Jalopnik
It's doesn't come as a shock to find that Studebakers haven't made much of a showing in this series (so far we've had just an Avanti), given that the Studes were never all that common even back in the day. But hey, at least the Studebaker Pines are still standing tall, and so is this quasi-rat-rodded '60 Lark VIII!
The Lark was Studebaker's last-ditch attempt to regain some sort of toehold in the American car marketplace, and it didn't sell too badly. That wasn't enough to prevent Studebaker from abandoning ship in '63, (though they limped along a few years longer in Canada). The "VII" emblem means this car has the V8 engine, though in '60 that could have been either the 259 or the longer-stroke 289.
With its primer black paint and somewhat de-trimmed state, it's hard to tell whether this Lark is on its way to fresh paint or a more rodent-like appearance. It's definitely showing some East Bay pride with its big 510 emblem, either way.
This rear window treatment looked plenty dated by the 60s, but Studebaker had to work with what they had. Nearly 50 years later, it looks pretty good.
Is it just me, or does the Volvo 164 grille we saw yesterday bear an uncanny resemblance to this one?
Hmm... maybe.
Comments
Very welterweight, very pitbull.
What's the meaning of "510"?
At least we know why you did it. "I did it for a Lark!" Har har har
oh man I would drive that some! It must call out to passers by.
It's good to see a Studebaker here DOTS. Studebaker got a jump start when the Lark was introduced a model year earlier than the Falcon, Corvair and Valiant/Lancer. In that first year, their only direct competition was the Rambler, which by 1960 was the third best selling car in America. The Lark made considerable use of pre-existing Studebaker chassis and drive-train components, but it looked new. As each independent US carmaker disappeared, things got ever more boring.
@scottydawg:
Maybe the guy's proud of his area code.
I like the Studebaker better than the Volvo...
Then again, Volvo's style was 'boxy but good' from the 70s-90s
@poxpopulus: Wow. Lame. Is that gangsta or somethin? "510 in da hizzouse, yo". Of all the dumbass things to be proud of, area code is up near the top. Right above your second grader's GPA.
This thing needs blue dots...or is it blue DOTS? Hmmmm.
For a car company whose history extends back to wagon and buggy days, don't assume that Studebakers were scarce. In the early days they outsold Chevy and other smallish manufacturers. Also, right after WWII their sales were higher than others, as they got their assembly lines moving with modern autos before the bigger outfits. Their last good year was 1950, but last gasp efforts like the Lark and Avanti couldn't pull them out of the hole - much to the country's detriment. Cest la vie!
In Governor Arnie's voice...
Studebaker Lark VIII: Hey you, you're my clone!
Volvo 164: NO, you're my clone!
Studebaker Lark VIII: Noo, you are MY clone!!
Volvo 164: Well, if I am you, and you are me...
Studebaker Lark VIII: And I am you, and you are me...
Volvo 164 and Studebaker Lark VIII: AYR AYR AYR AYR AYR AYR
Studebaker Lark VIII: All I know is that there is somebody in my garage, drinking my birthday oil, with my family, and its not me!
I was never a big Studebaker fan until I joined my present employer. Then I caught "Stude Fever," as with a lot of our people. The family that owns the company were Studebaker dealers at one time, so there is a complete auto museum on the corporate campus with about 80 restored cars inside -- about half of which are Studes.
(But The Testarossa and F40 are pretty nice, too.)
If it was intentional, the flat black is a nice touch.
@POLAR: I might be back.
Nice car. My aunt had one. LOVE them taillights. The fuzzy dice and sloppily mounted speakers wreck the interior though.
This car and the DOTS 53 GMC cruise around Alameda ,rolling newer cars for gas money and lube jobs....Yeah that's why they are still around.
@Tanshanomi: That has to be the most interesting fringe benefit I've ever heard about. What company is this?
@KPG83:
Peterson Mfg. Co.
We make truck and trailer lights. And restore JFG-Worthy Studes like this one and this one.
I think I live in the wrong effing city.
Oh man, I have a funny feeling.. that car is too rad for words.
I wonder if the owner still smokes Lark cigarettes, like James Coburn: [www.youtube.com]
These cars have a lot of interior room, compared to, say an early Falcon or Corvair.
