Buoyed by my success in buying the Ford Mustang from a local auction I thought I would try my luck on another auction, but this time snag myself an inexpensive family classic. My friend and enabler, Rod, sent me an auction link with a number of interesting and suitable candidates. The only downfall was that it was over five hundred kilometers away and we had a snow storm predicted for the only weekend before it closed. So I would be taking a big risk on buying an old car sight unseen. Follow along to see how it unfolds.
This was an estate auction with an eccentric mix of interesting and rare classic vehicles. Quite a few were the sort of things I would collect, given the space and means to do so. I very much would have liked to have met the man who assembled it all, as I suspect he was a bit of a character. As with most auctions, the bidding stayed pretty mellow until near the end when it went a bit crazy on a lot of the items. Many of the lots quickly rose well above what I would consider reasonable market value, so I dropped out of the bidding on those. We will go through the other vehicles in a future post, but my eventual winner was a 1963 Studebaker Lark sedan. The auction described it as:
GREEN; V8 AUTOMATIC; ALBERTA REGISTERED; RUNS & DRIVES; VERY SOLID; HAS KEYS; SHOWING 62,600 MILES
The all caps shouting is theirs, not mine. I would argue the exterior was more blue than green, but that does not matter much. The Alberta registration is key since any vehicle without it is subject to an “out of province” inspection, which means you essentially need brand new tires, brakes, all suspension/steering components as well as perfect glass with functioning safety features like a heater or windshield wipers. Obtaining a pass on an older car can be tough, with some parts like windshields, certain suspension or steering components being unavailable. The recent provincial Alberta registration meant I would only need those items to be in reasonable working order rather than perfect condition.
Here are the photos in the ad which are seemly skillfully shot to mostly avoid showing what appeared to be a cracked windshield. It was barely visible from the interior shot, but I suspected it would it least have some cracks and at worst need replacement. During bidding I expected it to go for around a thousand dollars but I got in a bit of a bidding war with another person which pushed it to exactly my maximum of $1,200 and then stopped there. A few seconds later I was now a Studebaker owner. Given the description and the fact that it had a license plate from 2018 on it, I seriously considered an attempt to drive it home.
The real pause on a drive home attempt was the fact that it was a 1000+ km round trip, which makes for a long day and puts the driving into darkness with the shorter winter days. So ultimately I took the safe route by borrowing a truck from my wife and a trailer from Rod. Also Rod himself for company on the journey. After the long drive up, I finally was able to lay eyes on it for myself.
Before we get to that, let’s talk about why a Studebaker Lark. I am not sure I have a totally clear answer but if you have followed my COAL history it is clear that I enjoy cars that are a little outside the mainstream. I have always liked the idea of a non-mainstream American classic car: Nash, Rambler, Studebaker, etc. The Lark is a nice size of vehicle being big enough to take the whole family in reasonable comfort but small enough to be able to work around in the garage. While I loved my Pontiac Laurentian it was a little on the large size. As a bonus, I have always liked the quad headlamp front end over the earlier Larks. A rare facelift when the later car looks better than the original.
As an initial assessment it did not take long to notice that the windshield was in horrible shape. Not cracked in the way that you can live with a few cracks outside the driver’s field of vision, but cracked as in needs replaced right away. A bummer for sure, but they are available to buy, at least in the United States, so hopefully I can get one shipped reasonably during these COVID times. The description of “very solid” was rather oversold, as an amateur body man had been at work with several panels being on the wavy side. The car had also had its front section of floor replaced with sheet metal held in by pop rivets. These are full frame cars and luckily that appeared to be in excellent condition. The interior was little more scruffy than I expected with random smatterings of white paint in various spots. Probably the worst part was that the carpet had been replaced that strange exterior fake lawn green carpeting that people in the Eighties put on their decks. At least my parents did.
On the plus side of the equation, the missing hub cap and air filter housing were sitting on the back seat. The pillow added nothing of value and is not a keeper.
A quick look showed that the trunk contained a whole bunch of random items, some of which might potentially be useful. The tires were also pretty decent looking as nice bonus, without the usual age related cracks. The Lark, surprisingly, had functioning brakes, which is fairly unusual for old junk that I drag home.
With a long drive ahead of us, there was no time to investigate the trunk contents further. We poured a little gas down the carburetor and while the battery felt weak the engine rumbled to life quite easily. It ran surprisingly well in fact, and we had not had to use any of the tools we had brought. If you look closely in the video you can see a few cobwebs in the engine compartment. The transmission made some worrying noises and while it moved the car forward and back it was not in a hurry to do so. In the best case it was just low on fluid, but in the worst I would be shopping for a new transmission. “Runs & drives” was perhaps technically true only by the thinnest of margins. At this point I was extremely thankful we had not decided to try and drive it home, as the car would need some proper fettling before any serious road trips.
It was, however, able to make it onto the trailer under its own power, thus regaining some level of dignity.
