Click Me - Saskatchewan Chapter

Page 1
Editor —Evan Severson
Number 17 January February 2014
1954 Studebaker
Assembly line
OUR NEXT MEETING IS JANUARY—25th 1.00 PM
noon
AT SMITTYs
Grass woods just south of
SASKATOON it’s a gas
station and a nice
restaurant, before you get
to Sacher residence
Have you sent in your
Membership? For some
strange reason the CLUB
DOES NEED FUNDS $$
To operate. Please send in
if you haven't already, if
you have, WE ALL
THANK YOU.
I guess the board is not going to
change very soon, as we received a
new life sentence so we will continue
to bring the good news and maybe
some not so good, but after all that’s
life. Your Pres & Editor Evan S.
Page 2
The Saskatchewan Chapter SDC
The SASKATCHEWAN CHAPTER of SDC is a chartered chapter of the international Studebaker Drivers
Club, and is in the NORTH CENTRAL ZONE. The North Central Zone includes Colorado, Kansas,
Manitoba, Nebraska, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Saskatchewan.
Each region (state, province or geographic area) has a Regional Manager.
Saskatchewan Chapter SDC Executive
President
Secretary / Treasurer
Evan Severson
PO Box 534
Bengough SK. S0C 0K0
Shop 306- 268- 2635
Fax: 306-268- 2051
Cell 306-539-9049
Bruce Saunders
PO Box 3694
Humboldt SK. S0K 2A0
Phone 306=682-3574
Email: [email protected]
Webmaster
Bruce Saunders
Phone: 306-682-3574
Email: [email protected]
The Prairie Bulletin Editor
Evan Severson
PO Box 534
Bengough SK. S0C 0K0
Shop 306-268-2635
Fax 306-268-2051
Cell 306-539-9049
Vice President
George Sacher
RR.#5 Ste 503 Box 16
Saskatoon SK. S7K 3J8
The Studebaker Drivers Club National Executive
President
Secretary
North Central Zone Director
Carl Thomason
43306 Running Deer Dr,
Coarsegold CA 93614-9662
[email protected]
Nita Ketchum
PO Box. 37
Ida AR 72546
[email protected]
Frank van Doorn
4013 Ida Street,
Omaha NE 68112
[email protected]
Vice President
Treasurer
Jane Stinson
5800 Stanley Rd,
Columbiaville MI 48421
[email protected]
Zone Coordinator
Mimi Halgren
9350 El Tejado Rd.
La Mesa CA 91941
[email protected]
2
Charles Donkle
1031 Ash Avenue,
Las Animas CO 81054-1814
[email protected]
Page 3
Minutes of the Sask. Chapter Studebaker Drivers Club meeting
held on November 16, 2013 at the home of George and Sharon
Sacher.
Members Present: Bruce Saunders, Grady Janzen, Sterling and Pat Hornoi, Brian, Sharon and Jordan
Rederburg, Evan Severson, George and Sharon Sacher, Evan Davis, Denis and Carolyn Kruszelnicki,
Darcy and Evelyn Driedger
Following a great Lasagna lunch made by Sharon and George the meeting was opened by President Evan
Severson.
Minutes of Sept 7th meeting were circulated moved for adoption by George seconded by Dennis, carried.
Treasurer’s report by Bruce Saunders we have a current balance of $1594.15, moved for adoption by
Evan Davis seconded by Grady, carried.
Binder Report by Evan we have $6424.58 as of Oct 11 in the bank account and $586.99 to deposit and
about 14 binders left to sell. Moved for adoption by Brian, seconded by Sterling, Carried.
Old business: Discussion on ordering new binders was held decided not to reorder at present time as
Evan is selling shop. Discussion on how to disperse money in Binder account followed. Moved by Sterling,
seconded by Evan Davis that the club should donate $500 to the Dominque Jackson Memorial Fund.
(Fund created to help pay for drive buy shooting victim and employee of the Studebaker Museum Dominique’s one year old son’s education.) Carried.
New business:
Discussion on hosting a North Central Zone Meet or Overdrive in 2015
Evan Davis will check to see what possibilities are and get back to club.
Next meeting January 25, 2014, tentatively held at the Grasswood Esso, south of Saskatoon approximately
noon or 1 PM depending on restaurant. Sharon Sacher will check and get back to Evan.
Meeting Adjourned
—————————————————————————————————————————————-
From the Stude Desk.