Nice. There was, for the longest time, a Lark at a garage around the corner from my parents. I'm not sure it ever moved though, and it was perpetually painted reddish-primer.
The area code thing, however, is ridiculous.
I bought my $175 Studebaker Lark - a '63 - on a whim, not wanting to drive my Malibu ragtop for (another) wet winter. It didn't have a single perfect panel on the body, but somehow looked dignified anyway. Everything worked except the O-drive and even with the six it got around pretty well. It felt really light for such a big car.
Another one I shoulda kept.
@scottydawg: The guy's proud of his area code.
Dog dishes and trim rings will always be cool. Nice find.
Such a cool car. Sad that it's always the more interesting carmakers that disappear...
@scottydawg: I don't know... Back in the day we used to have punk rock soccer teams (which was just an excuse to drink beer and kick people) and the hated Ventura team named themselves, "The Real 805."
Which made us angrier, drunker and more likely to kick people in the knees.
The body's remarkably straight (or heavily bondo-ed). There's basically no dents anywhere. Impressive, most impressive.
I've dated myself more than once here but when I was 5 yrs old (in 1954) my parents moved back to Salt Lake City from Northern NV. Dad bought a '53 Studebaker Champion pickup, just the color of baby poop. I've always had a soft spot for Studebakers.
Earlier this year, on Dennis Gage's show, there was this feature. [www.myclassiccar.com]
Wish I could find some photos of these cars. They were amazing!
When I was a kid, our neighbors had a new powdery blue convertible and as a kid, it just seemed like the perfect car--attractive, roomy, not too big. And it still looks great to me.
A friend's mother had a '61 or '62 2 door sedan with the 289 Packard performance engine. It was equipped with a 4 barrell carb, but if memory serves me correctly, a Paxton supercharger (prelude to the Avanti) was available. This little car would absolutely shit and git! His father drove a '59 300E convertable with 2 4's. At gas wars you could get it for $.25 gal, life was good!
I have to comment as a longtime lurker--I traded my plymouth sapporo (with super potential v6) for a 1959 stude with a 307 and a powerglide and offy parts, 4 barrel, glass pack. wow what a sound. the brakes--well, not so much.
I echo the volvo 164 look.
Sadly, it threw a rod and tossed all its oil right outside the former Ford dealership in Albuquerque.
In retrospect, I should have kept the sapporo, or the '79 corolla sr5 hatch before that, or the falcon sprint 260 before that. ah, here is the seam of my life: reliability and mileage versus hotness. sigh.
I spent the first 18 years of my life in South Bend, where Studebakers were pretty plentiful even through the 70s and mid 80s. Meanwhile the Studebaker factory buildings looked more and more like eyesores all the time.
I love the paint on this....
Be easy to put a nice coachline on it using some blackboard chalk.
Some (myself included) see an even greater grille similarity to the '60-'62 Plymouth Valiant
@studemax: The Packard merger didn't help either
Mister Ed.
The Studebaker Corporation blew the bulk of their marketing budget sponsoring this show, and also placed products liberally when and where they could.
A horse is a horse, of course of course.....
Loved these old Studes... they had a little style, while maintaining better accommodation's than any of the other compacts of the day.
Also, Studebaker utilized Zsa Zsa Gabor for their advertising about a year later... Still could not save them.
Correction here: The 289 V8 was designed and built by Studebaker (not Packard, not Ford) from 1951 until 1965. And yes they used Paxton Blowers on them in quite a few of their cars. I have 1 1964 Avanti R2 with a 289 V8 and a Paxton Blower.
Studebaker used a Packard engine once: a 352 cubic inch monster V8 in the 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk. My father had one. It was great, but somewhat front end heavy. That Packard V8 was BIGGG!
Ironically, the 1957/58 Packards used the Studebaker 289 V8 in modified Studebaker bodies.
I somehow feel cheated. These things should all be beige, coral pink, or that horrible Miami shade of turquoise that my grandmother painted her kitchen in 1962. Driving around a Studebaker in primer is like having plastic flamingos stuck in the ground outside your house, but painting them with black rustoleum.
Warren Zevon must have written his Studebaker song about this sad, lonely beast.
When I was a kid, there was a guy in our little village who owned only Studebakers. He had quite a series of them, the last of which was the station wagon called the "Wagonaire" with the retractable top (early sixties).
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