1964 Studebaker Lark Daytona convertible, 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk

Two exceptionally rare Studebakers I spotted on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. The Studebaker plant in South Bend, Indiana closed in December of 1963. This car could have been one of 417 Daytona convertibles made there for the 1964 model year, or one of 286 made at the company's Canadian plant. This was the last Studebaker convertible made, and the Canadian plant closed as well in 1966.

The Golden Hawk was possibly the fastest car made in America, built with a Packard V-8 in 1956 and a supercharged Studebaker V-8 in 1957 and 1958.

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Merry Christmas! 1949 Studebaker 2R Pickup Truck

This truck arrived in 1948 as Studebaker's first new post-war design. Well, the cab and bed were new but the solid-axle chassis and flathead motor were already very old. This design lasted through 1953, then was actually brought back for 1958-9 as the Scotsman. This same truck finally got a new cab in 1960 and new ohv 6-cylinder engines and a new bed in 1961, but the old-fashioned chassis was made all the way until Studebaker closed operations in Indiana at the end of 1963.

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1962 Studebaker Champ pickup truck

 

From Hemmings.com: "Faced with certain extinction near the end of the 1950s, Studebaker clung to solvency by building new cars and trucks out of the stuff already in its parts bins."

"Without the resources to design an all-new truck, Studebaker passed the ball to the Lark. Using the front half of a Lark sedan body with a unique grille and bumper, South Bend created a pickup cab that fit remarkably well with the edgy styling direction Detroit had taken. Inside, the Lark's dash added a civilized touch to the workaday hauler. Unfortunately, almost everything else about the truck was still very much a rolling representation of a bygone era.

While Detroit's haulers rode on independent front ends, two-wheel-drive Champs used straight front axles with leaf springs as well as leaf springs in the rear. In 1960, Studebaker's six-cylinder truck engines were still flathead designs dating back to the 1930s. The Champ's box, too, was a throwback to the previous model, and those pontoon rear fenders that looked so right on the 2R in 1949 didn't blend well with the Lark-derived Champ cab. Even the Champ's brake and clutch pedals seemed old fashioned poking up out of the floor, as swing-style pedals had become so common everywhere else. 

For 1961, Studebaker did its best to bring the Champ into the modern age. The flathead six-cylinder engines were discontinued and the smaller 170-cu.in. six was brought back with overhead valves. (Both V-8 engines remained in the lineup, the 259 as well as the 289.)

The most visible change was the addition of smooth bedsides, but rather than design and build its own bedsides for the Champ, Studebaker purchased tooling that had been used to make Dodge's "Sweptline" boxes. Studebaker's Dodge-derived "Spaceside" box was more modern looking than the old fender box, but it was disproportionately big for the Champ's cab. The body creases in the Champ's doors didn't jibe with the Dodge's bedsides either, further making the combination look cobbled together.

If the Champ had an advantage in the light-truck marketplace, it was its low price. In 1962, the Champ half-ton, with a 6.5-foot box and six-cylinder engine, was the most inexpensive hauler in its class, weighing in with a base price of $1,870.

The Champ soldiered on, more or less a footnote in South Bend's proud history, until December 27, 1963, when Studebaker pulled the plug on civilian truck production."

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1966 Avanti II

The Studebaker factory in Indiana closed in December, 1963. Soon a couple of guys got the idea to reopen a portion of the factory and continue making Studebaker's interesting fiberglass coupe, the Avanti. This business managed to run successfully into the 1980s, which is impressive when one considers that in a typical week they only sold two cars. The frames were built in the old factory, the bodies supplied by the same company that had made them for Studebaker, and the engines came from General Motors. Although an Avanti II made in the early-1980s is hardly distinguishable from one made in the mid-60s, I think this is one of the very early cars. I've never seen an Avanti II before that had the old Studebaker wheel covers. Most Avanti II were sold with Magnum 500 rims or similar newer wheels.

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1963 and 1964 Studebaker Avanti

When equipped with a supercharger, (see last pic below), the Avanti was America's fatest car, with a top speed even higher than the fuel-injected Corvette. The square headlights of the car on the left denote it as a very rare '64. Studebaker closed its American plant on December 20, 1963.

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1953 Studebaker 2R pickup truck

Studebaker sold a nice looking truck in the 50s. The 2R design has the odd distinction of being retired in 1953 and then brought back in 1958 as a low-cost model.

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