Ultimate Wagonaire!

[Bellingham Studenut]

This is the "Ultimate Wagonaire"!




note: option 36

James

The Bell Collection
Bellingham, WA.

[JGK 940]

Oh. My. Lord.



This is EXACTLY what adult life was supposed to look like... all the way down to the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and the Jet Thrust 289 under the hood.

Now... what the *#&@^%$ went wrong?

Beautiful picture, James, and bittersweet memories. Thanks for posting!

Keoni Dibelka / HiloFoto
In Hawai'i; on Hawai'i; on the Windward Side
If da salt air never chew 'em up bumbye da lava will...

(photo added)

[StudeRich]

Beautiful picture James, that would be THE one and only, full package Jet Thrust '64 Wagonaire, I take it! [] [^]

White '64 Daytonas always remind me of Christmas time, because that was when Dad brought our's home: Dec. 24, 1964 when he saw those '65's on the showroom floor at Village Studebaker on 48th. St. Los Angeles he knew then, he HAD to get one of the last Canadian built real Studebakers! [^]

Have a White Studebaker Christmas Season everyone! And you too Bob P! [^]


StudeRich at Studebakers Northwest -Ferndale,WA

[8E45E]

quote:Originally posted by JGK 940


This is EXACTLY what adult life was supposed to look like... all the way down to the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and the Jet Thrust 289 under the hood.

Now... what the *#&@^%$ went wrong?

One of the first promotional photos of the Avanti in front of the flat-top house in California with the floor-to-ceiling window pre-date this one by a good two and a half years! (That Avant-garde house in CA was owned by Raymond Lowey's friend)



Craig

[Bellingham Studenut]

The "Ultimate House" in the Studebaker News looks like a Frank Lloyd Wright design, but Brook Stevens did design a house in Milwaukee where he lived.

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/topics/stevens/index.asp

In 1937, Brook Stevens married Alice Kopmeier. The young couple built their own modern house, designed by Stevens, in Fox Point, north of Milwaukee, which stands today as one of the most significant examples of modernist domestic architecture.

Stevens also arranged for photo's showing the back of the Wagonaire with the roof open. It shows very similar roof lines to the house (possibly inspiration from one to another).
It must have been quite an occasion to have 30,000 people pay to see the "Ultimate House" and "Ultimate Wagonaire"!

The car photo was also used in a book called Great American Woodies & Wagons, by Donald Narus.

James



The Bell Collection
Bellingham, WA.

[Bellingham Studenut]

[quote]Originally posted by StudeRich

Beautiful picture James, that would be THE one and only, full package Jet Thrust '64 Wagonaire, I take it! [] [^]

White '64 Daytonas always remind me of Christmas time, because that was when Dad brought our's home: Dec. 24, 1964 when he saw those '65's on the showroom floor at Village Studebaker on 48th. St. Los Angeles he knew then, he HAD to get one of the last Canadian built real Studebakers! [^]

Have a White Studebaker Christmas Season everyone! And you too Bob P! [^]

There were 2 Wagonaire's built with the full package in 1963 and the 1 (pictured above) in 1964.
So if a full package Hawk and Lark are called Super Hawks & Super Larks, how about a Super Wagonaire? []

James

The Bell Collection
Bellingham, WA.

[StudeRich]

Cool, then we would have Super Cruisers! [^] []

Not to mention Daytonas, Challengers and Commanders! [^] Technically as has been said here before, that is what they should have been called but they started this "SUPER name calling" in 1963, when the entire "Lark Type" line were actually called "Larks", unlike 1964 when the brochure called Challengers and Commanders "Larks", but only Challengers actually got identified as same.

quote:Originally posted by Bellingham Studenut

So if a full package Hawk and Lark are called Super Hawks & Super Larks, how about a Super Wagonaire?

StudeRich at Studebakers Northwest -Ferndale,WA

[Bellingham Studenut]

This car still Survives and is currently in Bellingham, WA.

