(first published 4/20/2012) Here we have another question of where to go between extremes. Normally it’s the retreat from extremes of excess when we think of cars from the 1950s. But when it came to where to move the ungainly Studebaker standard sedans of 1953, this was the boxy result.
There were few cars as stunningly beautiful right from the showroom floor as the 1953 Studebaker Starliner. All American manufacturers teased the public with dreamy, low-slung coupes and convertibles, but Studebaker was the only one to put a practical one into production.
However, something got lost in the translation of the dream into the reality of the bread-and-butter sedans. There seems to be more than just four inches of the wheelbase missing with the four-doors. The hood and the trunk being shortened to make way for the more upright passenger compartment makes the overall look puffy. The whole effect wouldn’t have been so bad if…well, if they didn’t have to share the showroom with show cars.
More radical two-toning for 1955 helped a bit. It gave the opportunity for the rear deck to look lower and not as ungainly in a contrasting color as it did in previous years (which meant lower-trimmed Champions still looked ungainly). But the heavy chrome bumper grille assembly that was all the rage elsewhere gave 1955 Studes of all stripes a very banana nose visage. It was like getting a reverse nose job.
Had Studebaker not been bleeding red ink as it merged with Packard in 1954, this is most likely what would have graced the showrooms in 1956 or 1957–a very 7/8 1955 Buick Century Hardtop coupe, with more refined details. But just like the dreamed-of 1957 Packards, these would never see the light of day.
Instead, the 1953 central bodyshell got squarer fenders both front and rear and, like the Hawk, adopted a larger grille (although the Hawk would go full-on-radiator style). And since wild two-toning was still the order of the day, the upper level President gave the public –a bird wing? A lightning bolt?–for customers to contrast color.
All in all, the results were handsome, not nearly as European and feminine as before, but compared with some quickly escalating questionable style choices (I’m looking at you, Pontiac, Mercury, Nash and Hudson) it was a pretty graceful face-lift of a chassis then in its 4th season.
But there were a bunch of limitations on Studebaker’s capabilities in 1956 besides the ability to completely redesign the bodyshell. Even years after the quality issues that dogged the 1953 cars, Studebaker could not shake the reputation of being only marginal in build quality. The tendency for just about all Studebakers to rust behind that fender vent didn’t help matters either.
And beyond that were a few marketing problems. The biggest disadvantage might have come at the lack of Hardtop models. Although the Hawks valiantly tried to remain style leaders, the four varieties on offer that year only came to about 20,000 units.
The varieties of Hawk, from the economical Champion 6-powered Sky Hawk to the Baby Packard Golden Hawk, were basically what the Squarebird would become to the Ford line-up–but from a manufacturer that could barely afford to keep the doors open, let alone rely on a specialty niche coupe that didn’t fully tap an emerging market to bring home the bacon.
In contrast, the standard line cars were roomier, but starting to be rather narrow by late 1950s standards, and priced a bit above the low-priced three. And you didn’t get much more than what you’d expect from your typical Bel-Air, Fairlane or Belvedere, although the President was well trimmed and had decidedly decent performance with the newly upsized Studebaker 289 V8 with up to 225 horsepower. With curb weights barely tipping the scales at 3,300 lbs, only the clumsy Borg Warner “Flight-O-Matic” got in the way of them being at the head of their performance class.
And it got worse, as more chrome was globbed onto the bodies and a badge- engineered Packard Clipper appeared in 1957. And then the “amateur Desoto Fireflite” look debuted for 1958.
The 1959 Lark actually proved to be a reprieve from all the convoluted desperation that the former “almost” full-sized Studebakers had suffered with since the fall of 1952. All the more remarkable is that the Lark is nothing more than a shortened 1953 Champion, really.
So what was the point of this long dark age at Studebaker? Only in complete despair did they see their salvation in the Lark. But we can use 20/20 hindsight ’til the cows come home about the independent manufacturer that perpetually couldn’t see the forest for the trees, and look at their products and thank God that we never were in the shoes of Studebaker executives in the 1950s.
If not hell, it sure was purgatory.
This may be my favorite Stude sedan from the 1950s. And how rare is this thing? I just looked it up – a bit over 18,000 Presidents were -uh- crafted.
The stylists (I believe it was Duncan MacRae) did a great job for little money. A significant amount had been spend on the wraparound windshield for midyear 1955, and the lower body was all new. But that greenhouse just screamed 1953. I have always wondered what would have happened if Stude could have done a new C pillar treatment. Unfortunately, this part of the car would remain into the 60s.
