Studebakers, people have loved or hated them since the 40’s when the Raymond Loewy and Robert Bourke designs were manufactured. Until then they looked like most other cars of the 20’3-30’s (I think the 32-35‘s were especially beautiful), although they were very innovative. Their trucks were rock solid and saw much military service in many countries during WWI and WWII.

I’ve owned a 1951 4dr Champion for 7 years and can drive any distance, with confidence, at 60-65mph.The three major responses I get are: What is that? Is that a Tucker? Hey my aunt owned one of them!

So what’s your take on Studies...love em or hate em??

 

Avanti's were so far ahead of the times it is scary.
They are just being caught up to. Amazing cars for their time.

 

I love Studebakers. Never owned one, but sure would like to. If the future is kind to me, I'll own an Avanti some day. Plus I'll get no argument from the wife, because she's always liked Avantis.

MR

 

Studebakers are awsome
They were way ahead of their time i love all of their cars
So beautiful. Especially the the 30's models
And they are not seen as much as say an old ford or chevy so people get curious. Which is good

 

I've talked with one of our FTE members, Studenut. He's got an original 64/65 Commander, very rare car. I know a few guys here in the Rochester area with: '51 Champion; 3, 1963 Daytonas to die for (all senior cars); 2 Avantis, 1 a senior; and the most incredible 1936(?) Coupe-Express, Studebaker's pickup truck. Studebaker always has a fine showing at the local car shows.

 

Do you know where one can buy one I missed one a few years ago for$4,000.00, have not seen one for about 5 years.

 

I don't like the pre WWII Studies, They were ugly and did not have insert bearing rods. The post war Studies were great and they were willing to take a chance with styling. My best friend had a Starlight coupe that was a great little car.
Dono

 

Don't know much about them, but my neighbor has a couple of hawks...fairly unique looking cars.

 

'53 Starlight Coupe. We had a neighbor down the road that worked for JPL (later NASA) and built street rods in his spare time. He had a T-Bucket and that '53 Starlight. I'd go down all the time when I was little and try to make myself useful (or at least stay out of the way). That kind of stuff is addicting- never got over it.

 

Hey Bullet Nose and 1956 MarkII,
Didn't see the post at first and I was paging down to go to my usual SuperDuty Forum and my eyes caught my favorite word...Studebaker. I LOVE EM. I think I speak for the minority of other 20 year old college students, but I love my Studebaker. As I told MarkII, I got my 1965 Studebaker Commander at age 15 and my dad and I did what little work it needed. We did end up doing a motor rebuild of the original 283 (yup, a chevy, McKinnon, to be exact) engine. The car still has its original paint (except where some minor rust work was done on front fenders) and I have added original style carpet, original AM/FM radio, and clock because the orignal owner bought the car with rubber flooring, and no options (except for the V-8 and automatic trans). The car served as my main mode of transportation to high school for about a year and a half. Designer Brooks Stevens (correct me if I'm wrong) did a great job with the lark body style. HOWEVER, you can't top a 1953 Coupe (good old Raymond Lowey and Robert Bourke) or my favorite, a 1955 Speedster. I love that car. So if anyone asks me if I love Studebakers, I can honestly say, Yes I do. They are great cars and I love watching people's faces on the highway as I pass them in the old Stude. Thanks guys.

Nathan Kapp

 

JohnAW,
If you want a good place to find Stude information or cars for sale, check out the Studebaker Driver's Club Website at www.studebakerdriversclub.com. It's a great magazine and website with lots of information. Any Studebaker owners out there not a part of the club, check out the site or Private Message me and I will be glad to give you the information needed to join.

Nate

 

i had a 48 Studebaker pick up. it had chevy drive train swapped in before i got it. freebie from my father in-law. it was a really cool old truck. hardly anybody even knew what it was.

 

As I told Studenut65, I had a chance to drive one of those '63 Daytonas to one of the local shows, and drove it back on I-90. You should have seen the looks on the other driver's faces, as I was passing THEM, doing about 80. The car is 98% stock original, and it drove much nicer than any other car I've driven from that era (yes even nicer than my Corvair). It's a rotten shame that they couldn't keep the South Bend plant going, but the overhead there was ridiculous (Studebaker employees were among the highest-paid in the industry). Guess I just have a soft spot in my heart for Detroit's "orphans."

 

Studebaker's engineering was tops in my opinion. I had a '50 Champion and loved it. Next to a Packard it has always been my favorite bit of Americana on wheels. They looked strange but had the dependability we look for in today's Accords and Camrys and were built right the first time in the USA.

 

I like them, good cars, good powertrains but most of them look too funny to drive. I did find a studebaker wagon that was converted to a monster 4x4 in an old bone yard. The owner said its been sitting there since the early 70's. I offered to buy it a few weeks ago so well see.

If I remember right wasent studebaker the first american car with disk brakes? I'm fairly sure they owned Paxton SC too.