This 1 only package Wagonaire had almost every option including reclining buckets, FM radio, Rear speaker, Tinted windows, 3.31 TT rear for high speed hauling and a few things not shown on the production order like roof rack. It's amazing to see bucket seats, 160 MPH speedo, Tachometer, floor shift, electric tailgat window, and even traction/radious bars in the back on a Wagonaire! [:0]
Looking under the hood of a Wagonaire at a Jet Thrust engine with all that chrome is amazing!

The following image is what the order form looked like.
Who would buy, or own such a optioned Wagonair?
Interestingly enough the Studebaker News showed the above photo in their April 1964 Dealer Newsletter.
The story I got was the the previous owner spent years trying to buy it from the original owner, Mr Cessna, of the Cessna Airplane Company. He was old, but wouldn't part with it (too attached), but his son did after he passed away.
The story was Mr Cessna didn't want it delivered to his local dealer in OH, so he flew into South Bend to get it and drove it home.
After seeing "Hold for Customer" on the production order, I would guess it true.



I'm not sure what the Wagonaire's relation was with Brook Stevens, but it was choosen by him, to take to his home town of Milwaukee for display and photos (before delivery?).
I know Stevens stayed loyal to living in his home town of Milwaukee and flying back and forth to South Bend, so that may be where the it relates to Mr Cessna.

I'm sure there is more to the rest of the story

James

The Bell Collection
Bellingham, WA.

[8E45E]

quote:Originally posted by Bellingham Studenut




This 1 only package Wagonaire had almost every option including reclining buckets, FM radio, Rear speaker, Tinted windows, 3.31 TT rear for high speed hauling and a few things not shown on the production order like roof rack. It's amazing to see bucket seats, 160 MPH speedo, Tachometer, floor shift, electric tailgat window, and even traction/radious bars in the back on a Wagonaire! [:0]
Looking under the hood of a Wagonaire at a Jet Thrust engine with all that chrome is amazing!

That proves Studebaker was ahead of its time with a high-performance station wagon. Would that be comparable to a BMW M-series wagon today?? On that production order, isn't #80 Luggage Carrier the roof rack?

Craig

[JGK 940]

And where did they put the rear speaker?

Inquiring minds NEED to know...

Keoni Dibelka / HiloFoto
In Hawai'i; on Hawai'i; on the Windward Side
If da salt air never chew 'em up bumbye da lava will...

[PlainBrownR2]

In terms of how Studebaker offered it(a wagon with some high po add on goodies), I would put it with the AMG Mercedes Benz E-Class.

In terms with BMW, I would say what it did is kinda like what they're doing or did with the M5 Touring, which is apparently MB AMG E55's rival [)].

I gotta say since the wagon was more or less about carrying capacity(all that space for your luggage and your car parts, lol), that high performance setup in those situations was not just for looks, it was also about functionality.... [}]


[img=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/My%201950%202r5%20Studebaker%20Pickup%20with%20turbocharger/P1000137-1.jpg[/img=left]
[img=right]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/DSC00005.jpg?t=1171153370[/img=right]
[IMG=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/Ex%20Studebaker%20Plant%20Locomotive/P1000578-1.jpg[/IMG=left]

[BobPalma]

quote:Originally posted by Bellingham Studenut

Have a White Studebaker Christmas Season everyone! And you too Bob P!

So if a full package Hawk and Lark are called Super Hawks & Super Larks, how about a Super Wagonaire?

James

Thanks, Studerich. Perhaps I should pull out the white '64 Daytona collection onto new-fallen snow around Christmastime for a group photo...but I need that white Daytona Wagonaire to complete the collection first.

Anyway, James; there is truth to what you say about Super-identified 1964s, when the idea of calling anything a Super Lark had to be downplayed as a result of discouraging use of the name "Lark."

A couple days ago, in the thread about "which way did they go, [out the doors of the final assembly building]" I posted details of the earliest-production 1964 cars. They were built June 27, 1963, for delivery to Engneering and, then, ultimately to Bonneville.

