1955 Speedster (dogs) not such a “hot” seller (memos from Nance and Churchill)

[BobPalma]

Interesting memos, Dick; thanks.

(Shades of barely a decade later, trying to move Avantis out of inventory after the bloom was off the rose and all the early orders that had been "unfillable" due to production delays, had been filled by those same buyers backing out and buying a Thunderbird or Riviera, as they would have anyway, eh?) BP

[Lothar]

Next time I buy a used car, I'm going to throw some of Mr. Churchill's industry insider language at the salesman. I will demand a "deterioration allowance"!

[SN-60]

Question....
Were the majority of the unsold models Lemon/Lime color?

I was thinking the same thing!....Studebaker probably should have reserved the 'blinding' Hialeah Green/Sun Valley Yellow paint combo for the fourteen original attention getting Speedster showcars....and then offered it on a 'special order' basis to any customer whom desired it.

Although today people find that green/yellow paint combo breathtaking, I would think that in '55-'56 not too many new car buyers would want to be seen in something that flashy on an everyday basis!

Having owned a show condition green/yellow Speedster, I know from my own experience driving Studebakers that NOTHING postwar attracts more attention!

(Studebaker painted more President Speedsters green/yellow than any other factory paint combo........they probably made a mistake by doing that)

[swvalcon]

Funny how time changes things. I know a guy that bought a Charger Daytona when new that the dealer called him on asking if he wanted to buy the ugliest Dodge ever built and he got a deal for $2300. Think what that car is worth today.

[studegary]

This brings to mind three things.
1) Bob Bourke did not like the 1955 models. He was required to load them with chrome/stainless to make them like Buicks, that they competed with price-wise.
2) In 1955, the guy that I worked for did not like the flash of the Speedster. He bought a new black President hardtop with most all accessories. An aside - It was one of the first two cars that I remember going over 100 mph in (the other was my uncle's 1955 Buick Century).
3) My own 1955 Speedster was a "Neopolitan ice cream special", still in its original paint. I try to use 1955 in referring to these models as Studebaker used the Speedster name in earlier years.

[studegary]

I noticed the difference in whitewall widths on the Speedsters in the picture. It's interesting that the cars with the dark color on top had the wider whitewalls. The cars with dark on the bottom all had the narrower whitewalls. I wonder if this was a coincidence or intentional from the factory?

My guess is that this just represented different points in the model year. The early 1955s had the 1953-1954 style of whitewall and the later 1955s had a slightly narrower whitewall, more like 1956s. Of course different tire manufacturers could have had a bearing on this also.

[StudeRich]

/Cut/(Studebaker painted more President Speedsters green/yellow than any other factory paint combo........they probably made a mistake by doing that)

I would think there would not be that many Green/Yellow leftover late '55 Speedsters.
It must be remembered that the first few Months of production mostly in 1954 were ALL Lemon/Lime, I would think that after those were gone, very few would be ordered in those Garish Colors.

The Pimlico Gray and Congo Ivory was the real standout Winner of the bunch, in my eye it's no contest between all the other Colors that year.
It was also a Speedster only Color Combo and a really Special Maroon Glow Metallic Gray like nothing else.

This is definitely the BEST Angle for a Pic of any '55!

[Hallabutt]

I like dogs and I like Speedsters! I wasn't buying any new car in 1955, but I were it would be hard for me to choose a Speedster at $3300+. NO independent car maker sold much of anything in the competitive car sales climate of that year! As the "Big Three" all tried to outsell one another, they took down the independents in the process.
Chevrolet Bel Air:
convertible $2100
sport coupe $1982

Ford:
Crown Victoria $2605

Buick:
Riviera $3144
Roadmaster convertible $3234

[PackardV8]

I like dogs and I like Speedsters! I wasn't buying any new car in 1955, but I were it would be hard for me to choose a Speedster at $3300+. NO independent car maker sold much of anything in the competitive car sales climate of that year! As the "Big Three" all tried to outsell one another, they took down the independents in the process.
Chevrolet Bel Air convertible $2100, sport coupe $1982

Ford Crown Victoria $2605

Buick Riviera $3144, Roadmaster convertible $3234

To each his own and to those of us who like the less popular makes and models, the majority is always wrong.

I would think there would not be that many Green/Yellow leftover late '55 Speedsters. It must be remembered that the first few months of production mostly in 1954 were ALL Lemon/Lime, I would think that after those were gone, very few would be ordered in those Garish Colors.

Again, to each his own; the fact is, I've seen crowds at shows walk right by a beautiful Pimlico Gray and Congo Ivory Speedster and whip out the phone to take photos of that "garish" Lemon/Lime. Of all the Studes I've driven/ridden/seen in the past seventy years, nothing draws attention like the L/L Speedster.

And lest we forget the Speedster was the most garishly chrome-laden Stude C/K body ever built. Buick put chrome everywhere and sold well, so the dealers and sales department ordered Stude stylists to do the same. Nothing set off the huge expanses of chrome as did the L/L paint.

jack vines

[56H-Y6]

In late 1954, that was all Packard had to sell were 1954 models, and they weren't 'leftovers'. Packard missed the important September new-car-intros, and didn't have any new 1955's available until January of that year.

Craig

That was the absolutely worst situation a new car dealer could face: all his competitors with the new model year cars in the showroom and lots and trying to peddle what the public recognized as last years models though still brand new. His only course was heavy discounting to sell anything. Some make loyalist would bail him out, still worked tremendous deals to do so. Worse, it stole sales of the new 1955 models in this case when they finally arrived. No telling how many sales were lost to competitive makes. This situation caused more than one dealer to drop his franchise, go with a competitor when the opportunity arose.

[Studebaker Wheel]

For the record here (below) is a breakdown of the colors used on the Speedster. Also a export dealer letter relevant to colors dated May 12, 1955.

The photo in post #1 was taken on Dec. 23, 1954. At that time only two color options existed, the Lemon/Lime and the Congo Ivory/Pimlico Gray. In that photo cars one, three and five would be the lemon/lime. Note also car #3 has the spinner on the hub cap and dual spotlights.

[Andy R.]

The photo was taken in South Bend, Indiana just across the street from the Freeman-Spicer Studebaker dealership.

Thanks, Dick.
It's a great thread topic. Producing "halo" cars at a loss/lower margin to generate showroom traffic can be seen as a marketing/promotional expense. It's interesting comparing the opinions of the customers, banks and current collectors.

[StudeRich]

One thing that could and probably SHOULD have been done, and was not, is to move more Cars faster, offer a "bare as the rest of the Line" Speedster, or maybe a lesser Loaded version II, to considerably lower the quite high Price for the Only Car Studebaker ever built that came fully Loaded.

[SN-60]

[QUOTE=StudeRich;

The Pimlico Gray and Congo Ivory was the real standout Winner of the bunch, in my eye it's no contest between all the other Colors that year.





'Opinions May Vary' Rich!

[SN-60]

Another reason which should to be mentioned concerning the President Speedster model being a 'slow sell'........ Studebaker did not advertise this car very well.

Aside from the small showroom brochure, and a few different magazine ads, little was said about this model.....few knew it even existed!!

Heck, even in the late sixties and early seventies, every Studebaker fan knew about the Golden, Silver and GT Hawks, but few fans knew Studebaker even built a '1955 Speedster', unless they actually owned one, or knew someone that did!

Also, it must have been pretty hard to sell ANY leftover 1955 Studebaker in late '55 or early 1956, with that huge sales push for the '56 Stude models.