altered image by Barry Koch
Finding a genuine curbside classic on the street is like having a little fling. I glimpse it, and decide whether it’s seducing me or not. Sometimes I can’t quite tell at first; I almost passed up the Omega F-85 the other day, thinking it was just a regular Omega (I must be getting pretty jaded to consider passing one of those up). But only when I parked and walked up to it did I notice the little F-85 badge on the front fender…baby; what are your doing hanging out on the streets of Springfield? Don’t you know you’re a rare and exotic creature?
Some of these CC flings are genuine quickies; a couple of hours total to shoot and write up. Others linger into more extended affairs, but even then they usually end after the article is written and posted, which can take three hard days of labor for a very seductive car, like the ’59 Lark. Whew!! And then I usually move on, to the next conquest. But not in the case of the Lark. I wanted more, but I wanted her to slim down and shape up a bit.
But she was gone, so it was time for some serious MM’ing (mental masturbation). What makes the ’59 Lark a particularly attractive subject of that is that it had some serious performance potential, given its light weight and available 195 hp V8. I imagined myself in 1959, having come into wee bit of money, and looking for a fast but practical car. A Pontiac GTO was still five years away.
A Lark with the optional four-barrel 259 V8 teamed up with the three-speed manual (and overdrive) could undoubtedly break the 10 second barrier in the 0-60. I imagined what performance tweaks there were for the Studebaker V8 in 1959; sadly, I suspect quite few, as it just wasn’t an engine that had caught the eye of the hot rodders. Yes, in 1963, Studebaker belatedly got on the performance bandwagon with its Super Lark, and the supercharged and high-performance versions of their 289 V8, thanks to help from Any Granatelli.
But prior to that, although the Studebaker V8 was reasonable adequate, it was never a serious high-performance engine. To rectify the fairly weak-chested 232 inch version that came with the seductive ’53 coupes, one outfit started swapping in Cadillac V8s, to create the 125 mph Studillac.
If it had been 1957, there’s no doubt I would have bought myself a ’57 Chevy with the blisteringly new hot fuel injected 283 V8. It was a remarkable achievement, able to rev cleanly to 7,000 rpm, and propel the ’57 Corvette from 0-60 in a then mind-blowing 5.7 seconds. Unfortunately, the new for speed transmission was not yet offered in anything but the Corvette.
But it was now 1959, and Chevy was pushing its 290 hp FI 293 in the Impala coupe, now available with the four speed, as a family sports car. But its weight had ballooned, from 3278 for a ’57 to 3580 for the ’59. Meanwhile, a V8 Lark coupe weighed a mere 3034 lbs. That’s more like it. Now it just needs 100 more hp!
The solution is easy, when you’re laying in bed at six in the morning and it’s too early to get up. Swap in a Chevy 290 hp FI 283 and four speed; they can be bought at your friendly Chevy dealer. And pick up one of those “Fuel Injection” badges too; or maybe not…wouldn’t want suspicions aroused when you’re shutting down every other production car in 1959. Given that the Chevy V8 weighs 100 lbs less than the Stude V8, my Super Lark weighs in at a mere 2934 lbs. And some headers will lower tht further. And move the battery to the trunk for better weight distribution. And some Koni shock to the optional HD suspension. And..
Except it still looks a bit dorky, what with its tall body on that short frame. Time to roll over and go back to sleep…
And what comes to me? A lower and leaner Lark, a truly seductive one. The Lark of my dreams has come true….sort of.
Thanks to having ditched its tall ladder frame and gone unibody, the Lark has lost several inches of height. What a difference it makes. Yes, this is what the Lark could have looked like, and my fellow MM’er, Barry Koch, has made it possible, once again. Now if I could only get her out of my mind….
Thanks for posting the photo of Tom McCahill with the Studillac. I grew up reading his road tests in Mechanix Illustrated in the fifties and early sixties.
The Studillac was also featured in Ian Fleming’s “Diamonds are Forever”, driven by Felix Leiter from memory.
The difference is awfully subtle for my eyes. The leaner version starts to return to the proportions of the ’56-’57 Commander. How about simply remounting Vince Gardner’s ’56 fins? Or the ’57 Packardbaker fins?
