memories. Kudos !
Seems like they borrowed heavily from the Plymouth design team on that one. Especially the front and rear wheel arch treatments.
The last five years of the Lark/Studebaker…were all of Brooks Stevens’ doing. What he was borrowing from, only he knew.
But he, and Studebaker, were definitely doing it on the cheap and on borrowed time. This model year, was the year when the Studebaker board’s plans to diversify and exit the auto industry, started to come to fruition.
The closing of South Bend was not the end of “real” Studebakers so much as it was the opening stages of a carefully-planned exit strategy. The corporation was to survive on STP and Gravely products. Cars and trucks were no longer a viable product for their business.
First, the Hamilton plant was profitable at a much lower production breakeven point…so close the higher-cost South Bend plant, first. If it cuts the model range to only one, it doesn’t matter.
But, keep producing that one model – to have cars to sell to dealers; to avoid franchise-termination lawsuits. If the one model didn’t sell…well, that was the dealer’s problem.
When the supply of stockpiled engines ran out…find the easiest replacement; which turned out to be a GM-McKinnon Chevrolet-six clone. Keep the cars available; don’t change the styling; make the lack of changes a “selling point.” Watch the dealers terminate, one by one.
When the Canadian manufacturing head complains about lack of sales and the need for new dealers, upbraid him for not taking dealers to task for selling less than one unit a month, on average. Deny him money for meaningful upgrades on product.
This unhappy state of affairs could probably have played out many more years; but the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act probably tipped the Studebaker board’s hand. The jig was up; time to close.
One reading I came across suggested that the actual day chosen to end production, happened because it was the day they ran out of trunk-lid stampings. It’s as good an explanation as any; by that time the operation was definitely duct-tape and baling wire.
That said…I’m truly attracted to the 1966 Studes You just can’t help but love an orphan…and the 1966 was a misbegotten product, fathered by a malevolent board of directors, mothered by the abused Canadian manager, Gordon Grundy…and, as in other tales of pathos, surprisingly attractive due to Brooks Stevens’ final makeover.
But the car is gone, gone…and shall not pass this way again. Rust was in its genetic makeup…a terminal flaw.
I had two different ’66s, one a Daytona 2 door and the other a Commander 4 door. The Commander was built on the last day of production (53 from the end according to the serial number) and was quite obviously cobbled together from leftover bits. It was painted the late-year color Timberline Turquoise. The hood was unsprung and equipped with a prop-rod which is incorrect for the year according to the Studebaker Club gang, and the switchgear on the dash was white instead of the black that was supposedly standard on the ’66s. Most interestingly is that it had a Daytona grille and headlight bezel package, which were blacked out instead of chrome.
I strongly suspect these were original fittings because the previous owner gave me some pictures dating back to when he bought it in 1970 that showed them in place at that time. Interesting car with an interesting history. I sold it to a guy with more money and talent than me, he’s about 2 years into a full blown restoration of her.
Thats no lawn ornament the grass isnt even up to the sill panels I reckon itd run and even drive Ive bought cars like this before and usually if the drove to a stop a little work and theyll drive away again that one doesnt look rotted out.
Bryce is right, this one is most likely a runner. It’d look even better if some amateur bodyman hadn’t sanded the paint off the top of the right fender and then left the metal exposed.
This would make a hell of an restoration project. I’m glad South Bend is far away, too.
Yup, doesn’t look too bad in the photos, most Lark derivatives rust heavily in the front fender seam just ahead of the doors.
Luckily South Bend is far away, because a 64 or 65 is on my short list to own someday. I must have some orphan car disease because I also want a Triumph TR3A, and a Fargo pickup truck…..