We took advantage of the weird cheap gasoline vortex around Edmonton to fill up. As we finished topping up the tank and made our move to leave, this guy cut in front of us at the Costco gas pumps thus blocking us in until he filled his tank at a maddeningly slow pace. Jerk.
I do not drive this far north often so we made a pit stop for donuts at the Donut Mill in Red Deer for our respective families. If there is a such a thing as healthy, low calorie donuts then these are definitely not them. They are tasty however.
Despite the twinge of disappointment in the overall condition, the Lark looked great to my eyes and I hoped it would make a nice affordable family classic car for summer 2021.
As expected, the last portion of the journey was completed in the dark. The running engine and functioning brakes made it much easier to unload than the brake-less Pontiac of a few years ago. In the upcoming installments we will take a look at the small parts lot I also bought as an additional gamble, browse some of the other auction cars as well as assess the Lark in detail. Plus we get to dig into the trunk contents for whatever surprises that may hold. Stayed tuned.
Related reading: Studebaker V8: Punching Below Its Weight PN
I love the last pic of the car on the trailer. The lights from the car behind it and the tail lights of the truck make it look like a cut rate college film version of Christine.
THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT!
YES! I’M SHOUTING!
Thank you for saving this great car – and you will learn so much with it!
You should call it “Baby Yoda” – I don’t know why.
Good luck with your restoration. “Well, you’re invited for a motoring thrill. It’s the Lark by Studebaker, Lark by Studebaker…” part of the old commercial for these cars. They offered their “Limousette,” labeled the world’s first and only Limousette.
Even their advertising sucked. But then they didn’t have much to sell.
They had a number of vehicles a head of their time. 1953-1955 Starlight Coupe for one. The Lark is a great car. You could join the Studebaker auto club. Lots of OEM parts.
HooBoy – am I ever looking forward to this odyssey. It looks like you snagged a Lark Custom, one step up from the Lark Regal I wrote up here. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/car-show-classic-1963-studebaker-lark-regal-left-brain-car-for-a-right-brain-world/
The stainless trim around the window frames and the high-level interior show that this car was fairly well up the Lark-Ladder in 1963.
I will confess to taking a sneak peak at this writeup yesterday. Since then, I wondered – does this one still have the main heater core in the floor under the passenger seat? I have always wondered how that works in practice.
Also, I would love to hear your first-hand impression in how this car drives compared with your 61 Pontiac. These two would have been kinda-sorta competitive back then, a low-trim Pontiac and a fairly high trim Lark. At least they were more-or-less contemporaries on the market.
Thank you. I have only driven it up the trailer thus far but hopefully a first drive soon.
I will have to take a peek at the main heater core as I have not noticed it either way yet.
Re heater core: they had lost the 1953 (not to mention 1947) little vent doors on the front fenders by then, so I would expect some kind of modern heater. But then they never got to integrated air conditioning.
Reminds me…I once had a very old and knackered 1955 Buick Super convertible (the shared with Cadillac and Roadmaster body) and it had the heater under the front seat. About the end of that, I would have thought.
I kind of like it and you’re the perfect buyer for it. For a brand that has been gone so long there still seem to be a lot of them around (or at least for sale), and thus more interesting than just another Ford or GM. The yellow valve covers look great, that jumped out at me for some reason, and the rest isn’t unattractive either. A good score!
The yellow valve covers are neat for sure. I cleaned them up and they are sure bright in the engine bay.
There does seem to be a good number of survivors about. Parts supply is quite good for these which helps.
The V-8 is a nice feature. It could have just as easily been a six cylinder.
There was a six cylinder station wagon in the same auction that went for slightly less money but it was a little rougher. This would is much closer to getting on the road.
One thing I thought was typically goofy Studebaker was how they used Roman numerals to denote the engine type, i.e., Lark VIII or Lark VI when everyone else had a simple ‘V8’ emblem, or no emblem at all for a six. I suppose if they had a four, there would have been a Lark IV.
Wonderful. Is it not great to have adventures like this!
Of course you will find some sloppy maintenance from the past, and more rust than you would have liked, but that all should be considered as part of the hobby. As a plus, you have (Ihope) this car a new lease of life.
That is all part of it for sure but I think this one should be savable. Probably never going to be a show winner but it has some life left as a classic driver.
Ah, the Donut Mill! I’ve only been to Red Deer once, but I won’t forget those donuts! Good luck with the project.
Dave, you just keep the hits coming. This is Studelicious! Some friends in Iowa City had a Daytona coupe version, and I remember the interior fabric and that distinctive dash so well.
Have fun!
If you’d told me your friends had a Daytona Coupe, I would have been quite impressed but would be picturing a very different Daytona Coupe without the Studebaker context…
I can’t wait! There is a guy here in my town of Tigard OR that has a small collection of ‘bakers, including a couple trucks. And not afraid to use them as I see them tooling around often.
I wish I had the time, motivation, space and skills to take on a project like this. But I’ll gladly follow your progress. I have always liked these, and even though the V8 is no powerhouse, as I’ve learned from Paul, it still seems like a bonus for the price. Have fun!