The car really had two other big problems. First, it really needed another 10 or 12 inches of width. The 53 Stude (and the 47 and the 39 Champion) had been a small car first, with the upper models made larger by stretching the wheelbase. But these were always unusually narrow cars, which never looked right as a “big car.” I always found it interesting that the wheelbase was so long (there is not even a dogleg in the rear door) for such a short car.
The other problem was inside. The dash was so very plain. This picture is of a Commander, but the President is really no better. Even a Chevy or Plymouth had a more expensive looking dash than this car. And the lack of suspended pedals by 1956 was another giveaway about the age of this thing. But for all of that, I just love these. What a fabulous find!
Thomas Bonsall’s history of Studebaker says that Duncan McRae was hired away from Ford as part of the effort to get rid of the Loewy team. McRae, in turn, handed off the 1956 redesign to consultant Vince Gardner. He charged a tiny fraction of what Loewy did.
The Studebakers tended to be around 70 inches wide — roughly the same as the 1956-62 senior Ramblers and reflecting what would long be a common width for American compacts. In contrast, large American cars had bloated out from around 76 inches in the mid-50s to 80 inches in the early-60s.
The lack of a dogleg in the Studebaker’s rear door was partly because of the swept-back c-pillar but also reflected the stretched-out look of late-40s “pontoon-style” American cars such as the Hudson, Kaiser and Nash. That’s why the Lark was almost as roomy as the 1958 Studebaker despite losing a whopping eight inches of wheelbase.
Indeed, the basic Studebaker body was so light and narrow that it was the only early-50s independent that could have offered a compact and a “family car” on the same platform. Hudson and Nash found out the hard way that they didn’t have sufficient economies of scale to maintain separate compact and full-sized platforms.
I agree about the dash: inoffensive, but rather bland.
That was an area where the Hawks did better — they had engine-turned dashboard trim and full instrumentation, including a tachometer.
Independent/free-lance designer Vince Gardner did the ’56’s. Legend has it he got “stiffed” on his fee (which for ’50’s standards, was ridiculously low). Duncan McRae took what change was left in the corporate top drawer and facelifted the ’57’s and ’58’s. The President Classic with it’s 120″ actually looked somewhat “big” . . . . but still small in comaprison with Ford/Chevy/Plymouth.
I agree with the dashboard. Rather low rent plain, although seat upholstery was fairly luxurious for a “low priced” car (President series anyway). Remember that Cadillac did not have suspended pedals until ’56, so the ’56 Studes would’ve carried this through (obviously) as James Nance & Co. still had plans to introduce a whole new lineup of Studebakers and Packards for what was to be an across the board line of new cars. The ’56 radical facelift was initially to have been a ‘stop-gap’ for the all-new ’57s. Unfortunately, S-P’s backers (the banks and Prudential Insurance Co.) refused to lend it anymore money, so the ambitious body program was D.O.A., taking Packard Detriot operations with it and the company falling into the hands of Curtis-Wright . . .
Do have to hand it to Dick Teague and Duncan McRae who passed the styling baton of the “stopgap” ’57 Clipper to finish. Not a bad looking car as a President that robbed the ’55-’56 Packard parts bin.
To put shopping for a Studebaker in ’56-’58 into perspective, it would be like being convinced to buy a Suzuki Kizashi today.
Even as a grade-schooler back in the ’50’s I could go to the local auto show, look at the GM cars, then sneak over to look at the Fords, go over to the Chrysler displays, and finally end up at AMC and Studebaker-Packard – and I’d look at the late 50’s Studebakers and realize that something wasn’t right with that company. At my young age I certainly didn’t understand business, but I could tell that the cars just weren’t as good as the competition. And after seeing the same cars for three years in a row, I really got the idea that something was seriously wrong.
If I could figure this out as a 7-10 year old (admittedly with more inherent knowledge than most kids regarding the car business), I can only imagine how they looked to the adults who would actually be buying these cars.
I Had the same feelings in the 60’s-70’s regarding AMC/Rambler’s offerings.
We bought two new AMC Ambassadors in the 60s. One a 1966 and the second a 1968 because we loved the ’66. The 1968 was a top of the line SST 2-door hardtop green with black vinyl top and wire wheel covers. It was a beauty with air conditioning standard and an AM/FM radio. I loved that car. The only problem I had was being asked by a neighbor how I liked my Ford. Would love to have a restored one like that. Almost ordered the new Javelin but interior space was too limited. Much better looking than a Mustang.
