You did WHAT?

[BobPalma]

Many people don't realize the ancillary uphill battles Studebaker dealers faced, especially toward the end. I was reminded of that this evening, although it was told as a "true joke." I'm sure it was true at the time, but not a joke until later.

Cari and I are stockholders in a local bank with a dozen branches around Hendricks and Boone counties, west of Indianapolis. We didn't buy a lot of the stock in 1976, but the block we did buy is now worth about fifteen (15) times what we paid for it...and it has paid good dividends every year to boot! The advice to buy it at the time proved to be excellent, even though we had just gotten married.

We attended the annual Stockholders Meeting and free dinner (true CASOs; something was free) this evening. We happened to sit at an 8-top table (random seating) with one of the bank's former Presidents, Matt, a fellow about my age and a real nice guy I've known forever...and who reminds me every so often that I never did find a nice mid-60s Barracuda Formula S for him. Matt's father had been one of the bank's Presidents before him!

Also at the table was a local SDC member (Gordon) and his wife, both retired, also fellow stockholders. Gordon still has the late-production, square-headlight, red, 1964 R2 Avanti he bought when it was barely a year old. It's in nice shape but needs some freshening-up.

Back in 1964, Gordon got the loan to buy the Avanti through Matt, who was a loan officer at the time when his Dad was President, IIRC. Everybody was joking around tonight when Matt related that his Dad about had a heart attack when Matt told him, back in the day, that the bank had just loaned $3,000 on a used, year-old Studebaker!

I.e., You did WHAT?

I honestly don't believe we can realize, at this late date, the many prejudices, financing among them, that plagued Studebaker dealers and inhibited sales of our favorite marque toward the end. BP

[Roscomacaw]

I've related before, that the dealer thru which my '57 President was sold new (Joannides of Porterville, CA) had related to me that in their later years, they had to "carry the paper" on a lot of deals with Studes they sold. This was the wife of this duo that owned the franchise and handled the business end of things. She intimated that they did this because local banks weren't willing to finance folks fore the purchase of Studebakers UNLESS said buyer was a person with truly exemplary credit. She related to me, the woes of chasing down and repo-ing Studes that hadn't had payments made in timely fashion.

[556063]

It's tough to comprehend for people today that a distressed marque could be subject to such pressure. Studebaker was helped out of business by the rumor that they were doomed to go out of business. One has to realize, though, that there was no larger "mother ship" evident to the public to support Studebaker. Dealers didn't have the luxury of saying that a larger conglomerate would be there to support warranty claims like the "factory" was able to do for the likes of Plymouth and Pontiac when they were discontinued. The already struggling Studebaker dealer in most cases ordered more distressed new merchandise from the mid 1950's on, than, say, Pontiac dealers did up to the very end of production. Even though Studebaker carried on as an entity in other lines of business than automotive after 1966, they projected the image of being out of business to the automotive sector. Different times, different business culture.

Studebaker Employees found it hard to secure credit in the final years if their employment was the sole source of income in their household. There's no doubt the financial world had written Studebaker off before it was official. Still, many believed the events of 1963-66 could never happen until they did. I guess having a financial advisor in the know does pay.

[53k]

When I bought my '64 Daytona Wagonaire my dealer wasn't sure we could find financing, but we did. We had to look around though. A lot of banks wouldn't finance a Studebaker.

[556063]

When I worked at a Chrysler Dealer 1985-1991, we worked with a wholesale buyer in a small neighboring town that ran a small corner lot and had done so for 35 years at the time. I drove my '55 one day to show it to him and reminisce with him one day. It inspired him to talk of the days in the late 1950's when the Studebaker Zone Rep would call on him asking him to take Studebaker on to grow his business. He seriously considered it in 1959 when the Lark was hot. But, he said, by about 1962, he would dispatch the Zone Rep by telling him he didn't want to ruin his business by taking on Studebaker. Real story from a guy in the business that speaks volumes.

[57pack]

Kinda like being buried before your dead.

[Jessie J.]

I had a steady good paying job at Oldsmobile. Wanted an Avanti in the worst way, got turned down for financing everywhere. Could have easily financed a new Olds 98 at twice the price.
Eventually bought a showroom new fully loaded Vista Cruiser station wagon. no questions, no credit hassles, drove it away the same afternoon. A dozen cars latter and still no Avanti.

As I recall, dad had to shop around a bit to find the financing for his final '66 Commander.

Actually most of my experiences in buying used Studebaker's has been, relatively speaking, bad.
Every time I locate one in nice clean and desirable condition, the asking price is anywhere from 10-30% higher than an equivalent condition and model chev or ford. Still pick the Stude's but almost always end up paying a premium for the choice.
Nothing new though, dad had experienced that all through the '50's and right up to the end, there was always a popular Big Three choice that held a price advantage ....and as we always learned at the end, a higher trade-in and resale value.