Does this sound familiar?

[Dan White]

http://www.leftlanenews.com/

Dan White
64 R1 GT
64 R2 GT

[Roscomacaw]

The 64 Lark types were a marvel of facelifting without starting from scratch. Alot of hopes were riding on it's success. The "success" wouldn't have had to be a landslide to be labled a success either. Probably a percentage point or two of the car market would've sufficed to make the boardroom happy. It didn't happen and the dance was cancelled before the first ladies choice.[:X]

A year and a half earlier, the Avanti was launched and (even if it was a rebodied Lark convertible)it flopped either as a viable (profitable) product or enough of a "showroom draw" to snag the curious into buying a Lark or Hawk.

It's stumblefoot debut is reminiscent of the fumblesome start of the C-Ks in '53. Not only did they get out of the starting gate late, the timing couldn't have been worse so far as the overshadowing duke-fest of Ford & Chevy went.

Watching an ad for a Chevy Cobalt this morning, I wondered how many folks will consider that this thing comes from an automaker that appears to be on the ropes. What about resale value? What about those Korean jobs and their 100K mile warranties?[:0]

Wanna "buy American" as a rule of thumb nowdays? That's one tough row to hoe! I suggest you buy and drive an old Studebaker. It's probably as American a ride as you can muster.

Miscreant at large.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President 2-dr
1955 President State
1951 Champion Biz cpe
1963 Daytona project FS

[studegary]

quote:Originally posted by Mr.Biggs

The 64 Lark types were a marvel of facelifting without starting from scratch. Alot of hopes were riding on it's success. The "success" wouldn't have had to be a landslide to be labled a success either. Probably a percentage point or two of the car market would've sufficed to make the boardroom happy. It didn't happen and the dance was cancelled before the first ladies choice.[:X]

A year and a half earlier, the Avanti was launched and (even if it was a rebodied Lark convertible)it flopped either as a viable (profitable) product or enough of a "showroom draw" to snag the curious into buying a Lark or Hawk.

It's stumblefoot debut is reminiscent of the fumblesome start of the C-Ks in '53. Not only did they get out of the starting gate late, the timing couldn't have been worse so far as the overshadowing duke-fest of Ford & Chevy went.

The '64 models were good, but their biggest competition was a large number of unsold '63 Larks that were being deeply disounted. The average frugal Studebaker buyer saw the cheap '63s as a viable transportation alternative to the full price '64s.

The Avantis were a big hit when they came out, but Studebaker couldn't produce them. This led to a lot of cancelled orders , including a friend of mine that cancelled his R2 Avanti ordered and bought a '63 Corvette. Also, Lark and Studebaker truck dealers didn't know how to market the Avanti and the target market was outside their normal circle of customers.

When the '53s came out, Studebaker planned for the C/K to be a small percentage of the sales, rather than the other way around. Also, the early C/K parts did not fit together properly. An example is the filler on the rear package shelf of early C/Ks.

Gary L.
1954 Commander Starliner (restomod)
1959 DeLuxe pickup (restomod)

[Walt Zander]

Wanna "buy American" as a rule of thumb nowdays? That's one tough row to hoe! I suggest you buy and drive an old Studebaker. It's probably as American a ride as you can muster.

What he said![^]



'49 Starlight Coupe
1936 Miller/Allard replica on a '52 Comm. frame

[JBOYLE]

quote:Originally posted by studegary
The Avantis were a big hit when they came out, but Studebaker couldn't produce them. This led to a lot of cancelled orders , including a friend of mine that cancelled his R2 Avanti ordered and bought a '63 Corvette. Also, Lark and Studebaker truck dealers didn't know how to market the Avanti and the target market was outside their normal circle of customers.

Gary L.
1954 Commander Starliner (restomod)
1959 DeLuxe pickup (restomod)

This sounds a lot like what happened to the Cord 810/812.
A beautiful modern design that couldn't be produced fast enough and orders were cancelled...plus a few teething troubles: FWD issues for the Cord...and I hear the Avanti had a few issues as well: rear glass blowing out (although this may have just been true with the prototypes).
And the failure of not knowing how to sell a specialty car is common as well...anyone remember the Pantera sold at Lincoln-Mercury dealers in the eaarly-70s.