I agree…1967-68 AMC styling was great, in my opinion – the best AMC ever offered.
Until 1955 Studebaker was my pick of the litter. The shoebox chevs and the 55-57 Fords were probably better. I can say that I would have bought the Studes anyway but in real life I bought a 55 Ford in 1960 so guess that’s just nostalgia. Makes you wonder what would have happened if they had received the treatment that Iococca got with Mopar, let alone what Obama did with GM. I wish Stude and Hudson had stayed in the mix. Don’t know that I care about the rest of them.
My real life memory of driving some of those old cars is that we look at them through rose colored glasses. As much as I hate to admit it the cars we have today are just better any any measurable way. Those two brands were always good compared to the competition so one must wonder what they would have become.
That back door window frame looked a bit melted and hurts the styling of the entire vehicle. Nope, no Studebaker for me.
Clearly, by that time, Studebaker couldn’t hold the big 3’s water.
I got curious about something and looked it up. Apparently, although the Packard 352 V8 was used in the 56 Golden Hawk, it was not put into any other Studes. According to Wiki, the Golden Hawk with the Packard 352 was faster in the 1/4 mile than either a Corvette or a Chrysler 300B, and the 300B was the only car made that could beat the Hawk’s top speed. The Chrysler was more powerful, but the Hawk was a lightweight.
Apparently, the Stude 289 was the biggest engine available in the President. I wonder if they would have sold more of these if they had used the 352? It would have been a real hotrod, that’s for sure. Imagine: NASCAR Studebakers! But it would have only been for 1956, because when they shut down Packard’s Detroit operations, the Packard V8 went away as well, and Supercharged 289s were all that was left for the 57s.
A nice thought, but highly doubtful it would have had any positive effect. By 1956, Studebaker was definitely starting in the final tailspin. In retrospect, the one thing they could have done that would have had a positive effect on the books would have been to shorten the Champion down into the Lark for the 1956 or ’57 model year rather than waiting until 1959. And that would have been a (not easily seen at the time) risk, as Rambler was just hanging on with their compact cars. Rambler didn’t get it’s vindication until the 1958 model year. And we tend to give Volkswagen sales in the 1950’s way too much credit – to most auto manufacturers, that level of sales didn’t matter and inexpensive foreign cars were only for the weird-by-intent crowd.
And there was already some enthusiast complaints that the 352 made the Golden Hawk too nose heavy (especially for the brakes) so the same would have applied to the President Classic sedan (the President on the 120.5 inch wheelbase span of the Hawks).
Ironic though, from the same Wikipedia article it claims the supercharged 289 was even heavier than the Packard 352, which made me remember somewhere that the Studebaker V8 was just as heavy as the Cadillac 331 V8 when it was introduced. I don’t think the people (Studebaker loyalists) that bought the President necessarily missed the extra 50 horsepower or 3 seconds off of the 0-60 time.
The Packard V8 also didn’t have a great reputation when it first appeared the previous year. A lot of the teething problems were addressed fairly quickly, but I don’t know that it would have been considered a big plus. Likewise the Twin Ultramatic, whose torque capacity was probably not up to the job.
The Studebaker V8 had problems when it first appeared in 1951, but Studebaker had fixed most of them by ’56-’57. It didn’t have the breathing or growth potential of the better GM V8s and it was quite heavy, but it was a fairly sturdy lump.
A story that I read said that Studebaker had anticipated higher octane rating in future fuel, so that higher compression could increase power levels. That’s supposed to be the reason they didn’t allow much space for larger dispacement engines. I don’t remember if they were ever able to get more than 289 ci out of that block.
The engineers experimented with a larger displacement, around 305 cid or so during the end of the Avanti era. From what I can recall, that cylinder bore was so close to the theoretical maximum that they kept scrapping blocks because of slightly imperfect castings. I think that this engine was the basis of the R3 and R4 cars of 1964. These are really scarce. A quick check of a Stude forum indicates a concensus that there may have been 9 R3 cars made and No factory R4s, although a handful of R4 test engines/parts were in existence and have found their ways into some cars. I believe that the R3 was a Supercharged 305 with a 4 bbl carb, and the R4 was a Supercharged 305 with 2 4 bbls, but I am open to correction on this. There was a specially designed head for use with the R3 and R4.