I hope this Bulletin finds you all well in this New year 2014, I can tell as I have working on this edition that
the weather has not improved a hole lot. We did manage a few nice days around Christmas to be not to
harsh only a few degrease below freezing , however when the temperature rises you can then expect the
wind to start blowing. So I guess the—20 or 25 and no wind might be considered an improvement, this is of
course in the sunny south of the Zone, All you folks in Prince Albert I did notice last night a –39 now I’m not
COLD.
sure if that was Farenhight or Celsius , but — 40 is the same on both,
I hope you can survive
the winter and then look forward to a nice spring and summer so we can all enjoy our Studebakers again. I
know I am looking forward to the Annual SDC Meet in Dover Delaware this year, as well of the more local
shows. The more we drive them the better they perform. Evan Davis is working on a “ Zone Meet” or something like that which will help pull the Chapter together as it will require a lot of planning as did the one in
2005 that our Chapter put on under Evan Davis’s guidance, and that was a fantastic production, more to
follow at the meeting . This will be an ongoing production once some details are set.
And many other things you can choose, Hope you all
Can be there Saturday Jan. 25th GRASSWOODS
Just south of Saskatoon right on the highway, Gas
station and good food, See you all there.
Evan Severson.
Page 3
Page 4
Lark and Super Lark: The Last Days of Studebaker
By Aaron Severson
By 1963, Studebaker was already doomed, but its dynamic president, Sherwood Egbert, was not yet ready to admit
defeat. Not only did he launch the sporty Avanti, he hired Andy Granatelli to develop a series of hot engines that
transformed the humble compact Studebaker Lark into a ferocious — and unlikely — performance car. This is the
story of the Lark and Super Lark.
FALSE DAWN
Studebaker has a venerable history: The Studebaker brothers of
South Bend, Indiana, began manufacturing wagons in 1852 and the
Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company sold its first cars in
1902. In 1910, the company bought out Detroit automaker EverittMetzger-Flanders (E-M-F), reorganizing the following year as the
Studebaker Corporation. Although Studebaker was now firmly in
the automobile business, they still produced horse-drawn wagons as
late as 1920.
Like most automakers, Studebaker fell on hard times during the
Great Depression, leading to bankruptcy in 1933 and the suicide of
president Albert Erskine. Erskine’s lieutenants Paul Hoffman and
Harold Vance managed to revive the company by the late thirties,
thanks in large part to the very successful 1939 Studebaker Champion.
Virgil Exner Sr. developed the 1947 Studebaker while working for Raymond Loewy,
then a Studebaker consultant. He presented the
design to the client without Loewy’s approval;
when Loewy found out, he immediately fired
Exner, who promptly went to work for Studebaker directly. The Starlight models, with their
unique wraparound backlight, inspired many
jokes, but they were very popular. (Photo ©
2007 Richard Lawry; used with permission)
Studebaker was, as its advertising proclaimed, the first to introduce an all-new postwar car: the
1947 “coming or going” models designed by Virgil Exner. Under the leadership of Harold Vance,
the company had its best-ever sales years in 1949-1950 and did well in the early fifties. Between
1947 and 1953, Vance managed to double Studebaker’s gross sales and earn profits totaling $108
million. Studebaker had a modern V8 engine and automatic transmission in 1951 and in 1953 unveiled the beautiful Starlight and Starliner coupes, styled by the design firm of Raymond Loewy.
Even then, dark clouds were settling in. Studebaker remained undercapitalized and its South Bend
factory had been obsolescent even before the war. The company had avoided most the strikes that
had often paralyzed other automakers, but its labor costs per car were higher than any rival. Studebaker cars were not exactly over-engineered, but the company spent some 25% more to build each
car than it would have cost Chevrolet. Studebaker’s prices covered a spread between Chevy and
Pontiac, but its profit margins were much slimmer.
With its high costs, Studebaker was particularly vulnerable to the vicious price war between Ford
and Chevrolet between 1953 and 1956. Determined to claim the #1 slot in overall sales, Ford and
Chevy pushed dealers to accept more cars, which dealers then sold at razor-thin margins. Studebaker could not afford to keep up and its sales plummeted. By early 1953, Studebaker was losing
$2.5 million a month.
Page 5
THE PACKARD MERGER
Luxury automaker Packard was also on the skids in the early fifties. The price war had affected Packard almost as
badly as it had Studebaker and Hudson and its old rival Cadillac had eclipsed it in sales and prestige. While it had previously been the most elite of American automakers, by 1953, Packard was looking old-fashioned.
The Packard felt that what the company needed was volume. Since the advent of the One-Twenty in 1935, Packard
had moved into the near-luxury class then dominated by Buick, but at the cost of much of its former prestige, something new Packard president James Nance was eager to rectify.
Although Studebaker had higher volume, a bigger dealer network, and a lower price point than Packard, it was not
Nance’s first choice, which was Kenosha, Wisconsin’s Nash Motors. Nash president George W. Mason been proposing a merger of the independents since 1946 and Nance’s predecessor, Hugh Ferry, had begun negotiations with Mason to create such an alliance, which they hoped would eventually include Packard, Nash, Studebaker, and Hudson.
