(first posted 1/3/2018) I’ve brought over most of my CCs from the old site, but for some reason, I held off on the one on this fine Flamingo-pink ’61 Lark. Why? Mostly because I did a much more comprehensive history of the Lark here. But maybe there was something else, as this particular Lark had quite a story. It had been sitting out front of this family’s home for some 35 years when I shot it in my earliest few months of curbsiding, back in April of 2009. The owner had come out and given me a brief synopsis of its life as a family hauler, including being driven to high school by his two kids.
But it disappeared from its familiar spot on Emerald Street about a year after I wrote it up in 2010, which seemed a bit odd as well as sad. Did the owners move away? Did one of the kids take it with them? But out of the blue I got an email from its former owner John recently, as he stumbled into the article via a Google search, and he provided me with more information as well as its departure. I’m going to let John tell the story himself:
For some years after I sold it in 2011, I would be questioned about what happened to the Studebaker, for it had been a fixture on Emerald Street for 37 years! I bought it in late ’74 and remember driving it home in the snow. At that time we had one child, and the roof of our 1961 Impala convertible was rotting and the seats didn’t match after it was stolen. The Lark was our primary car for at least 10 years and was still used on a regular basis for another 20 or more.
When I acquired it the speedometer read about 60,000, and when sold it was close to 180,000. During the last 10 years only 8,000 miles were added.
In the 80s the engine (the new-for 1961 112 hp OHV version of the 169.6 cu.in six) was rebuilt by Ernie at Joe’s Garage. We needed to send to Indiana to get the parts. Over time I had to replace most of the bushings and an assortment of smaller parts that just wore out. I also finally acquired a working gas gauge. For 20 years or more I kept track of mileage, averaging 20 mpg on the road and 14 mpg in town. Occasionally, my predictions were not accurate, and it would run out of gas.
I always told my wife that I could never have an affair given the distinctive colors of the Stud. When we finally started buying new cars, those were hers and the Stud was mine. I still drove it to work and on errands until 1999 when we decided for safety sake (and better defrost) that I should drive another vehicle. That was when it became a more spring/summer car.
My kids had misgivings in Middle School and early High School about about the age and color, but as time passed and people they didn’t know honked or gave them the thumbs up, their attitude changed. Everyone now call it the Stud.
An anecdote. During the summer when my son was in college, he took his girlfriend camping at the coast. Soon a number of older gentlemen drifted older, attracted by the car, admiring it and asking questions. At that point he decided that it was quite a cool car.
Both our daughters drove away from their weddings in the Studebaker and have photos of their getaways hanging in their house. The new owner saw our copies and expressed hope that his daughters might be able to do the same.
However, by 2010, I wasn’t driving it that much, maybe 500 miles a year in the summer, and upkeep was getting more difficult. I hesitated to sell it in town thinking I would regret it whenever I ran into the Stud. Late in the summer of 2011 I put it on Craigslist and waited. I felt obligated to warn several young ladies who thought it was so “cute” that they shouldn’t consider it as their only transportation. Eventually I was contacted by somebody in Wilsonville whose father, grandfather and other relatives had all enjoyed Studebakers and he was very interested in acquiring the right one and completely restoring it. We agreed on a price and I was happy to see it go to a Studebaker family.
When he and his wife and daughters arrived, they were all wearing salmon colored shirts! We took photos at a signing ceremony and he took off for Wilsonville with the family following. For more than a year he occasionally sent emails about ordering the original upholstery and other minor changes that were in the works but then contact ceased.
Thank you John for the update and additional information. I’m sorry to not see the Stud on our frequent walks to that part of town, but I’m glad to know it’s gone to a good home.
We called my neighbor’s multiple Studebakers “Studbuckets”
I don’t know about that salmon color, but otherwise it’s a beaut!!!
“salmon” is nice way of naming this color. My Father had a name for it…
Called it “breast” pink..but didn’t use the word “Breast”..If you catch my drift?
His word rhymed with , oh, lets say… City? 🙂
Every car has a story and this car has a heartwarming one. I am glad it was told here.