Part of the deal for Curtis-Wright to acquire S-P and keep it (somewhat in business as an automaker) was to dump/fire sale all of the Detroit assets including the fairly brand new state-of-the-art for its time Utica V-8 engine plant.
Considering Studebakers market niche, offering the Packard 352 in ’56 or ’57 would’ve not happened even then as the (already to costly to build and market vis-a-vis Ford/Chevy/Plymouth) would’ve made an already higher priced car more expensive. Also, Studebaker would’ve been to cheap to upgrade the brakes and suspension in a President to accomodate the weight and torque of the 352. Economically and from a marketing standpoint, it wasn’t feasible.
In the late 1970s, the daily driver for my school’s driver-ed teacher was a plain-jane, gold, 1957 two-door sedan. What I remember most vividly about the car was the speedometer. The “Cyclops Eye” speedometer may have been easier to read, but it also made the dashboard look very plain. When Oldsmobile tried a similar approach with the first Toronado, GM made sure that there was plenty of decoration and detail to compensate for the smaller speedometer.
To me, these cars always had a clunky appearance, which was accentuated by the center strip between the two doors. Combined with the heavy upper door frames and two-tone paint strip, it just gave the car a “cobbled together” look. “Craftsmanship with a flair” couldn’t hide the fact that Studebaker had to cut a lot of corners with its cars.
These cars were a terrible mistake, and so sad. After the beating they took from GM and Ford in ’53, how could Studebaker think they could compete with mainstream bread-and-butter sedans from the Big Three?
By ’59 with Lark and Hawk they had the right mix. The two emerging markets, compact and personal luxury cars, ahead of time. If not for Studebaker’s ugly fifties sedans, they could have been a contender.
We had a ’55 Champion two-door. What an ugly mask on the pretty ’53. Why didn’t my folks get a nice ’54? Did they really think that looked good? I’ve never had the heart to ask.
James Nance, the head of Studebaker-Packard at this time, went head-to-head against the Big Three because he probably felt that he had no other choice. AMC was ready to bet the farm on the compact car, but AMC lost a lot of money in 1955-56, and its position was only a little less precarious than that of Studebaker-Packard. AMC’s strategy didn’t necessarily look like the winning one in 1954-55.
It’s also important to remember that, in 1955-56, the old “low-price three” hadn’t super-sized yet, so large numbers of customers weren’t complaining about excessive bulk and low gas mileage. Even today, many people point to the 1955-57 Chevrolets as the “perfect” car when it comes to exterior and interior dimensions.
GM, Ford and Chrysler unintentionally helped AMC by blowing up Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth, respectively, during 1957-58, and pushing far too many of them out the door with lousy workmanship.
Nance, however, had no way of knowing how this would play out in 1954-55, when these cars were planned. AMC’s success after 1957 was attributable as much to luck (a severe recession in mid-1957) and the Big Three’s mistakes as it was to George Romney’s foresight.
Studebaker could have survived by downsizing in ’54, and could have earned higher profits than they turned out to get. Probably impossible in the expanding economy of the American 1950s. Breaking commitments to workers, shareholders, suppliers would have been very hard.
Just checked, dictionary.com says “downsize” wasn’t even a word before the 1970s.
Well, until after the S-P merger, even Studebaker was apparently not clear on exactly what their financial position was. They had apparently thought that while things were down somewhat, because of the Korean War and the price war, the situation wasn’t that bad and could be rectified with a couple of good years. When Nance sent his finance VP to look over their operations following the merger, they estimated that Studebaker’s break-even level was more than 70% higher than Studebaker had reported on its proxy statement, which meant that it had probably actually been operating at a loss even in its better years.
The ’56 cars were a holding action — Nance was trying to come up with the money to do all-new bodies for ’57. (Part of that would have involved some GM-style sharing of body shells between Packard and Studebaker, allowing the company to get some of the cost savings that were supposed to be the point of the merger.) That effort failed completely, so they had to make do with the existing shells.
As Geeber notes, in 1954-1955, compacts were not looking like a good bet. Even Rambler sales were nothing great, and the Willys Aero, Henry J, and Hudson Jet were all in their death throes. The Jet was widely perceived as having killed Hudson as an independent company, so telling the S-P board that was the direction they should go probably wouldn’t have gone over well.
I’m skeptical about that break-even point number. It sounds too high and there was ample motivation to spice it up.
One area where I’m not clear is whether Nance intended for the proposed 1957 platform to be built at both the Packard and Studebaker plants. If so, not as much money savings as the situation might have demanded . . . and wasn’t a common meme that the Studebaker plant wouldn’t fit the production of a big car?