In January 1954, Nash and Hudson agreed to merge, reforming as the American Motors Corporation in May. For a
time, it seemed that Packard might join them, but its board was wary of AMC, recognizing that the new company
would end the year deep in the red. In February, the Packard board refused to even hear George Mason’s merger proposal, opting instead to pursue a merger with Studebaker, independent of AMC.
By September, the Packard and Studebaker boards had approved the formation of a new Studebaker-Packard corporation, effective October 1. Jim Nance became president of the merged company, with former Studebaker president Paul
Hoffman becoming chairman of the new board of directors. Nine days later, George Mason died, leaving his vice
president, George Romney, as the president of AMC. Romney and Nance were both relatively young and very ambitious and it quickly became clear that they could not coexist happily. By mid-October, Romney told the press that
AMC did not expect any other mergers.
The Studebaker-Packard marriage almost immediately turned sour. In their eagerness, Packard had not requested an
independent audit of Studebaker’s books, which proved to be a grievous mistake. Shortly after the merger, Packard
finance VP Walter Grant determined that Studebaker’s financial position was far more precarious than they had assumed. Grant estimated Studebaker’s break-even production level not at 165,000 units, as the company’s proxy statement had asserted, but 282,000, a level Studebaker had only reached at its 1950 peak. Studebaker fell well short of
even the lower figure for 1954.
That depressing revelation might have given Packard grounds to dissolve the deal, perhaps even for a false conveyance suit, but by that point, Packard’s own financial situation was precarious and the Packard board believed that the
partnership with Studebaker was their only hope for survival. They decided to stay the course.
Even with substantial combined tax credits, Studebaker-Packard lost $26 million for 1954. Nance and Hoffman initiated a painful cost-cutting program, which included the termination of Raymond Loewy’s consulting agreement and
the hiring of Lincoln-Mercury designer Bill Schmidt as VP of styling and Ford designer Duncan McRae as Studebaker
chief-stylist. Nance and Hoffman also negotiated a new UAW contract, the bitter negotiations for which led to Studebaker’s first really protracted strike. All these moves failed to stem Studebaker-Packard’s losses, which totaled $29.7
This article by Aaron Severson used by permission will be continued in a later New Prairie Bulletin, I found it very
interesting , so I hope you do as well sorry that I can’t fit it all in the same order, but I’m not the most computer savvy
type of guy, maybe just to old.
Evan Severson
NOTES ON SOURCES
Our principal sources on the downfall of Studebaker and the origins of the Lark were Thomas Bonsall,
More Than They Promised: The Studebaker Story (Chicago, IL: Stanford University Press, 2000); Rich
Taylor, “Variations on a Soaring Theme” and “How Studebaker Came Not to Be,” Special Interest Autos
#25 (November-December 1974); and Ken Gross, “1960 Lark Convertible: How Studebaker beat the Big
Three to the compact punch,” Special Interest Autos #42 (November-December 1977). Both of the latter
are reprinted in Terry Ehrich, ed., The Hemmings Motor News Book of Studebakers: driveReports
from Hemmings Special Interest Autos magazine (Bennington, VT: Hemmings Motor News, 2000). We
also consulted the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide, Encyclopedia of American Cars: Over 65 Years of
Automotive History, (Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, 1996); “PERSONNEL: Changes of the
Week,” TIME 25 October 1954, www.time. com/ time/magazine/article/0,9171,823618,00.html, accessed 26
December 2009; André Ritizinger, “Studebaker 1963 range,” RitzSite, n.d., ritzsite. nl/
63Stude/01_63stude.htm, accessed 30 August 2009; and James Arthur Ward, The Fall of the Packard
Motor Car Company (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995).
Page 6
CURTISS-WRIGHT
Nance had high hopes for an all-new body planned for the 1957 model year, which was to be shared by both Studebakers and Packards. Unfortunately, the company didn’t have the $50 million needed for tooling and the corporation’s
principal backers refused to extend the necessary credit. Two different management-consulting firms looked at the
Studebaker-Packard’s financial situation and recommended liquidation.
Increasingly desperate, Nance turned to the aviation company Curtiss-Wright, which was then earning formidable
profits from its defense contracts. Curtiss-Wright chairman Roy Hurley (a former Ford manufacturing executive) was
not interested in a merger, but floated the idea of a management agreement. Hurley offered Studebaker-Packard $10
million for the last of Studebaker’s defense contracts and $25 million for a prepaid rental of company facilities in
Michigan and Indiana as well as a three-year agreement for him to manage Studebaker-Packard’s business. In exchange, Curtiss-Wright would receive options to purchase 45% of Studebaker-Packard’s stock for around $40 million
less than market value.