This was the car that began the reawakening of a long dormant (suppressed?) love for Studebakers. At first I thought that today’s feature was a re-run but soon discovered that it was much more.
The car is memorable for its color, a 1961-only paint called Flamingo. The story makes it even more memorable. Could anything have been more out of style in 1974 than this car in this color? Kudos to the owner preserving this one through the cheap beater years when so many others met their deaths.
The OHV 6 with the automatic is my least favorite powertrain in postwar Studebakers, but this car might be nice enough for me to overlook that.
What a great article! I’ve always had a thing for Studebakers-maybe it’s attraction for the underdogs (although I have no attraction for AMC products of this vintage). It has obviously been taken good care of, here’s hoping the family has it for many years to come.
“I’ve always had a thing for Studebakers-maybe it’s attraction for the underdogs (although I have no attraction for AMC products of this vintage).”
I suffer from the same condition, and like you I am mystified. But while I can find a little love for the big Nashes (and a lot for the stepdown Hudsons) the products of post-merger AMC just don’t light my candle. Even though I have to admit that it was a much better managed company in the mid-late 50s (which is probably why they got funding for new models when the banks slammed the door in Studebaker-Packard’s face.)
My perfect car is a 1960 Rambler classic. It is a perfect blend of 1950s styling, updated and in the perfect size. Shift on column, slow six cylinder – (sigh!)
(which is probably why they got funding for new models when the banks slammed the door in Studebaker-Packard’s face.)
One of the books about AMC talks about that financing deal. Romney met with the same people who had turned down Nance and S-P only weeks before. After the meeting, Romney confided in another AMC honcho that he was totally blowing smoke in the meeting, but he got the money. Without it, AMC probably would have collapsed in a few months. The whole difference was that Romney could convince the insurance companies that he had a turn around plan, while Nance could not.
I can imagine that after sitting through Nance’s pitch for S-P, AMC looked like a sure thing in comparison. 🙂 Romney at least had some real-world experience in managing an auto company while Nance did almost nothing but make questionable moves during his way-too-brief time at running Packard and the combined S-P. AMC had its challenges, but its digestion of Hudson was relatively easy compared to the shit show of mismatched plants and needs after the S-P merger that was about as close to synergy-free as was possible.
AMC had its challenges, but its digestion of Hudson was relatively easy compared
The Hudson deal was only part of it, and also pretty much synergy free as the Hudson facilities and products were quickly abandoned. All Nash realized from the deal was the Hudson dealers and legacy service parts business.
At that moment in the spring of 56, Romney had spent $10M getting the Potter V8 in production. Spent more converting the 196 to OHV. About the only thing saved from the flathead 196 was the equipment to bore the cylinders and bearings and the crank as both block and head were new. He had rushed the new, Rambler into production a year before it had been planned for, and, like anything rushed to market, was having horrible quality problems.
I think it was a matter of Romney being a better salesman than Nance, in spite of Nance being the “super salesman” at Hotpoint.
compared to the shit show of mismatched plants and needs after the S-P merger
The only way the S-P deal could have worked would have been if it was done a year earlier, and the Packard honchos left their pride behind them. Chippewa could have been gutted out and retooled as a clone of the then new Lincoln/Mercury plant in Wayne, MI, to house Packard production. That train had left the station by October of 54 as Packard had already dug itself in with Conner and Utica.
Actually, Studebaker would have been a good acquisition for Nash as they would have gotten the Studebaker V8 and saved $10M in development and tooling expense.
I too suffer from this condition, let’s call it Studebaker-Nash Syndrome. I believe my SNS came from early childhood imprinting. My earliest memory of being in a car is a Nash Airflyte. When I was 3 we got a ’55 Studebaker Champion which we kept for five years. I’ve never had much interest in AMC products after 1957. So there you have it, a diagnosis of chronic SNS.
By the way, this Lark is a beauty. Love the color. Here’s a nice ’61 Hawk in Flamingo.
I just don’t see them around in person, so the photos you took revealed many details that I really liked. It is a very cool looking car. Even in the old sedan format with the old B pillars, it looked pretty neat.