A shortened version of the Studebaker would have been a low-cost, low-risk opportunity. Rambler sales may not have been huge during 1954-55 but they saved AMC.
The primary reason the Aero and Jet died was because they couldn’t be profitably sold at a low enough price. Studebaker’s better economies of scale and stronger dealer network could have helped in this department.
Interestingly (and Nance didn’t object), the Packard Board took the Studebaker board’s word that the “books were OK” – a gentleman’s agreement. In hindsight, Packard should’ve insisted on a complete audit of Studebaker. It chose not to do so. That, I believe, was the biggest set of nails in the Packard coffin.
A guy I golf with occasionally has a 54 (Commander) and a 56 President. The 56 is a 4 door sedan, two tone green with dual dummy antennas in the back. A nice car, he paid $ 10,000 two years ago. My personal opinion of his two Studes is that they seem very light. The doors of the 54 (a 2 dr) seem so light as to be hard to close, and the 56 isn’t much better. The seat material on the 56 is original, very nice, but cheap. It’s a sure thing it had plastic covers on it since 56.
There is no way these cars can compare to the cheapest new cars available. A one hour trip must have been painful, not only in Studes, but most other cars of the fifties era. While I was growing up, I never rode in a 50’s Cadillac or any luxury model. They probably were comfortable. But back then, people wanted transportation and flash. Comfort came in last.
Studebaker was the USA seller of Mercedes, who had some similar speedometer, although I think it was more on the line of a thermometer.
CC has already covered the bare-bones model-
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/1957-1958-studebaker-scotsman-discount-life-preserver/
Studebaker even dug out the old dies for the 1949 truck to keep prices down-
http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/news/hobby-news/saving_a_buck_with_a_1958_studebaker_scotsman_truck
They didn’t actually become the Mercedes distributor until early 1957 — they had initially discussions probably around the start of the ’57 model year, but until March 1957, Max Hoffman was still the exclusive U.S. distributor.
You are correct about S-P being the Mercedes distributor after Max Hoffman. S-P threw a lot of $$$ at Hoffman to get the rights to market Benz in America. To S-P’s advantage, they had a broader dealer network, and vestiges of the old Packard business and clientele still remained. In fact, S-P did market it as the prestige car it once had – it filled in a “hole” so to speak.
S-P lost a lot of $$$ on Mercedes in the U.S. in ’57 and ’58 as with increased volume, the means to ‘mass ship’ such expensive vehicles resulted in many of them being damaged in transit; damages that S-P had to rectify at their cost to makes these cars saleable. Dozens of Benzes were coming over instead of the five or six Hoffman would order at a time to fill his New York and Los Angeles showrooms.
Laurence, where did you find that photo of the ’56-7 proposal? Great looking car, now I need to see the front!
Sterling article and unique photos as always. The way you treat the pictures puts them into the haze of memory of their own time.
I remembered the clays from a Hemmings scan of Special Interest Autos (or whatever that magazine is called) and cropped the rear 3 quarter shot because it’s the larger/undivided of the two.
Thank you Laurence! The grille on that upper version is pretty scary, but the one at the bottom is classy.
The whole SIA article at Hemmings is here:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2007/05/20/sia-flashback-more-stude-studies/
Here’s another SIA on Studes that never were:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2007/05/06/sia-flashback-stude-graveyard-and-before-the-new-wore-off/
It doesn’t pay to get too sentimental about orphan cars. Stude had more than financial troubles. Build quality was poor.
I had a chance to sit in a ’53 Coupe once. I was thrilled at the chance. I slid in and found -unbelievably- that my thighs had to be forced under the steering wheel. I could stand to loose a few pounds, but I’m not a fat man. Stude made the damn steering wheel so close to the bottom seat cushion that a normal person had to sit bow-legged. But to sit bow-legged you had to get your right leg on the other side of the steering wheel.
One of my brothers had a ’62 Lark. At the same time, I had a ’63 Rambler. There was no comparison in the quality. The Rambler was a much better built car, with unibody, and just generally better fit an finish. When your product doesn’t stack up well against Rambler, you’re in trouble.
But since we’re playing “what if” – what if Stude had taken all the development money thrown at the Avanti and put it into improving/modernizing the Lark, what might have been?
It wasn’t for lack of trying. The SIA article Laurence got that ’57 from goes on to cover the ’62 New Lark program that got all the way to die stampings before it was cut.