It was not a particularly attractive deal for Studebaker-Packard, but Nance had no choice. The company’s 1956 losses
ultimately totaled $102.3 million and it was losing 40 to 50 dealer franchises a month. With Hurley’s help, Nance had
to tap the last $15.3 million of Packard’s revolving credit lines just to keep the doors open during the negotiations. The
Studebaker-Packard board signed the deal in July 1956.
Nance resigned as soon as the deal was signed, joining Ford Motor Company that fall; Paul Hoffman also departed.
Hurley named chief engineer Harold Churchill as president, with Eugene Hardig taking Churchill’s place as engineering chief.
Packard’s fate was sealed as soon as Nance departed. In retrospect, it probably would have been the easier of the two
brands to salvage, but Hurley and the board were counting on Studebaker’s ostensibly greater volume and Packard had
lost its engine and transmission plant in the Curtiss-Wright deal. Packard endured two final, ignominious model years
as an over-decorated Studebaker and then disappeared for good.
The Packard Hawk was a rehash of the Studebaker
Golden Hawk, inspired — if we may call it that — by the
contemporary Maserati 3500 GT. Duncan McRae originally designed it as a one-off for Curtiss-Wright president
Roy Hurley, but it was eventually pressed into service as
a Packard. Fewer than 600 were sold before the curtain
came down. Interestingly, the Hawk also had a
McCulloch-supercharged Studebaker 289 (4,737 cc) engine. With a two-barrel Stromberg carburetor and slightly
less boost than the later R2 (5 psi/0.34 bar), it was rated at
275 hp (205 kW).
Studebaker’s volume, meanwhile, was sinking
rapidly. Its 1958 sales were less than 60,000
units and Studebaker-Packard lost $24.5 million
in 1957-58. Studebaker’s major problem, aside
from an understandable shortage of public confidence, was that all designers Duncan McCrae
and Vince Gardner could afford were increasingly desperate rehashes of the 1953 body shell.
It was no longer selling, but Studebaker-Packard
could not afford to replace it.
The only upside during this period was that Studebaker-Packard
negotiated a deal to become the new U.S. distributor for MercedesBenz, replacing Max Hoffman’s Hoffman Motors in the spring of
1957. There was little financial benefit, since Studebaker-Packard
had no real idea how to sell Mercedes cars, but it would prove fortuitous
Cont. from page 11
“Powrshift” Borg-Warner automatic, Car Life clocked a supercharged Lark Daytona at 0-60 mph (0-97 km/
h) in 7.8 seconds and ran the standing quarter in 16.2 seconds at 87 mph (140 km/h). Inevitably, a Lark so
equipped was no longer an economy car; Motor Trend‘s R2 Super Lark averaged a mediocre 13 mpg (18
L /100 km).
The lack of factory horsepower ratings kept the Super Lark out of the NHRA’s drag-racing stock classes,
which were based on advertised horsepower and shipping weight. It’s unclear if that was intentional, but it
probably robbed Studebaker of a certain amount of publicity.
The Studebaker Lark’s Super Lark package included a Dana 44 rear axle (familiar for years to off-roaders)
and limited-slip differential. Studebaker-Packard was the first American manufacturer to popularize the limited-slip differential, which they called “Twin Traction,” starting in 1956. We believe the standard axle ratio
with the R2 engine was 3.73 to one, but 3.31, 3.54, 4.09, and 4.55 ratios were optional.
Page 7
The Studebaker Lark was ready in only seven months; it went on sale in November 1958 as a 1959 model. Like the
original Champion of 20 years earlier, it proved to be the right car at the right time. The press was underwhelmed, but
buyers responded with enthusiasm, quickly placing some 30,000 initial orders. Everyone knew that the Big Three were
preparing compact cars, but they were still at least a year away; in the meantime, Studebaker and Rambler were in the
catbird seat.
Thanks to the Lark, Studebaker’s 1959 volume swelled to 160,826 cars and 10,909 trucks, breaking even for the first
time since the merger. Studebaker-Packard made a profit of $28.5 million that year, and with the tax credits accumulated from the previous years’ losses, its after-tax net profits were the highest in Studebaker history.
Better still, Studebaker-Packard was now free of Curtiss-Wright, thanks in large part to Daimler-Benz. Daimler management was not thrilled with Studebaker-Packard’s efforts to market Mercedes, but they mistrusted Hurley and they realized that Curtiss-Wright’s continued involvement was not in their long-term interests. In August 1958, Daimler-Benz and
Studebaker-Packard persuaded Curtiss-Wright to end its management agreement a year early and relinquish its unexercised stock options. The Studebaker-Packard board also managed to refinance the company’s long-term debt.
