Studebaker Lark Pace Car

[Rich]

An article on Jalopnik lists the Studebaker Lark as one of the most Awesome Indy 500 Pace Car's.

http://jalopnik.com/5338583/twelve-awesome-pace-cars/gallery/?skyline=true&s=x

Rich


Richard Morris
Renton, WA
64 Avanti R-1 #5367
90 Avanti 4-door #78

[ISpy]

"Thus was born one of the stranger Indy 500 pace cars in recent memory."

[lstude]

That was even stranger from the 1940 Studebaker Champion.



And these were the other Studebaker Pace Cars.

1929 President



1952 Commander




Leonard Shepherd

http://leonardshepherd.com/

[Desert Explorer]

where are they now?

55 Commander Regal Coupe
XA Bat (The Roadwarrior)
KARR (Knightrider)
Eleanor (ORIGINAL Gone in 60 Seconds)


Mad Max Car's "Hero Car Ranch"; Seattle, Wa.

[StudeRich]

quote:Originally posted by ISpy

"Thus was born one of the stranger Indy 500 pace cars in recent memory."

STRANGER?

What is so strange about a 289 V-8, 4 barrel, 4 speed, Twin Traction performance geared Studebaker Lark "Daytona" CONVERTIBLE being the Indy 500 Pace Car?

The Avantis WERE "finished" there were several of them displayed at the race! [^]

A performance oriented car is a plus, and in later years was the norm, unlike the 1940 Champion.

The actual car chosen was the Avanti; "America's Most Modern Car" but a convertible was preferred so the Daytona ran in it's place.

With 10 Ft. Lbs. of Torque less than the experimental prototype Chevy XT-2 that could never qualify, but was suggested, I don't think the Daytona would be considered a slouch!

StudeRich

[8E45E]

quote:Originally posted by StudeRich

What is so strange about a 289 V-8, 4 barrel, 4 speed, Twin Traction performance geared Studebaker Lark "Daytona" CONVERTIBLE being the Indy 500 Pace Car?


The actual car chosen was the Avanti; "America's Most Modern Car" but a convertible was preferred so the Daytona ran in it's place.

Apparently what was 'strange' was the winner, Roger Ward did not receive the actual pace car as was usual practice. According to E.T Reynolds Sr., the Avanti was labelled 'Honorary Pace Car' and received that instead.

Craig

[Warren Webb]

What would be strange is if they made the Chevy Volt the pace car for next year!!!

60 Lark convertible
61 Champ
62 Daytona convertible
63 G.T. R-2,4 speed
63 Avanti (2)
66 Daytona Sport Sedan

[davepink53]

Thanks Leonard for the great photos, as usual. Do you know who the two men in the 1940 Champion picture are, and what was happening right then?

Dave Pink
Victoria, Australia

1913 SA25 Town Car
1916 SF Roadster
1925 ER Tourer
1925 Panel Delivery
1953 Champion Sedan
1957 Golden Hawk


Studebaker Car Club Of Australia Website

http://www.studebakercarclub.net

[pgothard]

Why did the Avanti go to Ward? Well, as my father (who purchased a Lark Pace Car duplicate in '62) learned from his Cleveland Studebaker dealer, L.S. Kerr: The Avanti was SUPPOSED to be the ACTUAL Pace Car. Unfortunately, the jig problems for the fiberglass bodies manufactured at Molded Fiberglass Products in Ohio allowed the rear glass opening to enlarge while curing. When the bodies arrived in SB for assembly, the entire rear glass (garnish mouldings and all!) fell through the body opening into the car! They couldn't fully resolve the issue in time and when an Avanti ran trial runs on the Indy track and got to speed, the rear glass got sucked right off the car!! The Daytona was provided as a substitute (not a bad substitute!). The entire "Honorary" thing was a way for public relations to squeek past the nightmare they had faced. Ward got the Avanti since is was a bit more glamorous AND planned as the Pace Car for that year! BTW, my dad's Lark came with a dealer key tag that read, "Pace Car". I still have that key tag AND the 289 4bbl & 4-speed from that car.

--Paul

[BobPalma]

quote:Originally posted by pgothard

Why did the Avanti go to Ward? Well, as my father (who purchased a Lark Pace Car duplicate in '62) learned from his Cleveland Studebaker dealer, L.S. Kerr: The Avanti was SUPPOSED to be the ACTUAL Pace Car....

The Daytona was provided as a substitute (not a bad substitute!). The entire "Honorary" thing was a way for public relations to squeek past the nightmare they had faced. BTW, my dad's Lark came with a dealer key tag that read, "Pace Car". I still have that key tag AND the 289 4bbl & 4-speed from that car.

