Just one photo on this occasion, and not a very good one. Still, I find it worth sharing since it captures the final days of the Studebaker brand. Of the lot, the Hail Mary Avanti is the one that first captures the eye, even if stuck in a somewhat dark corner. Then, the rest of the unfamiliar models come into view, carrying the brand’s last restyle. And don’t feel bad if you’re not familiar with Studebaker’s 1966 products, for there’s a reason. As a whole, the company only moved 8,497 units that final year.
I’m familiar with the feeling of impending doom in the business world. One tries to go about daily tasks as usual, but the unavoidable sense is there; fewer customers, fewer calls, and a sense of everything slowing down… Now, while the brand was certainly doomed, a good number of these dealers moved on to other products. Sometimes early on. However, no information came with this online photo, so it’s hard to say if it sank with the mothership, or thrived under a different banner.
Related CC reading:
Auction Classic: 1966 Studebaker Cruiser – End Of The Road
Automotive History: The Studebaker Sedan’s Last Decade Of Styling – Magic With Leftovers!
Curbside Classic: 1963 Studebaker Avanti – Flawed Brilliance
Car Show Classic: 1964 Studebaker Cruiser – Brooks Steven’s Last Pass For South Bend
I can clearly hear the non-stop “Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!”, and see the straight line of the heart monitor failing to detect any life left in the patient. The only guy to come into the showroom was the mailman delivering the final notices. Then there is the Studebaker owner, stopping by to ask the manager when the dealership plans to close their doors so that they can buy one of the last cars at a sever mark-down. People who drove Studebakers usually paid in coins they collected in Hills Brothers coffee cans. They wore old sweaters and kept their house temperatures set at 65 degrees. They read “Penny Saver” because they were free and had coupons in them. There was no way that a Studebaker owner would ever consider a frivolously overpriced Rambler.
All those last Larks came with Chevelle small block V8s and were Canadian built iirc.
They were also available with the Chevy six. Studebakers finally had modern, lightweight, competitive engines! 🙂
In my years of following this site these facts are often mentioned, with a tinge of sadness. But in what ways did Chevy motor and Canadian assembly make the final Studes inferior products? It is certainly easier to keep an SBC running 60 years later, and is Canadian persnicketiness confined to Tilley hats?
Nothing wrong with Canadian assembly or choice of engines per-se, but the Chevy engines make this era of Studebaker seem zombie-like to their faithful fans.
That showroom Lark almost looks like it has rectangular headlights. Kind of cool, actually.
They ran on Chevy 283 V8s. 2barrell variety.
Since the Studebaker Avanti was discontinued after the 1964 model year, the example in the picture above would have either been a used model, a leftover unsold 1964 model, or possibly even an early Altman and Newman Avanti II.
I would still take one regardless!
I was wondering the exact same thing. Were early Avanti II’s sold through Studebaker dealers? Is there any way to tell a Studebaker-built Avanti from the post-Studebaker version in this photo? I recall reading the front fender area was raised a bit on the Avanti II to clear the Chevy V8, but it’s difficult to tell the difference with just this part of the car visible. The reflections make the Avanti in the showroom look almost like an AMC Pacer.
Also, was there any difference between the McKinnon engines used in ’65-’66 Studebakers and American Chevrolet engines beyond where it was built?
I was thinking the same thing-if this is a 1966 photograph of a Studebaker dealership, the Larks would be Canadian built, the Avanti would almost certainly be an Altman and Newman built Avanti. I believe Studebaker closed the South Bend assembly plant on Dec 22, 1963, I can’t picture one built there still hanging around in 1966 unsold. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how many Studebaker dealers existed in 1966?
This 1966 ad claims that there are 1800 North American dealers, which I find very hard to believe.
Many Studebaker dealers seemed to be small places attached to gas stations, or were sold by dealerships that also handled a more popular manufacturer in a manner similar to how many imported brands were sold at the time.
As “N/A” takes in “Canada” and “Alaska”, I guess one could somehow “squeak out” 1800. Still.. H’mm.
The picture has a ’60s spy movie flavor. Furtively captured with a miniature necktie camera, showing the wanted defector lurking in the background. Gotcha!
Depressing picture with no buyers on the showroom floor!
Sad days .
-Nate
Studebaker actually distributed Mercedes-Benz products in the early 1960s, IIRC.
Some of their dealers would undoubtedly have signed on the dotted line to take on the franchise, which could have seen them making hay for a while.
The Wiki entry on the Avanti says the Avanti II was introduced in 65. so it’s possible this dealer signed on to sell them.
Probably some time in 64, I rode along with dad when he went to the dealer, Husak in Detroit, to pick up something for his 60 Lark. Husak had been the last Studebaker dealer in the area by 60, but, on that trip, I noticed all the signage on the building said Dodge.