Back in the black, free of Hurley’s management, and with nearly 1,000 new dealers, the company’s fortunes looked
brighter for 1960.
DIVERSIFICATION
It was obvious to any informed observer that the Studebaker Lark was at best a stopgap, a temporary reprieve. The
designers, in particular, were aware that the Big Three were about to arrive in the compact sector in force. Duncan
McCrae pushed strongly to invest the profits from the Lark into an all-new body. When Churchill equivocated, McCrae
immediately resigned. Churchill eventually authorized development of two new compacts modeled loosely on the Rambler and Rambler American. This did not suit the Studebaker-Packard board members, many of whom were coming to
the conclusion that the automobile business was a losing proposition.
In 1960, faced with new competition from the Chevrolet Corvair, Ford Falcon, and Valiant, Lark sales fell slightly despite
new convertible and station wagon models. Studebaker’s total sales, including trucks, dropped to 133,984. (Some cars
and trucks, including the Lark, were also produced in CKD kit form for local assembly overseas, at plants in Argentina,
Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, South Africa, the Philippines, and Israel, in the former Kaiser-Frazer plant in Haifa.)
The company still turned a profit, but it was a meager $708,850.
Brooks Stevens redesigned the Studebaker Lark in 1962 on a shoestring budget, adding dual headlights and a Mercedes-inspired grille.
The 1963 models got a new grille and the previous wraparound windshield was deleted. You could order either a 259 cu. in. (4,247 cc) or
289 cu. in. (4,737 cc) V8, but buyers preferred the 170 cu. in. (2,780
cc) Skybolt Six with 112 hp (84 kW). Transmission choices were
three-speed stick (with or without overdrive), a Borg-Warner threespeed automatic, or a four-speed manual, added in 1962
Churchill wanted to stay in the car business, but the board decided to use the 1959-1960 profits to diversify, buying a
range of companies like the Gravely lawnmower company and an engine-treatment manufacturer called Chemical
Compounds, which made the STP engine treatment. The board ousted Churchill in the fall of 1960 and hired Sherwood Egbert from the McCulloch Corporation to replace him. The new compact-car programs were canceled even
though the company had already spent more than $4 million on them.
The diversification proved to be a sensible business decision. Although Studebaker sales fell to 92,434 for 1961, profits from the corporation’s non-automotive subsidiaries put them $2.5 million in the black.
The Studebaker Lark’s
Super Lark package included a 6,000-rpm tachometer; the Lark also
has full gauges rather
than warning lights. Twotone vinyl upholstery
was part of the Custom
trim line, although this
car has the optional
bucket seats and the
Borg-Warner T-10 fourspeed, a $189 option.
An interesting Studebaker accessory was this nifty drop-down glovebox tray with cupholders and a pop-up vanity mirror. This was standard on all 1963 Studebaker Larks except the base-model Standard. Another option, which this car
does not have, was the “Skytop” canvas sunroof, an unusual feature for an American car of this era (although it quite
common on British cars).
Page 8
THE STUDEBAKER LARK
In 1957, AMC chairman George Romney abandoned the Nash and Hudson brands in favor of the compact Rambler.
That fall, with the country slipping into recession, sales of the 1958 Ramblers picked up sharply even as most other car
lines took a bath. The market was suddenly shifting toward compacts and economy cars.
Many of Studebaker’s 1957-58 sales were of a stripped-down base model called Scotsman and Harold Churchill realized the new interest in economy cars might be a viable direction for Studebaker. Using scrap components and a blowtorch, Gene Hardig slapped together a crude model of a compact sedan. It was essentially a 1953 Champion body
shorn of more than two feet (70 cm) of front and rear overhang and a wheelbase trimmed to 108.5 inches (2,756 mm),
transforming a nominally full-size car into a compact. The wraparound windshield was borrowed from the ’55 cars
and various interior pieces came from the ’56 and ’57 Studebakers. It was an improvisation, but a clever one, producible at very low cost.
Churchill persuaded the board to approve the compact for the 1959 model year. It was a big gamble: Other than the
Studebaker Hawk coupe (itself a derivative of the 1953 Starlight coupe), the move meant the company would no
longer have any full-size models. Still, Studebaker had little to lose and the strategy seemed to be working for AMC.
Duncan McCrae’s team hastily developed pair of clay models developed by Bill Bonner and Bob Doehler. The design
ultimately chosen was Bonner’s, which got some additional styling input from Virgil Exner, Jr., son of the designer of
the 1947 Studebaker Starlight. The new compact’s careful agglomeration of existing parts was set off by a new front
end with a simple upright grille. Historians typically call it Mercedes-like, but Virgil Exner, Jr., says it was more influenced by his father’s Chrysler show cars of the mid-fifties and Chevrolet’s not-yet-released Corvair, of which the stylists were already aware. The need to keep costs low limited it to a very modest level of trim, which made it refreshingly understated by contemporary American standards.