Sweet looking car. I’ve always liked the 1959-61 Studebaker Lark. 🙂
Agree on the makeover, well done. What caught my attention was the reference to the architect as tastemaker in the 59 Chevy print ad. Later on Imperial specifically identified architects as new car buyers, this would have been in the early sixties.
Take it from me, times have indeed changed…
The other thing about that ad is how wordy it is. In our age, you can’t imagine a mainstream ad in the form of a novelette. Today’s version would be one of those online “news stories” that are designed to trick you into reading them before you realize they are just part of someone’s ad campaign.
after 1960,stude sales went into the dumper I wonder if these 59 60 lark owners made
the owners say ok, I tried Studebaker. never again! no repeat buyers!
If the 60 model was good you dont need to buy another car for 5 years or more.
And when they become extended affairs, who pays for the hotel room?
> in 1963, Studebaker belatedly got on the performance bandwagon with its Super Lark, and the supercharged and high-performance versions of their 289 V8
Hey, let’s not forget they offered a 275hp supercharged V8 way back in 1957!
Hey, let’s not forget they offered a 275hp supercharged V8 way back in 1957!
I gather those McCulloch supercharges were a service headache, Something about them repeatedly eating their bearings. The Granatellis bought the supercharger division and spent several years revising them until they worked reliably.
Found a description of the problem with those supes. In addition to the issues described below, another problem was the balls had to be matched within a very tight tolerance. The manufacturer shipped the balls to McCulloch in matched sets, then the McCulloch production people tore open the boxes and tossed all the balls into a bin, mixing balls of slightly different sizes, which aggravated the problems.
“The research by the Granatelli/Thompson collaboration found that the planetary drive steel balls were also a significant contributory factor in the speed limitations of the VS57. Friction of the planetary drive balls on the races generates heat during the normal operation of the supercharger, with this heat being absorbed by the lubrication fluid. As the input shaft speed increased above the design limit of 5200 rpm the centrifugal force on the balls, and the extra impellor load, caused the balls to slip on their inner race, generating excess heat with subsequent overheating of the lubrication fluid and galling of both the race and balls. The use of a wider contact path between the balls and their race was proven to lessen the slippage, allowing a higher rpm operation, but a wider contact path also results in more heat being generated.”
http://vs57.y-block.info/history.htm
57 FI didn’t have the corvette 4 spd available.Yes and no. I have seen with my own eyes a 57 chev FI car with a very production looking race track shaped hole with rolled edges in the trans tunnel with a very production stamped rolled edge cover with perfectly spaced screw holes. This was on a car that still had a 3 spd in it. I know because I was putting a floor shifter in it and was worrying over how to do a good job of putting the hole in the floor. And then I didn’t have to. This was in 1967. Much Later on an auto auction show the commentator said that FI 57s had a dealer install 4 spd option. Where all the 4 spd parts were delivered in the trunk and installed by the dealer. That’s all I know, anyone know any more?
Best to leave the Lark in all it’s dorkey glory. All the better to embarrass the other driver in his sleek machine that just got laughed at by his date he was trying to impress as you easily pull away from him at the stoplight.
Having spent a fair part of my youth riding shotgun in a 60 Lark with the 170 flattie, I can’t imagine a “fast” Lark. Just enjoy it for what it is, wheezy engine and all.
‘course, if you did want a dorky looking fast car: take a 108″ w/b 59 Rambler and drop the factory 270hp 327 in it. The Rambler’s torque tube will send the thrust to the body, while the torque in the Lark goes into winding up the leaf springs.
I meant to leave the body stock after Paul’s FI 283 Chevy and 4 speed trans were installed. Along with a maybe a 9 inch Ford rear end with LSD and hotchkis type rear suspension so it can hook up. The “sleeper” look. After all, this is “MM”.
I meant to leave the body stock after Paul’s FI 283 Chevy and 4 speed trans were installed. Along with a maybe a 9 inch Ford rear end with LSD and hotchkis type rear suspension so it can hook up. The “sleeper” look. After all, this is “MM”.