Cliche warning: The more things change...



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

Washington State

[tstclr]

quote:Originally posted by Mr.Biggs

Wanna "buy American" as a rule of thumb nowdays? That's one tough row to hoe! I suggest you buy and drive an old Studebaker. It's probably as American a ride as you can muster.

I actually turned in my company vehicle-just too expensive at income tax time. I'm seriously looking at a 63 Lark 4 door (6 cyl stick) as a daily driver second car(my wife has a Toyota-shhh). Heck, I could unbolt the rear fenders to apply POR15 (as well as hit the rest of the cars underbelly with it), drive it all year including in the snow. If a panel gets hit (other than those front fenders!) I'll order cheap replacements at SASCO!
I'm sure they'll all think I'm wierd at work rolling in with an old Studebaker but who cares!
Todd


63 Lark 2dr Sedan

[Roscomacaw]

Yeah, the gas pump meters make me wince, every time. I just remind myself that the monthly car payment (or glorified rental - "Lease") on some anony-mobile would still fill a Stude's gas tank a number of times. All my Studes were paid for in total when they got to my driveway.

Miscreant at large.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President 2-dr
1955 President State
1951 Champion Biz cpe
1963 Daytona project FS

[Scott]

So has anyone ever tried to turn a post-war Studebaker into an electric car?

[N8N]

Todd, I am guessing your company car doesn't have a gas card with it? When I got mine I thought it was a nice perk, that was back when gas was about $2.30 a gallon. NOW... whew! I couldn't afford to go to work without it!

nate

--
55 Commander Starlight
62 Daytona hardtop

http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

[tstclr]

Nope, no gas card. However I swapped the demo for a monthly "vehicle allowance" which works better for me. Our Toyota is an 05 so we really didnt need two new vehicles as my wife works from home. I also have a Triumph Spitfire which will be out of storage in a couple of weeks. I can take it to work on nice days.
Todd


63 Lark 2dr Sedan

[Bob Hutchins]

I may get negative feedback, but I think that it is sad to think that members of the Studebaker community seem to gloat when another American car company is in trouble. Some day we can buy all of our goods from a foreign country and we will be a "service" country.

Robert L. Hutchins

[railway]

quote:Originally posted by Bob Hutchins

I may get negative feedback, but I think that it is sad to think that members of the Studebaker community seem to gloat when another American car company is in trouble. Some day we can buy all of our goods from a foreign country and we will be a "service" country.

Robert L. Hutchins

Bob, No negative here, and I kinda agree (hope not in my life time) but just drive Interstate 10 from El Paso to LA and count the containers on the many trains headed east, from China, and other countrys.
Just been there and they are thick as bees in a hive.
Ebon...

Ebon...
[img] http://jnautoair.com/images/logo2-3.jpg [/img]

[studeclunker]

Bob, have you been in a store lately? We already are a service country. Wait a minute, they outsource that too...[V]

Lotsa Larks!
K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Studebaker!
Ron Smith

[Scott]

Well, I don't know. The "buy American" idea was used as a prop by the big three for many years partly as a way of getting people to ignore the quality issues of the products they were making. This topic has come up before, and as I said then, if you were an east German in the 1960s and IF you had a choice between buying an East German Trabant, or a West German (remember, they were separate countries) VW or comparable car, do you think anyone but the politicians would praise you for buying the Trabant?

If we REALLY believe in free enterprise we should be willing to let the chips fall as they may. If Japan makes better cars and it puts Ford or GM out of business, that's the way it goes. Besides, many of those cars ARE made here anyway. No big deal to me. If the playing field isn't level, then we should elect politicians with the will to make it level. I firmly believe that GM and Ford and Chrysler could all go under tomorrow, and somehow the sun would still come up and the country would still survive.

[Roscomacaw]

Remember - South Bend survived. It was painful at first - but it survived.[:I]

Miscreant at large.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President 2-dr
1955 President State
1951 Champion Biz cpe
1963 Daytona project FS