1967 Prototypes at the Hamilton Factory

[2R2]

All this recent talk about Studebaker's '66 line-up made me recall the attached letter which appeared way back in the August '78 issue of Special Interest Autos. This letter may have been posted here before (heck, I may have posted it before ) but I thought it was worth sharing. It was written by Robert Williams, who was writing in response to an article which appeared in an earlier issue of the magazine, showing drawings of the proposed '67's. Mr. Williams apparently visited the factory in late March of 1966, after production had ended. Does anyone know Mr. Williams? At the time, he lived in Rochester, NY - curious if he has any additional photos....

Anyway, a few interesting things in the photos which appear in his letter. First off, the prototypes are at the Hamilton factory, after production ended. What happened to them? Were they converted back to look like '66's and sold? Notice the one prototype as a plate on the front. Check out all those unused frames; I wonder how many of those were for a two door, and eventually ended up under a later Avanti II? Also, how long did it take Hamilton to wrap up operations at the Factory? From the looks of it, and assuming these photos are from late March of 1966, workers still had quite a few cars to prep for shipment.

Hopefully Mr. Chapman can shed some light on this.

[8E45E]

I asked before: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...=hamilton+1967

Craig

[stude dude]

This is the same car, photo taken at the Marcks Hazelquist Powers office.

A similar article states that many of the 1967 design changes were carried out on an earlier black sedan with cardboard and tape, so the car could have easily been returned to its original state.

Chris.

[njonkman]

A note of interest. As a teen I lived across the border from Port Huron MI in Sarnia, Ontario. Beside this story is a full column ad from Burchill Antique Auto Parts. As a youth we often went there for parts for our old clunkers. Brings back a lot of memories. Still drive by the location at least once a month and reminisce about all the fun we had there. The site is now where a huge mall is located called Burchwood Mall. Back then it was basically out in the country along the highway and had a long line of low sheds along the fence.
Nick

[Stu Chapman]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]36488[/ATTACH]

All this recent talk about Studebaker's '66 line-up made me recall the attached letter which appeared way back in the August '78 issue of Special Interest Autos. This letter may have been posted here before (heck, I may have posted it before ) but I thought it was worth sharing. It was written by Robert Williams, who was writing in response to an article which appeared in an earlier issue of the magazine, showing drawings of the proposed '67's. Mr. Williams apparently visited the factory in late March of 1966, after production had ended. Does anyone know Mr. Williams? At the time, he lived in Rochester, NY - curious if he has any additional photos....

Anyway, a few interesting things in the photos which appear in his letter. First off, the prototypes are at the Hamilton factory, after production ended. What happened to them? Were they converted back to look like '66's and sold? Notice the one prototype as a plate on the front. Check out all those unused frames; I wonder how many of those were for a two door, and eventually ended up under a later Avanti II? Also, how long did it take Hamilton to wrap up operations at the Factory? From the looks of it, and assuming these photos are from late March of 1966, workers still had quite a few cars to prep for shipment.

Hopefully Mr. Chapman can shed some light on this.

I can't add anything new to my comments in the link indicated in post #2 from 8E45E.

Stu Chapman

[Commander Eddie]

I remember in the late '60s seeing a photograph of a late model Lark type that had a single horizontal front headlight made by Sylvania. It looked really cool but they may not have been able to adopt it because of the government rules stating that headlights had to be 2 individual lights. This makes it possible for those ahead to judge your distance in the dark. Does anyone else remember seeing that car?

[Steve T]

Eddie--

That would be Brooks Stevens' Sceptre prototype, built on a Lark chassis as a prototype for a GT Hawk replacement by Sibona e Bassano, a coach builder in Italy. It, and the four-door Lark/Cruiser sedan study and Lark Skyview wagon (which previewed the Wagonaire's sliding roof), date to 1962. All three went into Stevens' museum in Wisconsin and thence to SNM where they still reside in good shape. The "wall-to-wall" headlight arrangement by Sylvania is a bit reminiscent visually of some 1980s Mercury designs.

Here are two pix of the Sceptre in the basement annex at SNM in 2009...





S.

[2R2]

I asked before: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...=hamilton+1967

Craig

Craig, thanks...I see I even responded to the orginal posting, so apparently I am just losing my mind here!