Found a cool site.
Chris Dresbach
Chris Dresbach
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Chris Dresbach -
I like the Lark prototypes, especially the Lark 100. I'm curious what would have happened had they built the little Lark along with the 4-cylinder engine. Looks like it would have been a serious contender to the foreign economy cars. The article mentions that they found numerous photos of prototype vehicles for that article but only had room to show a few. Where might I find pictures of all the prototype and concept drawings of this era?
Brent's rootbeer racer.
MN iron ore...it does your body good.sigpic
In the middle of MinneSTUDEa. -
How about the avante wagon hoy cool it would be to take the family to disney land at 160 mph
fredComment
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Originally posted by fred k.
How about the avante wagon hoy cool it would be to take the family to disney land at 160 mph
Let's try test dummies first.
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If you could go 160 mph in an Avanti wagon, why bother going to Disneyland?[8D]Comment
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In reality, Studebaker was fortunate to truncate the 53 body shell into the Lark, let alone have any funds to make a new small car.
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Yeah, but if they had... I bet the Lark 100 would have sold well. It greatly resembles Mopar's Valiant/Lancer twins from an overall dimension & styling standpoint, but with a better greenhouse.
Does anyone know if Loewy's Paris Avanti 4-door proto exists?
[img=left]http://members.cox.net/clarknovak/lark.gif[/img=left]
Clark in San Diego
'63 F2/Lark Standard
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I don't disagree that it's attractive, showbizkid, but I doubt that it would have sold in any numbers, certainly not enough to recoup development costs.
Also consider that Exners styling of the Valiant was not looked upon favorably by a sizable proportion of the public at the time.
Remember, the "compact car" craze...as an economy car... only lasted 2 or maybe 3 years. The utterly conventional Falcon outsold Chevrolets Corvair by 3 to 1, but the success of the bucket-seat Monza coupe spurred the sporty compacts into what became the muscle cars of the mid-60's. The Falcon transformed into the Mustang.
GM offered 4 cyl. in both the Chevy II ( the Falcon clone replacing the Corvair) and the "1/2 V8" in the Pontiac Tempest. Neither were big sellers.
Studebaker was fortunate to have all the hardware "on shelf" to offer a V8 'compact" before anyone else.Comment
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I am intrigued by what looks like a pickup in the background of the model of the two door in the first page. It looks almost like a late model Dodge truck.
Joe Roberts
'61 R1 Champ
'65 Cruiser
Editor of "The Down Easterner"
Eastern North Carolina ChapterJoe Roberts
'61 R1 Champ
'65 Cruiser
Eastern North Carolina ChapterComment
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The money was already spent. It would have been far cheaper to introduce that new car than the two face lifts and the Avanti project. And it might have generated enough money for the Scepter.quote:Originally posted by autocrat
In reality, Studebaker was fortunate to truncate the 53 body shell into the Lark, let alone have any funds to make a new small car.
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Tom - Mulberry, FL
1964 Studebaker Daytona - 289 4V, 4-Speed (Cost To Date: $2125.60)
1964 Studebaker Commander 170-1V, 3-speed w/OD (Cost to Date: $623.67)
Tom - Bradenton, FL
1964 Studebaker Daytona - 289 4V, 4-Speed (Cost To Date: $2514.10)
1964 Studebaker Commander - 170 1V, 3-Speed w/ODComment
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I won't go into details, but yes, I can assure you it's still extant.quote:Originally posted by showbizkid
Does anyone know if Loewy's Paris Avanti 4-door proto exists?
Matthew Burnette
Hazlehurst, GA
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Noticed something odd about the 1954/1957 clay hawk in the first link on the page, bottom pic. Look at the grille badge. It's half packard logo, half Studebaker logo! Wonder what the deal with that was.
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Chris DresbachChris DresbachComment
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I don't know about anybody else, but to me the first station wagon on page 32, reminds me a lot of the Ford Flex.
Joe Roberts
'61 R1 Champ
'65 Cruiser
Editor of "The Down Easterner"
Eastern North Carolina ChapterJoe Roberts
'61 R1 Champ
'65 Cruiser
Eastern North Carolina ChapterComment
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They were probably experimenting with a combined S-P logo identity.quote:Originally posted by Chris_Dresbach
Noticed something odd about the 1954/1957 clay hawk in the first link on the page, bottom pic. Look at the grille badge. It's half packard logo, half Studebaker logo! Wonder what the deal with that was.[?]
[img=left]http://members.cox.net/clarknovak/lark.gif[/img=left]
Clark in San Diego
'63 F2/Lark Standard
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Sure would be neat to find one of those prototype grille badges laying around!
Chris DresbachChris DresbachComment
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