(2/20/05)

The article below was first published by the Times Union, Albany, NY on 1/31/05

TIME STOPS AT 1966 FOR STUDEBAKER LOVERS

The glory days of Avanti, Lark, Champ and Gran Turismo Hawk revisited

By DAVID FILKINS , Staff writer, Times Union, Albany, NY

ALBANY -- The five people sitting around Jim Ford's dining room table are all more than 50 years old. Some are retired, and all drive cars that went out of production in the days before color TV was in every home.

They say things like "back in my day," wear cardigan vests and listen to 1950s jazz music.

But their discussion also centers around style and innovation. They all love the Studebaker automobile.

"Style, that's why we admire Studes," says Scotia resident Ken Hayes, newsletter editor for the Mohawk Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club, a 13-year-old local club with a dozen or so dedicated members. "You put an old Studebaker next to a 1957 Chevy and they look 10 years different."

No one is going to argue with Hayes. Different is an understatement.

In the 64 years the company produced cars, the independent automaker embraced the unusual -- oversize windows, peculiar, bubble-shaped fenders and even bullet noses were staples of the Studebaker line.

Which is why the car is considered avant-garde by club members and an experiment-gone-seriously-wrong by others. They call it junk, a rust bucket and a death trap.

When the Studebaker Starlight Coupe was unveiled in 1947, its wraparound rear window made it nearly impossible to tell which end of the car was the front. Skeptics scratched their heads and remarked: "Which way is it even going?"

It seems paradoxical, but the dissenting opinion is more or less accurate as well. The Studebaker has seen more highs and lows than an airplane. Forget a cowboy-hat-wearing Clint Eastwood -- Studebaker epitomized the good, the bad and the ugly.

It began in 1852, when Henry and Clement Studebaker began building farm wagons, including the famed Conestoga, helping to pioneer the West. During the Civil War, Studebaker became the largest producer of wagons in the world. It made the transition to electric cars in 1902 and produced its first gas-powered car two years later.

Studebaker survived in the petroleum era until 1966. Popular models included the Grand Turismo Hawk, Lark and the sporty Avanti. The company also helped developed a number of features found on today's cars, which club members are quick to point out.

"Studebaker developed the sliding roof," says Altamont resident Chuck Scott, the club's vice president. "It was on the 1964 Stude' and GMC is still making a big deal of it today."

"And the Hill Holder," Hayes adds, "you know, the device that made it so you didn't have to use the brake on a hill. Subaru acts like they invented the thing. Not to mention, Studebaker was the first independent with an automatic transmission."

Scott, Hayes and Ford are joined in Ford's suburban home by Celia Hayes, Ken's wife, and club president John Reichard. Each owns a Studebaker, in some cases two or three. They're also company historians. They banter back and forth about parts and paint color fast enough to make heads spin.

Part of their discussion surrounds the company's demise, which began in the early 1950s and culminated with Studebaker's dissolution in 1966. The final years were marked by problems with production, price and poor quality.

"Ford reorganized after World War II," Ken Hayes says. "They got muscled up to take on General Motors head-on. Prices went down, production went up and Studebaker couldn't keep up. The early 1950s Ford and Chevy contest killed the independents."

Certain late-model Studebakers tainted the company's reputation. They fell apart, rusted out and faded into oblivion.

"Studebaker tried to placate the union and the quality diminished," Scott says. "It was a high-quality product, for a while anyway. It came down to cost and management issues."

The Stude-lovers aren't fazed by the negative connotations. They scour New England, looking for car shows to display their restored dinosaurs. Studebaker only produced a few thousand of certain models, so these beauties turn automobile aficionados' heads.

A fully-restored Studebaker can be worth more than $20,000.

"They were known for style, it was an enthusiast's car," Ken Hayes says. You couldn't sell them to just any guy on the street because they had no retail value. Now there's not a car show you go to where there won't be a row of Studes."