Can’t help but wonder who this stalwart was, who clung to Studebaker, apparently not dualed with anything else, until the bitter end.
It was mentioned that some Studebaker dealers had a Mercedes franchise (Freeman-Spicer in South Bend was like that). For those dealerships, having a Newman-Altman Avanti II on the showroom floor, along with the last remaining, Canadian-built Studebakers, does make some sense. After all, the Avanti was always more of an early halo vehicle to draw potential customers into showrooms.
It’s even conceivable that the N-A cars were provided on consignment with some arrangement that they’d go back to South Bend if the specific dealership closed its doors when the final Studebaker was driven off.
Hell, maybe that photo ‘is’ from the South Bend dealership.
Hell, maybe that photo ‘is’ from the South Bend dealership.
I thought I cracked the mystery, for a moment. The car in the showroom pic has a Studebaker “S” badge on the C pillar. But this piece from R&T about the announcement of the Avanti II has two pix, one of the front, with the Roman numeral II in a round badge, and a side view, that shows the “S” badge on the C pillar. Of course, N-A might have used a production 64, with the “II” badge pasted on, and hoped no-one would notice the “S” badge.
The article also says the cars would be built to order, so unlikely any would be built for dealer inventory.
Found an ad for a 67 Avanti II, with a closeup of that C pillar badge. Badge is there, but no “S” in it. If I zoom way in on the pic in the R&T article, that is what the badge in that pic looks like too: the black filler, instead of an “S”.
The Avanti II’s i’ve seen don’t have a badge there at all, like the one in this brochure shot (no year in catalog).
They expected to sell 1,000 of these each year? Wishful thinking; it was more like 200, if that. One reason may have been, evidently, these things were expensive. A ’65 Avanti II cost almost twice what the Studebaker version made a year earlier did.
pic:
I know that long time St. Louis Studebaker dealer Ben Lindenbusch sold Studes until the bitter end. Then went on to AMC cars.
Cordes Motors across the river in Alton Illinois was a dealer that sold both Studebaker and Mercedes cars for a while. When Studebaker went under they continued to sell Mercedes and took on Volkswagen. Did well well with both for a number of years.
Almost “8500” sold in that final year? I know, as a kid, we had a # of “Stude’s” riding around western PA.
The vast majority were “late 50’s/early 60’s”, vintage.
Don’t recall many that would a been that “new”.
Saw an inordinate number of ’66s around in eastern pa. As a kid, maybe people hung on to them even throughout the 70s? Yeah, l wondered if that is an Avanti ll as from October. ’65 to March ’66 both were in production. In a “second take”, l had the privilege (?) Of hanging out at a NH AMC dealership throughout the summer of 1985 as mom bought a ’78 used Pacer & then got it serviced. Totally dead, except for the girl who had as million things wrong with her 3- year old Renault Fuego. I remember the sales staff being surprised there was going to be an ’86 AMC eagle.
My father built them for 20 years and later sold them in his 30 years at Freeman-Spicer in South Bend.
To paraphrase Charlie Brown: “It’s not a bad little car. All it needs is a little love.” 🙂
It is really hard to tell from this angle, but is the front end up a little higher than the original, signifying an early Avanti II? Or else, these were always desirable cars to the Stude faithful, so maybe it came in on a trade? Or was an unsold, leftover 64? (That dark maroon paint did not come along until the very end of South Bend production – if that is indeed what it is.)
During August 1966, my family motored from western New York to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to attend the Canadian National Exhibition. Our route went through East Aurora, New York where on east Main Street was Kelver Motors Studebaker dealership. It was a typical 1930-’40’s one-car-showroom building with shop entry offset to the rear. A new Studebaker sedan was in the showroom, one or two others parked in front, sale signs in the windows. I’d heard the end of production announcement in March, so it was seeing the end of an era, a bit sad. Kelver continued for another decade as a Studebaker service and parts operation as well as used cars.
’66 Stude production was 8,947, not 8,497.
I’ve owned two ’66’s–a Daytona Sports Sedan, and a 25,700-mile Cruiser which I just sold about six months ago to help afford my new Corvette. These last Studes were practical sized, the Cruiser and Daytona had luxurious interiors for cars that size, and they drove nicely. Styling is subjective of course, but I think the full-radius rear wheel openings and 15 inch wheels made them seem not as dumpy as other U.S. compacts of the time.
I do prefer the ’64 and ’65 detail styling to the ’66, though. In my opinion, the entire ’64 Studebaker lineup was appealing. I’d choose a South Bend-built car given another from Hamilton in similar condition.