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2007/05/20/sia-flashback-more-stude-studies/
Taken in historical context these cars are rather sad, but I always liked them anyway.
Back in the 60s our neighbors across the road had a mint 1956 Champ two door sedan, white with the black “lightening bolt”. Eventually we wound up with the Champion, which by then had developed rust problems. My dad cut off the roof and body behind the A-pillars, shortened the wheelbase to about 80″, and built a wooden pickup box for the rear, then used it for a farm vehicle. That thing would go absolutely anywhere,
and lasted until about ’91. Durable little thing…
Didn’t like the look of these cars at all. Even the Lark looks better proportioned to me, to say nothing of the Starliner. The ultimate Stude for me remains the GT Hawk.
I have a soft spot (in my head, some would say) for postwar Studebakers from the bullet nose all the way through to the ’66s that marked Gordon Grundy’s last stand after the retreat to Canuckistan. Once I can get the scratch together, I want to find a ’56 sedan and wagon to use as nice-weather drivers.
I have a 1956 Studebaker President Classic which i restored a few years ago. Perhaps the person who wrote this hit piece, as well as many of the writers who allegedly don’t care for these cars or think they are poorly made, might care to sit behind the wheel of my car and take it for a spin, not that any of you deserve such a pleasurable experience. It is delightful to drive, nicely proportioned, and handsomely styled. To me it is amazing what Vince Gardener did to transform the ’55 sedans into the ’56 models — a complete transformation on very little money. EVERYBODY who sees my car loves it. As for the narrowness, compare the proportions to the monstrosities produced at the same time by Detroit, all of which are fat by comparison. The car is particularly enjoyable on the highway, especially when I kick in the second pair of barrels and pass an unsuspecting Toyota or Ford. As for quality, everybody I have ever talked to who has owned one of these cars says the same thing: the best car they ever owned, many tireless miles, extremely reliable. My car has NEVER let me down. So perhaps if one plans to write comments about a certain vehicle, it might be wise to drive one first.
I have always found the 56 Studes to be fascinating cars – they did the best they could with what they had. I, for one (as CC’s resident Stude homer), would love the opportunity to see your car. We are always looking for someone with an interesting car to submit a “My Curbside Classic” piece. Drop me an email at jpccurbside@gmail.com if you are interested. I would happily help.
There’s a big difference between critiquing the history, design and success of a car at the time it was new, and how we feel about a car today. I realize that difference can easily be misinterpreted. We’re talking about it from the perspective of 1956, not today. Please don’t let your car take our comments personally; we all love it.
I’ve always liked the 1955 Studebaker cars. I love the front end styling of the 55 Studebaker.
I think a lot of you forget alot of interesting points. The studebaker was a tough sell among the big three. but lets not forget that still today car companies look back at cars from the past to review the mistakes made and some still dont learn from those mistakes. Howevermany companies mainly alfa, fiat, renault didnt have much of a sells history however with fiat combining force with one of the worlds top super cars. And now chrysler they kept the name alive. And now are back on the market world wide selling their brand name. Alfa has finally released newer better built cars across europe. And renault has done the same. English built cars like the aston martin the jaguar, the rolls royce and the bently had good starts but it took money lots of it and ford to help finance better designs hell even volvo were able to climb back out of a slump and become viable autos again. Now many of the english brands are owned by other countries jag has recently been readopted by english and aston as well and they are back going strong.. years from now who knows but the brands stayed alive. Studebaker cant rebuild but it can have a future once again by taking the old and renewing the simple mistakes and pushing history into the future. Gm made the biggest mistake killing pontiac.
I used to know someone who had a 1960 Lark. I got to ride in it a few times, and I even got to drive it. It was a fun car. It was as basic a car as they come. It didn’t have a radio, just a delete plate covering what’s normally a radio. It did have a V8 engine under the hood, and automatic transmission.
Among the grade school boys in my neighborhood who discussed cars daily during the early fifties, it was the considered opinion that people who bought Studebakers were usually obliged to buy another to replace the first because mainstream dealers were not interested in taking Studebakers in trade. I don’t know if that was really true but I did notice that neighbors that had Studebakers usually kept buying them. Maybe it was because they liked them. My father had a 1949 Studebaker on order in the Spring of 1949 but it was taking too long to comeso he ended up buying a 1949 Kaiser that was in dealer stock. The Kaiser remained our family car until 1956. I always admired the design of the fifties Studebakers except for the front end of the 55. I especially like the late fifties and early sixties Hawks.
