This is turning into Studebaker Wagonaire Week at the CC Cohort. We saw a well-used ’63 on Monday, and now we have this even rougher ’64 today, at the pharmacy looking for some antidotes to the aging process. The question I have: is this possibly a fixed-roof Wagonaire, which was available starting in 1964? And how does one tell? Does it look decidedly different? Google is not being helpful.
Posted at the Cohort by canadiancatgreen.
It looks pretty solid from here, a coat of paint wouldn’t go astray but other than that it looks like a good serviceable classic. No ideas on the roof.
Sweet, for a moment I thought it was a lowrider IH Travelall.
I think it looks more like a low rider Chevy Suburban . One year had front styling that looked just like a 67 Chevy truck, Suburban.
It does look like a Travelall. I’ll bet tall gas station attendants hated these. That gas cap sits mighty low. The 67 Suburban nose looked like the 66 Studebaker, not the other way around. The Studebaker was here first.
I see some resemblance to the similarly-named Jeep Wagoneer as well (look at those taillights!). Not surprising since they were both styled by Brooks Stevens.
Well the hubcap is a Travelall hubcap, well sort of. When Studebaker died apparently the company that made those hubcaps for them decided to get more life out of the dies. So they did what ever they had to do to get rid of the S in the center. Don’t know whether they shopped it around to anybody who would listen or IH was already a customer but the version without the S in the center appeared on the new for 1969 “D-series” full size 1/2 ton trucks and Travelalls in 1969. Then for the 71 and 72 Full size and the new for 71 Scout II got yet another modification of the same basic hubcap. This time they did what ever to eliminate the 8 radial ribs. The also added the dies necessary to stamp out an open center version with a rolled edge to allow access to the locking hub for the 4×4 versions. I’ve got sets of both versions used on IHs to equip either 4×4 or 2wd versions.
Here is a set of the 2wd early version.http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/291511550789?item=291511550789&lgeo=1&vectorid=229466&rmvSB=true and a 2wd set of the later version. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/351191275571?item=351191275571&lgeo=1&vectorid=229466&rmvSB=true
The seller is definitely not an “IH guy” since the early version is usually harder to come by and trade for more money, and he wants $120 for a set of the common as dirt style used on the 73 until end of production.
Very interesting – I always knew that International got this design (in fact, I saw it on Internationals before I ever saw one on a Stude) but I never made the connection to the same cap without the ribs.
Found an article on the Wagonaire in Collectible Auto magazine Feb 2006.
According to the article, Studie offered a fixed-roof ‘delete option’ from mid-year 63 through 64. By ’65 the whole company was dying, so they didn’t bother with any options.
March 21, 1963–I never knew these had been announced so early:
It’s too bad these were just so. . . so old looking. No comparison to what else was being offered in 1964, even Ramblers were better! Sad end for Stude.
Interesting…I’ve always thought that these (or at least the front end) were pretty modern looking. Very clean and simple. That front end wouldn’t look too out of place 10 years later, IMO
I like funky old cars and enjoy some wear, tear and patina showing, but MAN, that thing is SO fugly
Nah, won’t win any beauty contests, but it’s definitely cool to see one out and about. Didn’t even know about the fixed-roof variant either!
The non-sliding roof was their way of eliminating the leak problems of the sliding roof. If any Studebaker executives are still alive, they were probably happy to see that GMC SUV with a sliding roof flame out pretty quickly. With Studebaker it was an innovation, with GM it was just a mistake.
You have to wonder if the fixed-roof Wagonaire would have made any difference in the company’s fortunes if it had been made available even just a few years sooner. By 1964, Studebaker was in a well-known death-spiral and the only buyers left were the small group of die-hard loyalists (likely compromised mainly of Studebaker’s South Bend factory workers) who were going to buy nothing but a Studebaker until the bitter end.
OTOH, it’s not like station wagons were big sellers, anyway, so it probably wouldn’t have helped.
Nice to see a road going Studebaker in 2015 and this sure has character. Hopefully the doors can be fixed or maybe it is time for new ones with that rot. This Studebaker had to drive at least 120 miles to Eugene which makes this find even more cool.
Was the Wagonaire named linked to Frigidaire by any chance? The styling was
Actually, yes!
