Considering Studebaker’s fortunes by 1960, I can’t tell if this advertising campaign was innovative or desperate. Probably a bit of both. In any case, through the ’50s there were quite a few concepts and efforts from the Big 3 aimed at women, each pondering; what do women want?
GM had built the Pontiac Parisienne and Impala Martinique (above) concepts, each stuffed with every cliché in the book as to what a woman might want. Always the eternal teaser, GM didn’t follow up on those ideas. Meanwhile, the boys at Dodge thought they had found quite the niche to fill, and their women-oriented La Femme appeared in 1955-56. It sold in dismal numbers, with less than 300 finding a home during its two-year run.
Studebaker seems to have looked at the whole matter differently, and their efforts were aimed at marketing niches to position their products. The same good Lark everyone knew, but aimed at specific demographics that might appreciate its attributes. Thus, the sensibly sized, and practical Lark found itself parading along the products of Vicky Vaughn; a rather popular women’s clothing line from the period.
Not that Studebaker’s actions were that revolutionary. Every carmaker was veering progressively into that kind of demographic advertising. As the ’60s advanced, such practices would become rather normal, if not common.
Studebaker was definitely trying some new tricks with their 1960 ads. Besides the Vicky Vaughn campaign, Lark ads also appeared in Ebony, with human models the magazine’s usual readers could relate to.
As for Vicky Vaughn, the internet says it was the Junior division of R&M Kaufmann. The company had been making moderately priced high-quality dresses and sleepwear since the 1920s and was acquired by Russ Togs in 1969, with the Vicky Vaughn brand being phased out.
Did women love that Lark look? I don’t have gender-specific numbers, but ’59 and ’60 brought the last significant uptick in Studebaker’s sales. From the looks of things, seems like they did.
Further reading:
Curbside Classic: 1959 Studebaker Lark VIII Regal Hardtop – Studebaker’s Last Hurrah
Car Show Classic: 1963 Studebaker Regal – A Left Brain Car For A Right Brain World
Somewhat reminds me of Betty Draper from Mad Men.
However, Betty would be driving a Mercury Colony Park with Sally and Eugene in the back seat.
Actually, one of them would probably be in the front seat. Kids to the back seat was far from mandatory back then, and, to a kid, getting to sit up front would be a big power boost.
I certainly never sat in the back seat with my seven year younger sister when mom took us on her daily errands.
What these “women” cars have is what is found in cars today. We see this level of refinement in many trucks and SUVs – and I don’t believe anyone is calling those vehicles “women’s trucks”. The idea that a car should be refined so that it has surprising touches of elegance is what drives expensive cuts of wood on interior trims, brushed chrome, soft touch interiors, exclusive “Black Line”, “Titanium”, and other levels of luxury touches that were on these “women’s cars”.
Designer tie-in? AMC did that with Pierre Cardin during the 1960s and Lincoln goes nuts over their designer appointed rides during the 1970-1980s. “d’Elegance” was found in Cadillacs.
While we can look back and find these advertisements odd, what they are doing is what we currently do everyday. Think about it – how many of the options and touches in your current vehicle would have been considered feminine back in 1957?
Here’s that “girly” Bill Blass Lincoln:
In 1963 Studebaker got Zsa Zsa Gabor to do a series of commercials for the Lark.
(saved on youtube)
Also Studebaker was the main sponsor for the Mr. Ed TV Show which was one of the top rated TV shows in the early 1960s.
Look for the one her and her mom did in the “1970’s” for the “LeGrand Bug” .. The “super luxurious, rendition of the “Beetle”.
Studebaker (and Rambler) had this brief moment in the sun starting with the recession of 1958 and ending around 1963, when compacts from the Big 3 caught up. They had interesting and compelling compact cars, V-8s and convertibles, while Ford was making the dull-as-toast Falcon (six only for a few years), Chevrolet was way out there with the Corvair, and many folks found the Valiant to be just plain weird looking.
I think women are sensible creatures, and they saw no need for the huge “standard-size” cars from the Big 3, so this sort of marketing made a lot of sense.
This Hudson ad for a Jet utility coupe (removable rear seat, foldable partition) is far more realistic. Mom is carrying the gas can.
In the first pic, I’m loving that gal in the green dress! These ads show beautiful women who dressed nicely and were real ladies!
At lest the “58” Chevrolet probably had an “outside mirror. Appears to be missing on the “Stude’s”.
I like the yellow one..(imho)
That is odd. I don’t see an outside rear view mirror on any of the Studebakers. Is there something I don’t know?
Outside rear view mirrors were an option back then. Our next-door neighbor had a 1964 Plymouth Belvedere with no outside mirrors.
Wow, I have never seen either the designer dress/fabric tie-in ads or the versions of the Lark Convertible shot for Ebony magazine.
What’s particularly interesting to me is that – as you noted – Vicky Vaughn was R&M Kaufmann’s Junior division. The only place I could find where these ads ran was Seventeen magazine – aimed at teen girls. (Though with the possible exception of the girl in the white dress, the models appear to be adults.)
So I’m curious just who the target audience was? Were the ads a joint venture by some of the clothing companies and Studebaker? (American Viscose was the manufacturer of Rayon and R&M Kaufmann was the dress maker.) Or did the clothing companies take the lead, and Studebaker just went along for some nontraditional product placement? And was the idea that teen girls would influence their parents in wanting to buy a Studebaker? Or possibly were the ads really geared towards moms anyway?
Regardless, this is some interesting material – thanks for posting these!
Did women want a refrigerator white wagon with blackwalls and poverty caps?
Anyone would want the airplane though. It’s a big Beech 50 Twin Bonanza – a serious business tool that was the progenitor of the Queen Air, King Air, Beech 99 and Beech 1900 aircraft.
I was going to guess Beechcraft Baron 58, but according to Wikipedia, that plane didn’t have its first flight until February 29, 1960, and the plane doesn’t look brand new out of the box like the 1960 Lark.
At least I was in the ballpark with that guess.
Thanks for identifying it there, L-1049 😉
Rick: Glad there is another airplane person out there. The Baron (like the prior Travel Air) shares with Bonanza the fuselage and landing gear structure. The Twin Bonanza is altogether bigger – wider fuselage, longer and different gear. There were about 8 or 10 “T-Bones” at the EAA this summer and I inspected them all. It is a beast of an airplane.
There are several of us here at CC that are into airplanes, with even a section on the right side of the screen dedicated to them, although glancing at it again, I see that it’s lumped in with the ships and trains… still cool though.
In Microsoft’s Flight Simulator, I used to love to fly the Baron, but could never quite figure out the King Air. But boy was that program helpful in learning the Cessna 172 when I finally got to take a lesson in one, although the one in which I went up was an older model with the instruments rearranged a bit.
Edit: Oh wow, I see you have an article there! I went to that section and clicked the first article that caught my eye, and it is one of yours…
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/rampside-classic/rampside-classic-boeing-737-once-as-common-as-a-taurus/
Great title, BTW.
Happy Thanksgiving!