--Paul

Paul: Do you have the Serial Number from your Dad's car? None of the 500 Festival Pace Car Duplicates were 289/4-bbl/4-speed; all were 180 HP 259s with Flightomatic.

Only the two actual Pace Cars were 289/225s with 4-speed. Your Dad may have purchased one of the two actual pace cars(!) or the dealer (or your Dad) ordered a 289/225HP 4-speed that was a true appearance duplicate of the actual pace car(s).

(Two identical, actual Pace Cars were built: one to pace and one for backup in case something terrible happened to the first one. Unless it is recorded somewhere yet to be uncovered, it is not known which of the two Pace Cars actually paced the race.) BP

[barnlark]

Paul Gothard, you're alive!!! Great to see you here, buddy. Long time. Are you still in downtown, P-Ville?
You have BP salivating. [^] Me, too. Any information (especially with pictures!) on that car of your dad's would be a great story. Anyone interested in writing it?

[8E45E]

quote:

Originally posted by BobPalma
I still have that key tag AND the 289 4bbl & 4-speed from that car.

--Paul

Paul: Do you have the Serial Number from your Dad's car? None of the 500 Festival Pace Car Duplicates were 289/4-bbl/4-speed; all were 180 HP 259s with Flightomatic.

Only the two actual Pace Cars were 289/225s with 4-speed. Your Dad may have purchased one of the two actual pace cars(!) or the dealer (or your Dad) ordered a 289/225HP 4-speed that was a true appearance duplicate of the actual pace car(s).

Even if he doesn't have the serial number from that car, would it be possible to cross-reference the engine number which he still has...[?]

Craig

[Studebaker Wheel]

I note some questions and a fair amount of misinformation in this thread. I have written extensively about Studebaker at Indy and more specifically the four pace cars. Really too much to try to summarize all of it here.

However, to answer a few of the inquiries and correct the mis-information I offer the following:

The photo posted by lstude (see third post) of the '29 President model FH roadster that paced the race that year is a bit of a mystery in that it seems to show some type of ornament on the headlight cross bar. I have seen that photo before and have never quite figured out what that is (none of the actual 29's had anything resembling that). The car in that image was similar to the actual pace car but it is definitely not the pace car. I am providing directly above a photo of the real car. Note the larger wheel hubs. The car was finished in silver and black and after the race several replicas were offered with this special paint combination though all of them had the smaller hubs. At Indy the pace car was driven by George Hunt from Studebaker's engineering staff. The winner of the contest Ray Keech did [u]not</u> win the car. This tradition was not started until 1936 when a Packard 120 convertible coupe was awarded to winner Tommy Milton.

The two people posed with the 1940 Champion 2 door posted above by Leonard Shepard (lstude) are T. E. "Pop" Meyers (Indy 500 manager) at left and the 1940 winner Wilbur Shaw. The Deluxe Champion Club Sedan was finished in Ruby Red and was the first closed car to ever pace the "500"

For a very comprehensive story on the 1952 Indy pace car you should access the Almanac column in the April 1999 Turning Wheels. This article contains the production orders on the pace car as well as the back car up plus lots of additional information.

The Avanti was most certainly never seriously considered as the pace car for the Indy 500. The choice of the Studebaker Daytona convertible was made by Indy officials in late November or early December 1961 (long before the Avanti was even a twinkle in Sherwood Egbert's eye). Egbert did attempt to convince Indy officials to change it to the Avanti when he confirmed that a prototype was nearing completion in early May of 1962 but they were having no part of it. The white Avanti that made an appearance at the race was an early prototype and it was accepted as the official car for the event. It could not have been readied for an actual pace car even if it would have been accepted due to several factors. How embarrassing would it have been to see the Avanti pace car roaring around the 4th turn at the head of 33 racing cars only to have its rear glass fly out?

Rodger Ward the winner of the 1962 race was awarded a new Avanti (R1034) several weeks after the event. Please note for future reference Mr. Ward's first name is [u]not</u> spelled Roger. The story on the 1962 pace car was covered by George Krem in the January 1993 TW.

I have lots of additional material on the pace cars. None of the four are currently known to have survived.


Richard Quinn
past editor: Antique Studebaker Review

[BobPalma]

quote:Originally posted by 8E45E

quote:

Originally posted by BobPalma
I still have that key tag AND the 289 4bbl & 4-speed from that car.

--Paul

Paul: Do you have the Serial Number from your Dad's car? None of the 500 Festival Pace Car Duplicates were 289/4-bbl/4-speed; all were 180 HP 259s with Flightomatic.