Frigidaire (which was owned by General Motors until 1980) hired Raymond Loewy to style their appliances in the 1950s. Loewy’s firm, of course, also styled the ’53-’56 Studebakers that the Wagonaire was derived from. Loewy even used some trim pieces he designed for this refrigerator on this car (as noted, “the car also includes a couple of inside jokes, including an “RL” emblem on each side that is encircled by a chrome band. Sharp-eyed industrial design fans may notice the chrome ring comes directly from a Frigidaire refrigerator, which Loewy had also designed”).
He did some work for International Harvester, mentioned in some earlier posts, as well.
I like it, twin tailpipes too.
I’d paint it dark green with a roller. Then I can picture myself popping out in my chinos, plaid shirt and horn rim glasses to buy… uhh… Sunscreen for my left arm!
This one is a Lark platform , no ? .
It really doesn’t have the snappy , 1960’s hip look the other Wagonairs did , maybe it’s just the angle of the shot .
The Studie die hards were mostly in the North East .
-Nate
It’s the angle, the big, plain doors, and patina. Someone mentioned it has IH Travelall wheelcovers. A bit ironic because that particular perspective and dark green color (or what’s left of it) makes it look rather like one.
A fixed-roof Wagonaire is otherwise just a Lark Wagon. Larks came as 2-dr wagons from ’59, the 4-dr was added in ’60. Brooks Stevens added his distinctive styling to both Studebaker and the Jeep Wagoneer starting in ’63….
I don’t think you can tell if it’s a fixed roof or not from the picture, the roof rails hide the sliding mechanism, and my relevant issue of Turning Wheels is 700 miles away right now. I’ve asked some folks who’d know, tho’. This car is being restored as used, ‘tho. See the replacement fenders with no rust at their rears? The new tailgate? It’s apparently being loved, to some degree, not being driven into the ground.
See the dual exhausts? Another interesting tweak! The two-tone steering wheel says that it’s still a South Bend product, and so those exhausts means it’s at least a 259 V8 with a 4-bbl. Maybe a 289. Don’t think they put any R-1 engines in the wagons in the few short months of ’64 South Bend production. But maybe a Hawk 4-spd! I can dream here.
My old ’60 Lark with dual exhausts and a 259 4-bbl could outrun just about anything else from a light in NYC back in the 80s…. and in overdrive, it kept on going as fast I dared..
I commented the other day that the wagon version of a number of cars sometimes seems the best looking. Not so with the ’64 Studebaker. Everything from the C pillar back is just plain bad. Heck of a find, though.
The “sunny open-top sedan” comment has me befuddled.
Seems like the only folks who would enjoy the “open top” would be the kids in the rear of the car, while the folks in the back seat would be ‘rednecks’ to match their outboard arms.
I’ll take the HUGE sunroof in my own wagon, thanks, which opens up both rows of seats to the outdoors, and doesn’t leak.
Plus – is it visual hyperbole to show a horse being loaded into the maroon car at the top of in the ad? Like a version of the early 60’s ad art for Pontiac, which makes them resemble aircraft carriers?
Cool shot! The more I look at 64 Studebakers, the more I see that they look great from some angles, and really awkward from others. This is not a good view for this car, and this version without any side trim looks particularly truck-like. The Daytona trim seemed to slim these down quite a bit.
The other thing I have noticed is that I really like the wagon rear quarter for the 64 – it eliminates that awkward upsweeping character line that goes from around the wheel to the back of the car starting in 1962. Too bad they could not have used the wagon’s quarter panel as the basis for sedans and coupes.
I too have long wondered why the ’62 coupe/sedan rear fenders were designed that way, rather than having that character line be level and horizontal. When they got around to restyling (and lengthening) the front fender to match the rear in ’64, the corresponding line was level, as I think the rear should have been.
Really can’t tell if this is a fixed roof wagon or not as apparently they all had the step in the roof.
As for the styling, I give the nod to the 64 Studie over the 64 Rambler Classic. The Studie looked far more modern, particularly the instrument panel, vs the Rambler. The downfall of the Studie, besides that the company was obviously on it’s last legs and a bad bet for anyone who didn’t want an orphan, was the 1953 frame that did not allow footwells, like the Rambler had, resulting in very cramped seating with the roof height that fashion dictated in 64
I had one of these … the Matchbox version. Not sure why I got it, other than “because I could” (they cost 49 U.S. cents, plus tax, which took me three weeks to accumulate at 25 cents per week allowance). I remember that it seemed very uncool of Lesney to even bother with a model of this car when there were Ferraris, Porsches, Lotuses or even Avantis which they could make. And, the sliding roof was plastic, which didn’t match the color of the rest of the painted, die cast body.