There are few things as satisfying as pulling into the driveway with a new old car, even if it’s on a trailer. I think the ’63 is my favorite Lark, and it’s a V8 too!
Only a stick shift would have made it better. I suppose the two door and wagon are more desirable as well.
Nice score! The 259 is a big plus, tough as nails, as long as you don’t mind an oil leak here and there.
All of use are waiting for JP’s resistance to fade and he finally buys a Studebaker.
Please don’t change the color! It’s perfect.
No color change planned – I really like it as well.
You really add a lot of joy to my life with your improbable finds Dave. I am thrilled, what a great choice.
I guess JPC and I should make some sort of bet, is it a South Bend Stude or a Hamilton Stude? I’d put a beer on Hamilton.
Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.
Thanks. The answer to that is in the next installment on Thursday.
When determining whether a ’64 Lark is from South Bend or Hamilton (the former which were all built in calendar year 1963), the easiest-to-spot difference is the two-tone steering wheel in the American cars, whereas Canadian cars had an all-white rim. So I’m surprised to see the two-tone wheel on this north-of-the-border car.
The ’63 model is the most European-looking of Larks, with the new larger side windows and thinner pillars, along with the Mercedes-ish grille. It’s the first time the Lark didn’t look stuck in the 1950s.
Hmm recently did some of this
buy an old car 500km away, check
car did not run at the time, check
car is known to have been running with legit rego and inspection, check
car now runs but no power brakes, check
car come with numerous spares I hadnt bargained on ,check
But on the other hand Ive known the car and the owner for many years and its a good solid car and only on offer as he has aged out of wanting any projects and toys so is selling the thousands of items he has accumulated so now I have two old cars far from where I am living and working,
Cool, looks to be in pretty good shape body wise and seems to be mostly complete, which is important when dealing with less common vehicles from many years ago.
Looking forward to the updates and seeing it get back out on the road.
Not a sedan, and it’s a ’62 rather than a ’63, but I’ll park this one here.
Peter, my father had a blue 62 Lark convertible, thank you so much for that pic! And David, I can’t wait to read about your adventure bringing this Lark back to life, Dad would have appreciated that.
That is fantastic!
Not a lot of money for such an interesting old car. I am happy for you and a tad jealous. I always liked those Larks and look forward to future updates. Enjoy!
You will be pleased with how nice a driver these cars can be.
Love those Larks. If I had a tiny bit of Leno’s money & garage-space, I’d have one too.
I noticed the dual-circuit master cylinder. Were these standard on the ’63 Studebaker?
I know American Motors had dual-circuit brakes in the early ’60s.
Happy Motoring, Mark
I believe they were which is a real nice bonus. They also had larger 15″ wheels as well as standard. You could also get disc brakes which mine lacks. I am ok with that as the replacement parts are on the pricey side (says the guy who has not yet driven it).
Serial Number will tell you whether its a South Bend or Hamilton production: 63V- (South Bend) and 63VF- (Canada). Nice score, should make a affordable summer driver. Do yourself a favor, join the Studebaker Driver’s Club, opens the world to all the support you’ll need.
One of the great things about being a fan of the lovable loser Studebaker is their support network, particularly of parts. Instead of simply pitching all of the NOS parts when the company shuttered (as Iacocca did with the old Chrysler parts inventory when he took over), someone (Nate Altman, maybe?) bought up all of the old stock so, over half a century later, there still exists a reasonable supply of Studebaker spares.
I used to like the quad-headlight ’64-’65 Studebakers the best but I’m coming around to the 1963 cars. As someone mentioned, it has a decidely European look about it, helped a good deal by losing the previous, old-fashioned, wraparound windshield.
Very nice project. My local mechanic had one of these at his shop for about a year, property of a non – paying customer. I was impressed at how straightforward and practical it is. Style does not impede on utility. Efficient use of space, roomy on the inside and a nicely compact exterior. Quite tall for great visibility, and nicely styled
If I recall these had a kingpin front end, not ball joints so the handling may be a bit loose and vague. But kingpins served well under a gillion Ford pick ups, no harm done so long as the pins aren’t seized.
This is terrific! As always, I enjoy your car-buying stories, and I can’t wait to see the progress on this one.
Oddly enough, I saw a Lark in the wild recently. Just earlier this month I was visiting my family in Missouri, and I drove into their town late at night. I was rather astounded to see a Studebaker Lark parked in front of a house on Main St. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop then (I had my kids and mother-in-law with me, and none of them was as enthusiastic about it as I was), and when I checked back the next day it was gone.
Oh, very sweet, not to say brave. And what a colour.
As one of those odd twists in auto history, like, say, Ford selling restyled Renault 12’s in Brazil or plebian Holden Commodores much later becoming Presidential transport in the same place, these very model Studes were used as a police pursuit cars here. And it was raced!
Looking forward to more.
When I was very young, my parents had a Lark that was given to them by my mother’s father. Here is my mom standing next to is.