Who designed the 1966 Studebaker front end...

[junior]

...as in the new revised grill and single headlight arrangement? Was it Brookes Stevens himself, or is he generally given credit just like Loewy was given credit for the new 1953's only because he was the 'head' of the design team? Was it someone other than Stevens? According to Wikipedia (yes, I know the world's foremost authority on everything) ...

"The redesign, which was evidently begun by Brooks Stevens, was completed by the Dearborn design firm of Marcks Hazelquist Powers."

So who actually designed the 66 grills? Does anyone actually know? cheers, junior

[wittsend]

Not to take anything away from Junior's question but just pondering the "who" makes me wonder "why?" Isn't any redesign/update to the '66 Studebaker's sort of like painting a house that is ready to be demolished? Makes you wonder why they even bothered?

[StudeRich]

I thought a lot of '66 changes were farmed out to a Canadian? Design Co.

[sals54]

Not to take anything away from Junior's question but just pondering the "who" makes me wonder "why?" Isn't any redesign/update to the '66 Studebaker's sort of like painting a house that is ready to be demolished? Makes you wonder why they even bothered?

Dang Witts.... that's pretty rough, don't ya think?
But I couldn't agree more.
Sorry folks, just an opinion.

[Mark L]

Stu Chapman, do you know the answer?

[doug]

According to the Fred Fox article on 1966 Studebakers the styling was started by Brooks Stevens and handed over to Marcks, Hazelquist and Powers, a Dearborn, Michigan design firm.

[8E45E]

Yes, it was Bob Marcks of Marcks. Hazelquist & Powers.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?9159-What-the-67-Studebaker-may-have-looked-like&highlight=marcks

Craig

[BobPalma]

Brooks Stevens was the keynote speaker at the 1973 SDC National Meet Banquet in Colorado Springs; "I was there."

He discussed styling the 1966s on a shoe string. The one thing I remember was his revealing how they designed the front end to incorporate four of the brushed-aluminum rectangles because they had so little money. By using four little rectangles per car, the cost per unit went down, as opposed to having "make do" with a larger unit at a higher cost with only one per car.

I don't know if anyone recorded that speech. If they did, Brooks said how much money they were given to freshen up the cars for 1966. It was such a pittance it was a joke, but I don't remember the figure he cited and don't want to misquote him. BP

[8E45E]

Interesting, Bob.

Makes one wonder just how much input Brooks Stevens & Associates vs. Marck, Hazelquist & Powers had with the 1966 models. (Proof Brooks Stevens did work on them here: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...rototype/page2 )

In 2010, Bob Marcks in Glendale stated it was himself that convinced Studebaker management the policy of 'no changes for the sake of change' was NOT the way to go, and what worked for Volkswagen wasn't going to work for Studebaker, thus the small design changes on the 1966 models. He made no mention of the front and rear, but did mention on moving the interior trim to be more upmarket that earlier models.

Some of his post-'67 proposals here: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...ks-At-Glendale

Craig

[GrumpyOne]

Brooks Stevens was the keynote speaker at the 1973 SDC National Meet Banquet in Colorado Springs; "I was there."

He discussed styling the 1966s on a shoe string. The one thing I remember was his revealing how they designed the front end to incorporate four of the brushed-aluminum rectangles because they had so little money. By using four little rectangles per car, the cost per unit went down, as opposed to having "make do" with a larger unit at a higher cost with only one per car.

I don't know if anyone recorded that speech. If they did, Brooks said how much money they were given to freshen up the cars for 1966. It was such a pittance it was a joke, but I don't remember the figure he cited and don't want to misquote him. BP

Stevens, along with Bob Bourke and Robert Andrews were the speakers at either the '73 or '74 MCS meet in Carlisle, PA and you could hear a pin drop. Brooks had a terrific slide show and narrated how the Excaliber came to be born.

One of the great events car-wise that I ever attended...

[Skip Lackie]

Stevens, along with Bob Bourke and Robert Andrews were the speakers at either the '73 or '74 MCS meet in Carlisle, PA and you could hear a pin drop. Brooks had a terrific slide show and narrated how the Excaliber came to be born.

One of the great events car-wise that I ever attended...

Was there too, and I agree with your assessment. Robert Bourke also commented that the company had refused his request to redesign the back edge of the front fenders to reduce their propensity to rust, claiming that they would cost almost a dollar more per fender to produce. Another speaker was Bob Wallace, the president of JC Taylor Insurance, which at the time was (probably) the only company focused entirely on insuring antique cars. He had some very interesting things to say about the their interpretation of the "limited use" provisions in their policies.

[junior]

Once again this forum is a wealth of information! Here is some more info that may be of interest...

http://www.deansgarage.com/2009/bob-marcks-designer-at-studebaker-ford-and-chrysler/

cheers. junior

[tsenecal]

Thanks junior. Pretty cool article. Too bad some of those concepts didn't continue into the 70s.

[Stu Chapman]

Stu Chapman, do you know the answer?

In post #7, Craig is correct. The final design was completed by Bob Marcks. However some of the running changes were begun by Canadian staff members.

Stu Chapman

[Steve T]

Hey Stu--

This discussion about the '66s jogs my memory of something later still...namely the sketches you showed somewhere of Stude-style cues applied to early-80s Chrysler products...I remember a K-car sketch with a '66 Stude nose, and one of a circa-1981 Cordoba/Mirada with a GT Hawk-style nose on it...both looked quite worthwhile and would be interesting "phantoms" to build for real IMO!

S.