Only the two actual Pace Cars were 289/225s with 4-speed. Your Dad may have purchased one of the two actual pace cars(!) or the dealer (or your Dad) ordered a 289/225HP 4-speed that was a true appearance duplicate of the actual pace car(s).

Even if he doesn't have the serial number from that car, would it be possible to cross-reference the engine number which he still has...[?]

Craig

Absolutely, Craig. I thought of that after posting and planned to go back and add it this morning.

Paul: Even if you don't have the car's Serial Number, please read the stamped engine serial number of the engine from the car your father owned. I have copies of the production orders here for both of the specially-built, actual Pace Cars and will check your engine number to see if it came from one of those two cars.

If you don't want to post the engine number here, send me a private EM.

This is an exciting possibility, so I hope your engine came out of one of the two actual pace cars. It can be verified.

Related to this topic, I appreciate Dick Quinn's observations about the intended and actual 1962 Pace Car. I don't buy the theory that the Avanti was "supposed to be" the 1962 pace car, and the Daytona convertible was substituted when the Avanti could not be readied.

It makes a good story for people who like to write stories, but I believe Dick has it correctly summarized: The decision for the following year's pace car is made late in the preceding year, and the 1962 Studebaker Lark Daytona convertible most certainly was the original and only choice when the decision was made, per Dick's explanation.

I might add that Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman was a Hoosier through-and-through, and well-supported "our" home-grown motorcar industry. (I have to put parentheses around "our" because I'm not a native Hoosier: Born and raised in Illinois until age 16, I've only been a Hoosier 47 years...and proud to be so identified, thank you!)

Tony Hulman's "class" is missed today in The Hoosier State. When he was living, he directed his staff, especially the late Grounds Keeper Clarence Cagle, to be co-operative and helpful with car clubs who wanted to sponsor events at The Speedway. That has been gradually eroded in the last several decades for a variety of reasons, most of which any of you reading this can imagine without my having to enumerate them! BP

[pgothard]

Engine # P91045 for the "Pace Car" my dad bought.

To the degree that you only know what you are told - in this case by a reputable Stude dealer - I can tell you that that is what we were told - a story my dad still remembers in every detail.

After reading a posting on another thread that the ACTUAL Pace Car had a B&W interior, I suppressed some aspects of what my dad was told, considering it "salesmanship" on the part of Kerr. But, OK -- here it is!:

Kerr had the Daytona parked out front of his dealership on Mayfield Rd. in Cleveland Heights. My dad was looking for a "family" car. Kerr said, "yeah, but you're a young father - did you see the Pace Car?" My dad was not interested, but Kerr took him for a ride in it. My dad was stunned!! Kerr said a fast convertible would be a fun family car and proceeded to tell the story about the Avanti back glass crashing onto the track. He also explained that he (Kerr) and his wife attended the "500" race. He said that when he learned that Ward got the Avanti, he made arrangements to purchase THE Pace Car for his dealership. He got it (he said)! He also said his wife drove it back from Indy to the dealership in Cleveland.

My dad purchased the car, and with all of the graphics on the sides, was constantly harrassed by the various muscle-cars of 60's wanting to put away the Studebaker Pace Car. My dad found himself drag-racing his way to work and back nearly every day (and "putting away all the muscle-cars," he always tells). He eventually had to have the car repainted (yeah, I know!!!) to be able to drive around like a normal father with a young family and keep from getting tickets.

I inherited the Daytona when I got to driving-age. Never altered since new (other than the repaint)it absolutely had a 289 4bbl with the T-10, duals, etc. BUT, and I say BUT, it had a red & white interior as in the picture at the top of this thread - NOT the B&W as claimed for the actual Daytona that did the pacing. Our car looked EXACTLY like the picture in this thread. The other side-shot Pace Car picture we are used to with Egbert in the back seat has the B&W interior -- but, no flags!

What finally happened? Well, I drove the Lark throughout HS (harrassed for driving a Stude, but getting revenge in beating brand new 69 SS 396 Chevelles!) and some of college, until an on-coming car suddenly drifted left-of-center and caught me (1971). The damage was beyond repair. The only thing I could manage to save was the engine/trans. Today, the engine powers my 61 Champ 3/4 ton, under a Holley model 4160 4bbl.

Did Kerr sell us the ACTUAL Pace Car - like he said? Well, like I said, you only know for sure what you know. Maybe that engine # will solve the riddle. It WAS at least a duplicate - even tho' the key tag only says "Pace Car".

Thanks for your interest!

--Paul