Mechanically, the compact, which the company dubbed the Studebaker Lark, was all too familiar, although Hardig
managed to make the shortened Champion frame both stiffer and lighter than before. The standard engine was a heavily revised, 170 cu. in. (2,780 cc) version of Studebaker’s familiar flathead six with 90 hp (67 kW). A 259 cu. in.
(4,247 cc) version of the corporate V8 was optional, offering up to 195 gross horsepower (146 kW). The Lark’s handling was nothing special, even for the time, but it had adequate power and reasonable fuel economy.
A first-year Studebaker Lark hardtop powered by the basic Skybolt Six. A de-stroked version of the six used on Studebakers since 1955, it displaced 170 cu. in. (2,780 cc) and made 90 gross horsepower (67 kW). This car is an oddity:
It’s the upscale Regal trim series, but other than automatic transmission, it has minimal equipment, lacking even windshield washers.
[QUOTEI Hope you get this on time, I made a trip to LUGANSK (UKRAINE) and had my bag sto-
len from me with my passport and personal effects therein. The embassy has just issued me a
temporary passport but I have to pay for a ticket and settle my hotel bills with the Manager. I have
made contact with my bank but it would take me 3-5 working days to access funds in my account,
the bad news is my flight will be leaving very soon but I am having problems settling the hotel bills
and the hotel manager won't let me leave until I settle the bills, I need your help/LOAN financially
and I promise to make the refund once I get back home, you are my last resort and hope, Please
let me know if I can count on you and I need you to keep checking your email because it's the
only way I can reach you Bob][/QUOTE] Bob, where do I send the money? (: PLEASE DON’T FALL
FOR SCAMS LIKE THIS< as found on the SDC forum
Page 9
THE EGBERT INITIATIVE
Sherwood Egbert is often described as a sort of industrial version of John F. Kennedy: young, tall, and
handsome, a charismatic ex-Marine who had already had an impressive career as executive vice president
of the McCulloch Corporation. Egbert knew little about cars, but as soon as he became president of Studebaker-Packard in January 1961, he threw himself into the business with relish.
If the board had expected Egbert to prepare the Studebaker division for a quiet euthanasia, they were
sorely mistaken. Egbert’s ignorance of the automotive business gave him a naïve confidence that he could
turn the flagging automaker around. His first move was to hire industrial designer Brooks Stevens, with
whom he’d worked at McCulloch, to restyle the 1962 cars on a miniscule budget of $7 million. Stevens, taking it as a challenge, came up with an adroit facelift in only six months. Studebaker Lark sales increased by
nearly 30,000 units.
Among Stevens’ clever ideas was shifting the four-door Lark sedans to the longer 113-inch (2,870mm)
wheelbase previously used only by the station wagons, leaving the two-door models on a slightly longer
109-inch (2,769mm) wheelbase. (GM would later adopt this split-wheelbase strategy for its A-body intermediates). A new sporty Daytona model, an answer to the popular Corvair Monza and Falcon Futura, joined
the Lark line-up that year, as did a plush four-door Cruiser.
The original Studebaker Lark was only 175 inches (4,445
mm) long, actually a few inches shorter than a Rambler
American. The 1963 two-doors were 184 inches (4,674 mm)
on a 109-inch (2,769mm) wheelbase; four-doors were 4
inches (102 mm) longer in both dimensions. Larks were
available in Standard, Regal, Custom, Daytona, and Cruiser
models in 1963. A two-door Lark Custom Eight like this one
had a base price of $2,315. Equipped like this one, it
weighed about 3,250 lb (1,474 kg) and cost over $3,500, a
Egbert may not have known much about cars, but he liked sports cars — in fact, he owned a gullwing Mercedes 300SL coupe. He decided that the best way to perk up Studebaker’s image was to launch a new
high-performance flagship. He hired Raymond Loewy to design one, which emerged as the fiberglassbodied Studebaker Avanti.
Egbert knew that sporty looks alone would not make the Avanti a sports car; it needed a new image. To
solve that problem, Egbert called another contact from his days at McCulloch: Andy Granatelli of Paxton
Products, builders of the most popular automotive supercharger of the era.
THE MCCULLOCH SUPERCHARGER
Supercharging is one of the simplest ways to get more power out of an existing engine. Automotive superchargers had been used at least as far back as 1902, although their popularity with manufacturers had
waxed and waned. However, they had been popular with the aftermarket since at least the early 1930s.
