Rumble seat Lark

[rknight89]

By the way Richard, if you google map Frank Hilker S-P dealer(845 S. Halsted St. Chicago Heights, Il.) it's now a Mexican Restraunt!!!!! You can clearly see that it was a car dealership back in the day. Looks like they found a few gallons of Studebaker 'Flamingo' paint in building. That's the color of the building.

[rknight89]

YES... that IS my car! We've done a lot of work to it...but there is still a lot to do. Engine is rebuilt & installed, transmission has been inspected & resealed & installed, brakes done, body work "done"...lost of sandpaper time to do, upholstery being done. Rumble seat was well engineered but poorly executed. It will be obnoxious for the rest of it's life! If all goes well, it might be done sometime this summer!

[Studebaker Wheel]

Here is my earlier post on the topic:

THE UNIQUE HAWK OF DALE KUHN
by Richard Quinn

Unique adj. Being without a like or equal; single in kind or excellence; unequaled; matchless.

Unique aptly defines the 1961 rumble seat Hawk owned by Dale Kuhn of Pekin, Illinois. Unique in that it is the only one of its kind in existence! The flamingo beauty shown in this issue rolled off the South Bend assembly line on November 23, 1960. Except for its unusual array of options it did not differ markedly from most other '61 Hawks.

Some very special things were in store for this Hawk, however, since it was heading for the Studebaker dealership of Frank Hilker in Chicago Heights, Illinois. Mr. Hilker had recently taken over the Studebaker franchise and being of a pioneering nature he thought he might increase showroom traffic in his Halsted Ave. dealership by offering something a little different. The Hawk was driven about 30 miles to the south to Bradley, Illinois where the Cooley Brothers, Len and Corky, designed and built a rumble seat conversion.

As far as Frank Hilker was concerned, he liked the rumble seat idea and the looks of the conversion. It did increase the traffic in showroom and gave him national recognition in various trade publications. Unfortunately, publicity and increased exposure did not bring a corresponding increase in sales and the rumble seat idea did not catch on

The Studebaker Corp. sales department never seriously considered production of the units and it seems the only representative to see the conversion was zone manager Glen Finney. As Frank Hilker tells it, Finney's first reaction was that the conversion had "destroyed the car.” Hilker says that Finney thought he was “out of his mind!" There is no evidence to suggest that Studebaker executives ever gave the rumble seat idea any serious consideration as a production option. Even if Studebaker execs were not impressed, there were many who at least admired Hilker's pioneering spirit. A scrapbook of articles and letters now in his possession contains letters from many important people including one from the White House.

Dale's Hawk is but one of four rumble seat conversions made by the Cooley Bros. for Hilker Motors. Another Hawk and two Lark convertibles were also completed.

Dale purchased the car in April 1971 and by that time it was showing the ravages of time and misuse. It had considerable rust and was generally run down. Too rare to be abandoned to its customary fate, Dale began acquiring parts until he had accumulated all new fenders, chrome, panels and interior for the restoration. The car was taken for the body restoration to the same Cooley Bros. who had done the original conversion.

Happy to see it had survived, they restored it to its present show quality. Dale has entered only one show with the car since the six-year restoration was completed. At the Fall zone meet in St. Louis he was awarded two trophies including Ladies Choice. With a rumble seat and Flamingo paint is it any wonder? Hopefully you can see Dale's car in person this summer (1978) at the National meet in South Bend.

[4961Studebaker]

Is this one the same car? http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...ghlight=rumble

Craig

It is Craig you beat me to posting the old link.

[8E45E]

Is this one the same car? http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...ghlight=rumble

Craig

[Blue 15G]

I like the picture of the dirty '53 in storage. When I bought my '54 it looked pretty much like that. (After sitting in a barn for 30 years.) Thanks for posting.

Dave Bonn
'54 Champion

[JBOYLE]

Inspired (if not produced) by the firm that did kits for 2 seat (55-57) T-Birds in period?

[Carl Purdy]

[62champ]

The forum will take some pretty big photos. Here is one that is 1024 pixels wide.



Best of luck with your Lark - never going to have to worry about running into another Lark like that...a Hawk - that is a different story...

[rknight89]

http://1164.photobucket.com/albums/q...ent=stude2.jpg Here's another one. Got these photos from the Cooley Bros. when I met them several years ago. They were the two guys that built the 2 Larks & 2 Hawks with rumble seats in '61. All were built for & sold by Frank Hilker, the S-P dealer in Chicago Hgts.

[Carl Purdy]

[62champ]

Now put [img] in front of that and [/img] behind it and you will get the photo to post.

[rknight89]

http://1164.photobucket.com/albums/q...ent=stude1.jpg Well... it's a small pic but here it a link to it.

[62champ]

When you are in album view in photobucket and hold you mouse pointer over the picture, you get some options that pop up below.

Click on the "img code" window and PB will say 'copied'. Then all you do is paste in the window and the picture will show up when you preview and later post.

[rknight89]

Yeah... Clearly I'm computer stupid. I put a few pics on photobucket & now I can't seem to get the over here! HELP!!!