The 1964 Studebaker model year was introduced in Sept. 1963.
My friend
Shawn Turner informs me that John Studebaker made money in the California gold fields making wheelbarrows for miners. He worked there from 1853-1858 when he returned to South Bend, Indiana and joined his brothers in the
buggy and wagon business. Studebaker made the transition to automotive manufacture but by the mid-1960s the line was finding it hard to compete. Compare the Ford Thunderbird with these offerings. The Studebaker ad copy claims that their cars are beautiful and well engineered but I liked the look of the T-Bird and Mustang in the Ford lineup. The ad may say New! Beautiful! Exciting but reading the fine print I have a question.
Does the world really need a station wagon with a slide open roof for large loads? Isn’t that what pick up trucks are for?
Studebaker only had two more years left to build cars before it fell to the larger Detroit auto makers.
According to
Sierra Foothill Magazine Studebaker wheelbarrows are still used in an obstacle course race at the Eldorado County Fair in Placerville.
Ad for 1964 model Ford Thunderbird.
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David,
Those Studebaker wagons with the slide open roof are rare and prized collectors items now, and when you think about it, its not a bad idea. You have the utility of a truck (more of an El Camino or Ranchero than a real truck of course) and the weatherproofing of a a wagon when needed. Not as secure as a steel roof of course, but then security wasnt the issue in 64 that it has become today. Studebakers engineering was sound, however its styling and performance were left in the dust by the Big Three by 66. The Avanti was its last gasp, to no avail.