Although it’s interesting to speculate about “what if”, the sad truth is that Studebaker was the chronically underfunded poker player at the high stakes table with some pretty good players. Even if they didn’t go “all in” with Packard, or raise the bet with Avanti, the result would have been a few more hands (or years) before the final, inevitable result. Airlines, beer companies, booksellers, food stores and auto manufacturers, in the U.S., the race almost goes to the biggest and best funded.
the sad truth is that Studebaker was the chronically underfunded poker player at the high stakes table
My sense is they never really recovered from the bankruptcy. Yes, they recapitalized in 35, made a couple bux on the Champion, but the BoD handed out the war profits in fat dividends, so the products, and the factory complex were a string of compromises and make do.
Actually, I place the date of Studebaker being doomed around 1923, when their big expansion program dropped major new facilities in a seemingly random pattern around the property, creating material handing headaches that remained for the rest of the life of the company.
Erskine then spending money to buy Pierce Arrow, spending to bring out the overpriced Erskine, then spending more to bring out the Rockne (which might have done better if it wasn’t derailed by the bankruptcy) and paying out fat dividends when the company was losing money, landed them in bankruptcy court in 33.
Then Harold Vance and Paul Hoffman, wanting to maintain friendly labor relations, refused to get pay rates and productivity back in line with industry norms after the war.
I finally found a pic showing the conveyor system that was installed in 52 to move stampings to the body plant, and finished bodies to the final assembly building…Some $600,000 for a conveyor, because of the building placement decisions made in 1923.
Always wondered: what was that little vent in the front fenders for? It’s just one of the many little details that clutters the look.
The door on the driver’s side is an air vent for the driver’s footwell. The door on the passenger side is both a footwell air vent and, by closing the inner door, the air intake for the heater.
The early Thunderbirds had the same type of doors in their fenders. Other cars had a pop up intake in front of the base of the windshield.
Here’s a pic of the driver’s side footwell of a 55. The vent can be seen just above the clutch pedal. The lever that opened it swung through a 180 degree arc and was spring loaded. Sometimes, the gas station attendant would lean against the fender, and the outer door, as he was cleaning the windshield, pushing the door in enogh for it to snap shut like a mousetrap.
Here’s a look at the passenger side, again a 55, but the 56 was the same. The turquoise colored rectangle on the kickpanel is the inner door for the vent on that side. The outer door on the passenger side was operated by a lever under the center of the dash, within reach of the driver.
This 56 Plymouth had the air intake open. It’s in front of the center of the bottom of the windwhield. Yes, a cleaner design than Studebaker had.
Full disclosure: I own a ’56 President Classic. I think it’s a handsome car in the ’50’s styling fashions; my favorite of the postwar Stude sedans. I have to smile at Studebaker’s boasts of “craftsmanship”. Studes were not very well built cars, though in their defense you can also say that Fords and late 50’s Chrysler brands were pretty sloppily assembled as well. It’s just the way it was.
The Cyclops speedometer was a bad idea. (As it was in the ’58 Edsel.) It’s harder to read than a conventional dial or sweep style speedometer. Plus, the temp and gas gauges are also unconventional in design (sliding horizontal bars) and hard to quickly read. Other unappealing quirks: the fender vents are rust-prone. The heater is under the floor below the passenger side and that invites trouble, too. The master cylinder is under the floor on the driver side. (As noted, Studebaker then didn’t have suspended pedals.) Checking brake fluid level is a pain; hence, apt to be neglected. That wasn’t fixed until the early 60’s.
I love the looks of the “Loewy coupe” (and I have a ’59 Hawk), but I can’t help but think it was a terrible mistake for the company in the long run. Like the ’48 Hudson step-down unibody, it didn’t lend itself to restyling. Huge extra expenses for additional body dies and tooling were required for the sedans. The coupe’s style was hard to translate into metal–for a time so many front fenders were torn in the stamping process the factory set up a welding line to repair the damage!
Full disclosure: I own a ’56 President Classic. I think it’s a handsome car in the ’50’s styling fashions;
I grew up with a 56 Commander that my parents had. While I prefer the 56 rear end, I prefer the 57 front. It’s cleaner than the 56. And I much prefer the 57 Packardbaker instrument panel to the Studebaker versions.
The coupe’s style was hard to translate into metal–for a time so many front fenders were torn in the stamping process the factory set up a welding line to repair the damage!