Back in 1937, Robert Paxton McCulloch’s McCulloch Engineering Company developed a belt-driven centrifugal supercharger for Ford flathead V8s. Although it was moderately popular, selling around 5,000 units,
reliability problems led McCulloch to discontinue the street version in 1940 (although the company continued to manufacture superchargers for military use during the war).
Bob McCulloch sold his company to Borg-Warner in 1943, but after the war, he established a new
McCulloch Motors Corporation, based in Los Angeles. Although the company focused primarily on lawnmower and chainsaw engines, McCulloch continued to develop the supercharger, setting up the Paxton
Engineering division to work on that and other experimental projects. In the late forties, Paxton engineer
John Oehrli developed a new centrifugal supercharger with an unique ball-bearing drive system (a set of
hardened steel ball bearings allowed the output shaft — which operated the compressor — to turn 4.4
times faster than the input shaft, which was driven by a belt from the engine). The result, know as the
VS57, was offered first as an aftermarket accessory for 1950-1953 Ford V8s, later for a wide range of other
engines.
McCulloch was interested in bigger things, so the McCulloch VS57 supercharger got a big push at the Pan
American Motorama in late 1953, followed by a lavish presentation to the Society of American Engineers
(SAE) in January 1954. Later that month, Kaiser announced that it would offer the supercharger as factory
equipment on its cars. McCulloch went so far as to arrange an hour-long television special about the supercharger on a local L.A. station — partly narrated by Sherwood Egbert, then McCulloch’s vice president.
McCulloch subsequently launched the Paxton Products division to market automotive superchargers.
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One of Paxton’s earliest customers was none other than Studebaker-Packard, which bought 15,000 superchargers for the company’s Hawk coupe in 1957. (Ford also purchased a small number of PaxtonMcCulloch VR57 variable-ratio superchargers for NASCAR homologation, which were installed in a few
hundred “F-code” Thunderbirds and other Ford models.)
Unfortunately, the VS57′s reliability was not as impressive as its performance, due in part to quality-control
problems with its ball-bearing drive system and also because the blower required more maintenance than
most owners bothered to give it. It soon soured Detroit on factory supercharging, although it remained a
popular aftermarket item. It also saw a fair amount of racing use, most notably with Novi’s Indianapolis 500
racers, although NASCAR banned supercharging in April 1957.
The Studebaker Super Lark’s R2 engine was developed for
the Avanti, as the badges on the fenders indicate. R1 cars say
“Avanti Powered” instead.
In 1957, racing impresario and hot rodder Anthony (Andy)
Granatelli and his brothers moved from Chicago to Los Angeles and began working with Paxton chief engineer John
Thompson to resolve the McCulloch supercharger’s reliability
problems. By then, the company was losing faith with the Paxton division, which had lost more than $400,000 in 1957,
mostly due to high warranty costs. Granatelli bought the division from McCulloch in June 1958. He and his brothers Joe and Vince helped to develop a new series of
improved SN (“Short Nose”) superchargers, which again became popular with amateur and professional
racers.
JET THRUST
Sherwood Egbert had worked with Andy Granatelli at McCulloch and he had been impressed with both his
engineering and business savvy. In March 1962, Egbert arranged for Studebaker to buy Paxton Products
and with it the services of the Granatelli brothers. The morning after the deal was signed, Egbert called
Granatelli at 4 a.m. and began laying out his ambitious goals for Studebaker performance. Granatelli and
Gene Hardig immediately got to work hot-rodding the Studebaker V8 for the Avanti, using every trick in
Granatelli’s voluminous book.
Studebaker’s V8, introduced back in 1951, was heavy by contemporary standards and it had a reputation
for excessive oil consumption, but it was a sturdy and generally reliable engine. Hardig had already developed a hotter R1 version (later advertised as “R1 Jet Thrust”), with 10.25:1 compression and various
changes to its oiling system, ignition, timing gear, and breathing; it was somewhat more powerful than the
regular 289 “Powerpak” engine already optional on the Studebaker Lark, which made 225 gross horsepower (168 kW). Then there was the R2 (advertised as “R2 Super Jet Thrust”), which had different heads
with 9.0:1 compression and a Paxton SN-60 supercharger, making up to 6 pounds (0.41 bar) of boost.
Hardig and Granatelli subsequently developed R3, R4, and R5 versions, which were assembled mostly by
hand in the Granatelli brothers’ Los Angeles workshop. Each used specially selected blocks, carefully
bored out to 304.5 cu. in. (4,990 cc). The R3 was supercharged like the R2, but had a new aluminum intake
manifold with no heat riser, low-restriction exhaust headers, 9.75:1 compression, and a hotter camshaft.
The R4 was similar, but was normally aspirated with dual four-barrel carburetors and a 12.0:1 compression
ratio. The experimental R5, never seriously intended for production, had dual superchargers and Bendix
fuel injection. Only 120 to 125 R3 and R4 engines were built and only a handful went into production cars.