What makes the MM so feasible is that, because of the engine switchover in 65, an SBC drops into a Lark with a stock 65 Studebaker bellhousing. V8 Studebakers had been using a Dana 44 rear axle since the 50s, so that opens the door to more interesting upgrades.
By my education and experience, my MMs focus on a pivot point in management decision making. Packard would have realized far greater synergies by merging with Hudson. Nash would have realized far greater synergies by merging with Studebaker. AMC could have scooped the industry by introducing a downsized, front drive, family sedan in the mid 70s, instead of going with the Pacer, as they had the right engine in hand and a suitable transmission was available.
I’ve got a 59 Lark with the 259 V8. Pretty zippy until the engine spun a main bearing. The engine is being replaced with a slightly newer 289 with a 4 barrel.
Nice photoshop. I still think the Lark looks to short and stubby with that front end and that even a slight fender extension from the Studebaker design team might have made it look a little more normal from the side profile.
Of course the Studebaker Lark nameplate is a nameplate that does not seem to totally disapear from the collective American conscience. Back in 2013 a Fisherman solved one of the South Dakota’s great mysteries of the last 60 years when he spotted the wheels of a Lark sticking out of the water in a creek in SD. 42 years before in 1971, two teenage girls set out to attend a party in a borrowed 1960 Lark and vanished into the night.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/15/us/south-dakota-cold-case-missing-girls/
Well, how about something like this:
Nice! Any more info on either of these two?
Paul, the 1st one is a Ghia-Aigle one off, the 2nd is what Shelby proposed to the Israel factory before he went to AC…. Both created by the masters on this thread:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-photoshop-thread-to-end-all-photoshop-threads.300531/
I see; and I like what I see…
That is a thread to lose hours in.
Or like that one, a Cobra 5 years before Shelby came out with his idea:
The car you call a Cobra was originally the AC Ace and was around in the early to mid 50s with AC 2 litre engine then later 2.5 Ford Zephyr 6, Carol Shelby fitted a small Ford V8 engine to them, that was his only contribution.
…and he and his team raced them with great success. Later, he added big block Ford power in the form of 427 engines. This combo was also a huge success in racing. I believe there were also some chassis modifications as well.
The tall greenhouse looks a bit awkward, but probably makes the car fairly roomy. It’s t unfortunate that we’ve been conditioned to look at a comfortable design as awkward. So, everyone buys crossovers to get the practical box design.
Total agreement, Dave B. The slimmed down look seems top heavy, though I appreciate the effort to re-imagine it. The Lark is fine just as it is.
I actually quite like the slimmer version. It has a more modern look to it, like something that belongs to the early 60’s, rather than a sawed-off 50’s relic.
this idea was partially realized 1965-66 since the Hamilton built Larks had stock 283 SBC as the V-8 option.Having driven both versions (Studebaker vs GM power) I agree the handling was better with the lighter engine.The power output on the stock engine slightly favored the Studebaker versions at least in the higher CID displacement.Frankly since most of the 1961 Larks had the 170 CID six(which was alright when the head wasn’t cracked) or at most the 259 V-8 I doubt the average Lark buyer was concerned with top end performance.The addition of disc brakes and modern tires (which I also had) was a great improvement
I think you should have waited for the ’63 with available 289 from the Hawk, or Super-Larked with the Avanti R1 or R2 engines. The ’63 also has the higher greenhouse you seem to want, but alas, loses the cute fender slabs of the ’59-60.
Edmunds aftermarket performance parts (intakes, exhaust and carburetor set-ups) were (and still are) available to Studebaker six or V-8 engines going back to the late Forties. There was a devoted following of people who felt it necessary to hop-up their flat-head sixes.
Don’t know why Steve can’t imagine a fast Lark. One of my best memories of my twenties was racing my ’60 Lark VIII (4-bbl, OD) on the newly opened Route 78 going west from the Newark, NJ Airport against a mid-sixties Impala I stumbled upon (remember when NJ enforced it’s 55 mph speed limit strictly?). I got up to a heady 80 MPH, watching the impala fall back — only to be followed, paced and overtaken by five state patrol cars, lights ablaze, who were luckily on their way to something more important than a speeding Lark in grey primer with a haze of light-blue smoke and slower-moving Impala behind.