I had no idea that the deck lid had a raised section mimicking the hood. I had no idea how elegant and simple the front end design was crafted. The headlight rings are perfect. That grille is totes-lit, as my kids would say. This year is definitely more attractive to me than the newer years when Studebaker put a Mercedes grille on them.
1961 was a very good year for auto design, wasn’t it? I would be hard pressed to choose a 1961 automobile between Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Ford, Rambler and now Studebaker. Impressive!
The color is spectacular.
Glad to see this Lark found it’s way to what is probably a safe home. A year or two ago, I saw some pix of a neighborhood in southern California that had been leveled by a brush fire and in the ashes were the unmistakable remains of an early 60s Lark.
I sometimes wonder, if Studebaker had taken a Sawzall to the Champion years earlier, rather than trying to compete directly against Ford and Chevy in length (the Champ was already uncompetitively narrow and underpowered), would they have fared better.
This could well be in my top 5 favorite cars on CC ever. Such a sweet little car, in such nice condition.
Wow, very nice, and good to realize that some/many cars have more than one story! I’m not a Studebaker fan in particular (ambivalent is probably the best word in my case) but this one is quite nice and wonderful to learn more about, the story being more than the car itself.
A wonderful update and I can’t imagine how hard it must be to finally decide to part with it after all those years.
when I was a little bitty kid the neighbors had a new Stude Lark they were on some trip somewhere and had this terrible accident seems they were all okay They must have been pleased with the Studie
because they got another one!
Sweet little Lark, glad it has another appreciative conservator. The 1959-’61 Larks are truly an “engineer’s” car, designed under S-P President Harold Churchill, himself a company engineer since 1926. It was as pared down and basic, economical transportation as any import of the time. Casting their lot in the compact segment was the only avenue Studebaker had any hope to continue their auto-making business on a profitable basis. By the time this ’61 rolled off the line, the board of directors was busily diversifying their corporate portfolio away from cars in anticipation of corporate survival even without them.
Great story Paul. Cars with a rich family history are my favourites. Thanks for sharing this.
A friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend drove a Lark of that vintage to high school (a different school than mine) in the mid-seventies. It was white, and Larks were quite a bit more prevalent then, and far from cool. So he removed the last six letters from the trunk badge to truly make the car a Stud, and that’s what everyone called it: the Stud, not the Stude.
According to my parents the first car I ever rode in was an LWB ’60 Lark ex-taxi 🙂 . Probably explains my weakness for Studies!
In 1962, when I turned 16 years old, my Dad brought home an exact model, with a red exterior, rather than pink. I was heart broken when he told me that he was giving it to me as my car. (A 61 Lark was anything but cool back in ’62, especially to a 16 year old teen age boy). It all turned out OK, though, as he graciously agreed to let me have his 55 Chevy 2 door post belair with a 265 V8 automatic. He took the 61 Lark. By the time I was a Senior in High School, I had fixed some rust spots, shaved the hood and trunk, had the interior rolled and pleated, put new carpeting in, and it sported new 2 tone paint. Dad, appreciated all the work that I had done and tried to talk me into a second exchange, because the ’55 Chevy was now custom and looked and drove great. Needless to say, he kept the 61 Lark. A few years later, in 1967, I sold the ’55 before departing for US Army service in Germany.
But the story of the 61 Lark continued. After my discharge in 1969, I returned to live and work in Bloomington, In. In 1970, I needed a 2nd car, and Dad graciously gave me the 61 Lark a second time. At this time I was 24 years of age, married and a lost more appreciative. The Lark stayed with my wife and I, until around 1974, when we sold it. It was still running great when sold. Studebaker made some reliable cars.
What a wonderful story. One of my first cars was a pink Studebaker Lark. What fun we would have in the old Stud Mobile loading as many kids as we could to ride down to the soda bar after school 1.2 mile away often dragging on the frame 12-14 kids laughing all the way. One time in a rain storm singing My Baby Does the Hanky Pinkeye we hit a big old maple tree and flew up in the air landing in the middle of the road blowing out all four tires but not a dent nor scratch to the body, Called dad and he brought me 4 tires and we were on our way. Hope to find another one some day.
I still own and regularly drive a ’63 Hawk my father bought new