The Lamberti papers #6

[Studebaker Wheel]

[jlmccuan]

Once again, great footnotes to Studebaker history. Thanks again Mr. Quinn !!

[Bob Andrews]

It would be amazing to see a Lark going 132 MPH

[BobPalma]

It would be amazing to see a Lark going 132 MPH

Well, Bob; it did! A 1963 R2 Regal 2-door. The time/speed was not sales BS; it was certified. BP

[Jim B PEI]

All of it is fascinating. (Just learned a new meaning of 'bumper'.)

#9 was interesting too. Those 6 cylinder 'special camshafts' and 'intake manifolds' and two barrel carbs...any more information floating around about that or is that something completely scrapped/gone/disappeared? I wonder what the performance was supposed to be like?? >>Quote by Bob Andrews: It would be amazing to see a Lark going 132 MPH<< Having a SIX cylinder Lark going over 100 mph at Bonneville would have been a minor coup!! (yeah, there are no steep cliffs at Bonneville; as a Studebaker 6 owner and driver, I know the jokes)

EDIT #7 shows the error of being too 'penny wise, pound foolish' Using the same vehicle and retrimming it a few times makes sense if the factory is photographing the cars and releasing the photos, but not if you are inviting the outside press in. Surely a press junket prepped car could have gone into inventory afterwards! As a prepped car, it would have been especially nice, and perfect as showroom demonstrators for favoured dealers.

[BobPalma]

Gee, these are interesting, Dick.

Are you having to manually retype all this to enter it? If so, more thanks than normal, which is lots of thanks to begin with.

Comments on today's post:

1. Wow, almost 1,000 unsold, new 1962 models still in dealer inventory as of February 4, 1963. Considering the dealer count cited, that means almost every other dealer had at least one unsold, new 1962 in stock on February 4, 1963.

As an aside, I wonder how many of those unsold '62s were Hawks, because:

Years ago, cousin George Krem and Larry Swanson and I researched the last half of 1962 V-8 production, examining individual Production Orders looking for 1962 Indianapolis 500 Pace and Festival cars. One thing I noted in that research was a seemingly inordinate number of 1962 Hawks being built for stock (i.e., no firm dealer destination) and how fairly plain they were; maybe just a radio and Flightomatic and whitewalls and wheel covers, for example.

The 1963 Hawk was so much improved over the 1962, I wonder how many of those late-production '62s were passed over by buyers who came in and bought a 1963 Hawk instead, after the '63s had been introduced. We'll never know, of course.


2. Interesting, the repeated references to running 1963 F6 (Customs) instead of the slightly-lighter F4 (Regals) in racing and record events. Perhaps they thought the F6s photographed better, with bright window moldings on the side and the nice check mark on the quarter panels?


3. RE: 6. Sales Promotion

Mr. Minkel mentioned that he is trying to decide on sales promotion programs for March and April. The industry launches a big drive for these months, and most of their programs are trading allowances. For instance, Ford and Chrysler dealers are given $50 if they exceed a certain quota and $75 if they exceed a certain higher quota. There is also a kickback to the zone and district sales managers for exceeding quota. Thus, it is more attractive to our dual dealers to sell the competitive make.

Not only that, but it was probably a whole lot easier to sell the dual dealers' primary make, too!


4. RE: 3. National Dealer Council

Mr. Minkel will check with Mr. Egbert to see if it will be all right to bring the dealer council in next week. They will be shown the trim, the colors, and the upholstery before it is finalized. Mr. Minkel also mentioned the grille, but Mr. Hardig pointed out that it is set except for a little detail.

Dick, I hope you are able to find later reports of that Dealer Council meeting, having previewed the 1964 models. Rumor has persisted for years (and sounds reasonable) that the little Lark logo was added to the Challenger sail panels, and the official names of Lark Commander and Lark Challenger were established, as a result of Dealer Council protestations that the "Lark" named be forever purged from the lineup, effective with the 1964 models.

Dealers remembering the recent halicon days of 1959 and 1960 Lark sales were reluctant to see the name dropped and, allegedly, the company added the Lark references in the lower-level 1964 models to satisfy that Dealer Council concern.

I hope Dr. Lamberti's later papers will confirm or refute this, as it is interesting and possible legend.


Thanks again for your time devoted to these incredibly-interesting meeting minutes. BP

[Welcome]

ATTN: Chris D.!!!
Above is some info about your "TURTLE"

[65cruiser]

I wanna see a Studebaker "Econoline".

[JDP]

BTW, the paint discoloration on Avanti's was not from hi test gas, nor the washer fluid as suggested. It turned out to be from the washer hoses as they apparently later found out.

[8E45E]

I wanna see a Studebaker "Econoline".

The February, 1983 TW has a drawing of it. One was made, and so far, its never been located.

Craig

[Milaca]

"5. 25K Loader

We submitted our cost proposal for two designs: one used by the air force at $43,000 per unit, and an alternate at $37,000 per unit using commercial components, e.g., Studebaker engine, Borg-Warner transmission. It will probably be a couple of months before the contract is awarded."

I'm curious about this. Do you think it was a construction type machine used for excavating or maybe a large forklift?
Let's hope that Richard's fingers and keyboard don't wear-out anytime soon, as this is good stuff!

[doug]

I really enjoy ease-dropping on the Board meetings. The savings of these notes, and permitting our use of this information is incredilble.

[j.byrd]

Mr. Quinn, thanks so much for posting these items, it is extremely interesting to get the insider's view. I wonder about the fiberglass hoods and deck lids in the So. Africa notes, did these ever happen ? I sure hope there is a lot more of these papers to come, thanks again for sharing, John

[Guster]

Pic in TW of 'eclonline'



Does anybody have a copy of that issue I would also like to see a Pic

[StudeMichael]

Here is the reason why your 1963 Studebaker Lark has a cracked dash pad:

2. Crash Pads

We can’t get enough parts in so that we can return the really bad ones. Mr. Capsey asked the vendor Friday if we had asked them to make something they can’t make. Mr. Soelch commented that the vendor will change the thickness of the material, and Mr. Capsey observed that that is a move in the right direction, but it won’t solve it.