Well, the original build orders for those Daytona convertibles specify the following on the first line, for model identification of the unit being built:

64V-L8 Super Daytona Convertible

because, in fact, those were full-package cars! True. BP

[JBOYLE]

quote:Originally posted by Bellingham Studenut
the original owner, Mr Cessna, of the Cessna Airplane Company.

Not to disagree, but to my knowledge, all the "airplane" branch of the Cessna familylived in Kansas (near Wichita), not Ohio.
Clyde Cessna, the founder ofthe airplane concern, was born in Iowa in December, 1879, moving with his parents to Kansas when he was an infant. After starting to build planes under his own name in 1927 he remained active in the company until it was forced to close in the depression.
The firm we know as Cessna, was started up again by his nephews, Dwane and Dwight Wallace in 1934. Cessna, had limited involvement in that firm. He died, in Kansas, in 1954.

Clyde's son Eldon, (b.1908 - d.1992) left the family firm in 1934 to go to work for Douglas and later, North American Aviation, as a designer where he helped design the P-51, F-86 and other aircraft.
I checked to see if Massillon, Ohio was near Columbus, where NAA had a factory (thinking he could have assigned to that location) but Massillon is near Canton, not Columbus.

This isn't to say that the car wasn't owned by a relative.
It could have been Eldon's but I can't see why he'd buy it in Ohio.

At any rate,[u]the</u> Mr. Cessna seems to have lived in Kansas most of his life (and was dead a decade before that car was built).

His son probably lived in Californa during his career with Douglas and North American since their main offices are in that state.



63 Avanti R1 2788
1914 Stutz Bearcat
(George Barris replica)

Washington State

[8E45E]

quote:Originally posted by JGK 940

And where did they put the rear speaker?

Inquiring minds NEED to know...

Keoni Dibelka / HiloFoto
In Hawai'i; on Hawai'i; on the Windward Side
If da salt air never chew 'em up bumbye da lava will...

In the right rear corner on the metal panel.



Craig

[Bellingham Studenut]

Great picture of the speaker option Craig!
It's an unusual option, but I'm sure some who sprang for a FM radio would want it.
Mr Cessna, was obviously not the original Clyde Cessna born in the 1800's, but a family member, or relative descendent.
It came with paperwork showing the previous owner as Mr Cessna. The previous owner I bought it from (Al Ernst Jr.) lived down the street from him and talked with him over a period of years trying to buy it when he was no longer driving.




I also have some factory press type photo's of the car in Milwaukee.
After buying the car, I happened to find 64 Wagonaire Press photo's listed for sale on the internet. When they arrived I just about fell of my chair! First I noticed the Wagonaire was white, then amazed to see the Avanti Powered emblem on fender (same as mine) and shocked when looking at the grill badge.
Since only 1 factory Wagonaire got that grill badge, I knew it was the same car in my garage!
I have never seen the photo's in all the literature I have ever seen, so I asked the guy I bought from, where he got the photo's. His name is Donald Narus and he said the Studebaker archives gave them to him when he was writing the book "Great American Woodies & Wagons. After all the years, he was selling them and I just happened to be the one buying them and had the car sitting in my garage!
I sent Richard Quinn a scan and he thought he recalled a series of photos of the Brooks Stevens concept car (sliding roof wagon) that in his minds eye had a similar house in the background. Perhaps Richard has some leads?
Richard did a great article on Wagonaire's for Collectible Automobile Magazine and put them in touch with the Herald LeMay Museum in Tacoma WA and took some photo's of another 64 Wagonaire I restored and sold them.
Looking closely at the photos used in the Studebaker News, it looks like the car was dropped off a trailer where tire marks in the gravel start/end about 3 feet in front of the bumper although possibly driven out from the modern garage behind.
I can post more pictures if interested.

James

The Bell Collection
Bellingham, WA.