Thank the beancounters for the torn stampings. There is a limit to how far and how fast you can stretch steel. Many stampings require passes through 6 presses before they reach their final shape. The beancounters decided the company could save money if it tried to make the stampings in only 4 operations.
Besides paying for fewer sets of dies and fewer presses, Studebaker would save more labor than GM would. If you watch a Fisher Body build film from the mid 50s, you see a mechanical arm reach into the press, pull out the stamping, and drop it on a conveyor, which takes it to the next press. In the Studebaker build films, you see two men hand carry the stamping to the next press. Harold Vance had begged the BoD for money for capital improvements, but the war profits were paid out in dividends instead.
Another problem with the front fenders not fitting was attributed to the notoriously weak frame of the 53s. The front clip was the last thing to go on the car, and some claim it was the weight of the rest of the body and powertrain that caused the frame to sag, so the front clip would not fit the way the drawings said it would.
I love the looks of the “Loewy coupe” (and I have a ’59 Hawk), but I can’t help but think it was a terrible mistake for the company in the long run.
Studebaker had a habit of throwing money at halo models. Making the coupe and hardtop entirely different bodies, rather than offering hardtop and convertible versions of the sedan body, as they had in 52. Then there was the money spent on the GT Hawk, and the $3.5M spent on the Avanti, while their bread and butter car, the Lark, soldiered on with essentially the same frame as 53, which did not allow the floor to be lowered as they lowered the roofline, resulting in less interior space than the competition.
Unfortunately the “cyclops-eye” speedometer, while fairly accurate, is apt to shimmy due to the poor lubrication design. Trying to oil it while installed is a waste of time. Fortunately, the whole apparatus can be unscrewed from the dashboard.
If one desires full instrumentation, the Stewart-Warner green line gauges are a drop in replacement and adhere to the red and green color scheme that Studebaker used on the original display. I’ve thought about replacing the ammeter and oil pressure gauges with something a little more useful in the future. There’s even an empty pod on the passenger side, intended for the optional clock.
The dashboard is actually rather striking in darkness, with nothing but those four lighted globes and stylized typefaces staring back at you.
I have recently acquired a 56 President 2 door white with black stripe. no motor or trans, and rusty floorboards. It needs a lot however I want to resurrect it and would appreciate all the info I could get. How do I tell if it’s a classic or standard President? I am Stude illiterate.
Great cars and such an interesting story. Looking forward to driving one someday – though these are rare in Europe.
I had such a great time reading all of these comments…especially because THAT’S MY CAR!! (How did I get that parking space right in front of my apartment in SF?) I paid $2K in 1994, 46,000 miles ago; God knows how much in repairs, but no overhaul, and it is a blast to drive. (And a beast to park-I really wish I had power steering!) It will pass anything on the freeway,
While I’m sure it was not a high-water mark in American automotive engineering, at this point it’s an unusual piece of history, a wonderful conversation-starter, and still a functional back-up car to my Altima. And, unlike the Altima, I don’t lose it in the parking lot.
Studebakers are so adaptable to what you like. Don’t like the cyclops speedometer and dash, no problem just round up a Hawk or whatever Studebaker dash you do like and install it. Very few problems with fit to interchange a lot of parts from ’53 to ’66 parts and a workaround is usually simple from what I have read. A change to mix or swap ’56-’57 front and rear end body parts is entirely doable. It is done a lot on Studebaker’s especially ’53-’55 but is also done on a lot of other years.
I had a 55 President hard top for my first car. My friends had a 54 and a 53 Studebaker. All low slung V-8’s. My 55 had a jeep floor stick transmission. The 55 was way faster than the 54 and 53. It also was faster than most all Chevy V-8s of the day. It was a custom with 56 Packard tail lights that fit the styling perfectly. Frenched headlights, shaved hood and deck with candy apple paint.
The windows would fall into the door and break. The hood flew up and bent. The doors would not open if the car was jacked up. Still, I have a very fond memory of my Studebaker. I looked for a 56 Hawk but could not find one even in South Bend, Indiana where they were made when time to let the 55 go.
Today, many decades later I have a Dodge Challenger, Scat Pack, shaker hood, with all the latest electronics. It sounds almost as good as the Studebaker did with it’s shorty pipes. Did you see the 54 Stude coupe that just sold on Bring a trailer for 45k?
I agree with James Waltersdorf. I’ve owned Studebakers since 1983 and have came to the conclusion that they are a totally dependable, well made cars. I’ve been driving a 1960 Lark daily since 2010. It’s been a joy to drive from the first day.