April TW, inside front cover photo

[Bill Pressler]

Maybe I've missed it (definite possibility), but I haven't seen anyone rave about the inside front cover photo of the new '65 Daytona Sports Sedan. Seems to me that factory color photos of Studebakers are pretty unusual, and that's a pretty car. Neat to know it's at the Proving Ground, by the brick pillars there. I'd love to just step right into that picture!

I'm guessing that was summer '64--between kindergarten and first-grade for me...LOL.

Funny, ironic, whatever, that the car would've been built in Hamilton but shipped all the way to South Bend for factory promotional photos like this one.

There are a father-and-son from Maryland who have shown a '65 nearly just like this car, at international meets over the years--except their car has black interior instead of red. It's a real nice car.

[stratovue]

I would bet that this car had never been out of northern Indiana when this photo was taken. All of the adaptation of the McKinnon engines was done in South Bend before the Engineering Department was shut down.

Ed Reynolds

[Bill Pressler]

I would bet that this car had never been out of northern Indiana when this photo was taken. All of the adaptation of the McKinnon engines was done in South Bend before the Engineering Department was shut down.

Ed Reynolds

Good point, Ed. That car was probably the prototype for the subsequent production Daytonas built at Hamilton.

[beatnik64]

I'm curious what the roman numerals on the passenger side vent window mean. I'm sure they serve a purpose... I never noticed them on any past factory photos of other cars

[studegary]

I'm curious what the roman numerals on the passenger side vent window mean. I'm sure they serve a purpose... I never noticed them on any past factory photos of other cars

To me, it looks like either VXI or YXI, neither of which makes sense in roman numerals.
I am guessing that it was some system to keep prototype cars separate (identity). Prototype cars normally did not have a regular Serial Number.