The heart of the Studebaker R2 Super Jet Thrust engine: a Paxton SN-60 fixed-ratio centrifugal supercharger. This is similar to the unit later offered on the
Shelby GT-350 Mustang. On the Studebaker 289 cu.
in. (4,737 cc) V8, it was worth an 49 hp (37 kW) over
the normally aspirated R1, despite the R2′s lower compression ratio, and added about 55 lb (25 kg) to the
already-heavy engine. The supercharger could be troublesome, particularly if owners did not change its oil
(Dexron automatic transmission fluid) at the specified
intervals.
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You’ll notice that we haven’t quoted any horsepower numbers for these cars. When Studebaker introduced
the R1 and R2 engines, their power and torque outputs were left blank on the official specifications table.
The likely reason was that they weren’t very impressive compared to the Avanti’s principal competition, particularly the Corvette, whose top engine was rated at 360 gross horsepower (269 kW). Finally, very late in
1963 (well into the 1964 model year), the company belatedly announced a rating of 240 gross horsepower
(179 kW) for the R1, 289 hp (216 kW) for the R2, 335 hp (250 kW) for the R3, and 280 hp (209 kW) for the
R4.
Although intended for the Avanti, the point of the exercise was to add luster to the entire Studebaker line.
Therefore, when the R1 and R2 engines debuted, they became optional on the Studebaker Lark and GT
Hawk, priced at $210 for the R1 and $372 for the R2. (The R3, which also included extensive chassis modifications, cost over $1,000, part of the reason it was rarely ordered.) Buyers could also specify heavy-duty
suspension, a tachometer, and a new Studebaker option: front disc brakes. Made by Bendix under license
from Lockheed, these brakes were functionally identical to those of contemporary Jaguars. At the time, no
other U.S. manufacturer offered discs; even the Corvette wouldn’t get them until 1965.
These discrete badges were the only exterior warning of the supercharged Studebaker Lark’s potential. An R2-powered Super Lark
was not the fastest car in American in 1963, but its acceleration
and top speed put it into some very elite company.
Unlike most of its compact brethren, the Studebaker Lark had been
available with a V8 from the start — the Ford Falcon, Plymouth Valiant, and Dodge Dart wouldn’t have a V8 until 1963 — and since
1962, it could also be had with a four-speed transmission, the
same Borg-Warner T-10 found in contemporary Corvettes. A Lark
with the non-R-series 289 (4,737 cc) engine and four-speed was
already fairly quick. With the R1 or R2, it became something else
STUDEBAKER SUPER LARK
Studebaker initially did not promote the availability of the Jet Thrust engines in the Lark. Unless a buyer
carefully perused the catalog, they were easy to miss. Studebaker’s reluctance to promote the R1 and R2
engines in the regular cars may have been out of a fear of overshadowing the Avanti, which was off to a
very slow start. It had been announced in May 1962, but production issues had delayed its actual introduction and eventual sales were slow. Part of the problem was that in recent years, Studebaker dealers had
made their living selling economy cars, not sporty performance, and few really understood or even cared
about the Avanti or the hot engines.
In March 1963, Andy Granatelli took a couple of R2-equipped Studebaker Larks, GT Hawks, and Avantis to
the Bonneville Salt Flats for speed trials. A supercharged Lark with a 3.31 axle reached a top speed of 132
mph (213 km/h), an impressive performance for any stock sedan of the time.
Most Super Lark packages were ordered with the sportier Daytona hardtop, but the package (and the R1
and R2 engines individually) were available on any Studebaker Lark, even the basic Standard. The pillared
two-door sedan may not have been as sporty as the hardtop, but it was stiffer and some 100 lb (45 kg)
lighter.
In April, Studebaker belatedly introduced a special performance package for the Lark, naturally called Super Lark. It was not a separate model, but an option package available on any Studebaker Lark. (A similar
package was offered for the Hawk.) It included either the R1 or R2 engine, a Dana 44 limited-slip rear axle
(which Studebaker called Twin-Traction), front disc brakes, a new gauge cluster with a tachometer, and the
heavy-duty suspension package developed for the Avanti. It was not cheap — the R2 package cost
$680.02 on a Custom sedan like our photo subject, which didn’t include the four-speed manual, an extra
$179 — but it made the Lark a fearsome performer. The Lark’s handling still left much to be desired even
with the heavy-duty suspension, but only a handful of street cars could match its straight-line speed. A fourspeed Super Lark R2 was capable of 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) in a bit over seven seconds, with the quarter
mile (402 meters) in the 15-second range despite an obstructive shift linkage. Even with the optional
Continued on page 6
This article used with permission
From Aaron Severson
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