[blue66]

So I found this for sale.
Owned for 16 years and body off restored.
Was the guys first car, and is building a house and needed the money.
It is a 61 Studebaker Lark VIII
259 V8 Auto
45,000 miles
New brakes, wheel cylinders, brake lines, fuel lines, paint, custom cloth inerior,
steering parts, front and rear springs, cd changer under seat, EVERYTHING works.
At the price of $2950.00 I could not turn it down.
My wife is so thrilled Actually she is kinda, since she will get to drive this alot more than the chevelle. Now I am really broke!!!
I know its a 4 door, but they need love too.
I have already been thinking about .....the ultimate sleeper :yes:
But I had best just leave it alone.....

Now, do I keep this as a cruiser......and focus on the racing part of the chevelle.

Resell it and make some cash to spend on the chevelle.

Resell it and finish the 58 apache p/u I have.

Or Ls1 it, with about 1000 turbo charged HP, and leave it completely stock looking.

 

[Kevin R]

did you say $2,900 bucks. Wow I would keep it and drive it.

 

[Dave]

I say, LS1, that'd be SO cool.

 

[jbird]

I'm speechless.:disco:

 

[mr 4 speed]

Love those old Studes :thumbsup:

A guy not too far from me had a few of those Larks and 3 Golden Hawks and 1 Avanti..oh yeah,and a Stude pick up..looked pretty neat seeing them all together in his driveway/garage

I wouldn't touch it..I would enjoy it as is..at least its a V8 too
Drive it for awhile and sell it..you'll make some money on it

 

[Bomber '67]

Cool beans!

Did you know there is a Studebaker high performance site http://www.racingstudebakers.com/

Then the Studebaker Drivers Club
http://www.studebakerdriversclub.com/sdcforum.asp

You should join the SDC from the above link, they have a nice monthly magazine "Turning Wheels". Of all the orphan makes, Studebaker has the largest support and parts availability.

Anice Lark book http://www.epinions.com/Studebaker_Lark_1959_1966_Photo_Archive_by_Ed_Reynolds

Ed Reynolds is also the President of the SDC, and he is the friendliest Stude enthusiast you will ever meet. As a plus he also owns a great Stude parts supply http://www.studebaker-intl.com/

The only problem to becoming a Stude owner is that you will be tempted to bring another one home. As a company Studebaker obviously made some bad decisions that ultimately had them exiting the car business. The corporate non-automotive side was a money maker: in 1970 the successor company Studebaker-Worthington posted its first billion dollar year. As with all cars there are a few weak spots in the Stude design, although overall they were very robust and durable. That little 259 V* in your Lark actually weighs as much as a BBC!

Thomas

 

[CDN SS]

Cool neat cars ........find an original Paxton Supercharger for that 259 and you will stude sleeper

 

[Cam]

Ma and Pa Kettle would approve

Seriously, not much down for an interesting vehicle.

Bolt on rear fenders, there's a different approach to collision repair.

I just bought a '66 Studebaker brochure and was quite surprised to see all the pictures in it were from around Hamilton, Ontario where I grew up. Gordon Grundy was the vice president of Studebaker and he lived about 4 blocks from me. Also the president of Studebaker Canada used to play bridge with my parents (when he was alive). I can't recall his name off the top of my head. He also was the head of AMC in Canada during the boom times at AMC.

 

[blue66]

Lot's of cool info out there on these things.....
Many parts available too.

I bet I have over a hundred miles on it already, just picked it up last night.
Drove it to work today.

Wow, that 259 v8 weighs about 700#'s plus the trans......The whole car only weighs in at about 3000#'s.

Aluminum heads, sbc, powerglide, procharger, E-85 ?????????? anyone, anyone?

 

[Harold Sutton]

That little 259 V* in your Lark actually weighs as much as a BBC![/QUOTE] Maybe a little more. I've heard figures of as much as 720 lbs. Fairly dependable, my parents had several strange autos while i was growing up and the old 1950 bathtub Nash, with the fold down seats was a much better car. It does look like that "Studebaker" was very well restored. Do you have enough garage space to keep it indoors?

 

[kirkwoodken]

I was in a Stude Lark that had an axle slide out going around a curve. Lost all the brakes!!!!

Studebaker made a good car. The engines were advanced; the Paxton blown cars ran in the low 15's, which made it about a second faster than the average 283 at that time. Very few under 300 CI engines ran in the 14's. The FI Vettes, 392 Chryslers, 348's, 401 Fords, etc. seldom ran in the 13's in 1960. A Studebaker had a good chance of beating any of them.

I liked the Larks. You will notice some of today's Mercedes resemble Larks.

(I went to high school with a guy that took the blown 289 out of his Avanti and replaced it with a 394 Olds. DUH!!!!! Before that car, he had a factory injected Rambler.)

Buick and Ford also used the Paxton for a while.

I recently drove an '83 Eagle for two years. Old cars are always conversation pieces. Good luck with your Lark.

 

[Harold Sutton]

I was in a Stude Lark that had an axle slide out going around a curve. Lost all the brakes!!!!

Studebaker made a good car. The engines were advanced; the Paxton blown cars ran in the low 15's, which made it about a second faster than the average 283 at that time. Very few under 300 CI engines ran in the 14's. The FI Vettes, 392 Chryslers, 348's, 401 Fords, etc. seldom ran in the 13's in 1960. A Studebaker had a good chance of beating any of them.

I liked the Larks. You will notice some of today's Mercedes resemble Larks.

(I went to high school with a guy that took the blown 289 out of his Avanti and replaced it with a 394 Olds. DUH!!!!! Before that car, he had a factory injected Rambler.)

Buick and Ford also used the Paxton for a while.

I recently drove an '83 Eagle for two years. Old cars are always conversation pieces. Good luck with your Lark.

Kinda off subject but the 394 olds was a pretty good running engine. The blower would make the Studebaker 289 a potentially quicker car though. I have never seen any F.I. except in the mechanical F.I. in the early Corvettes, full sized Chevies and some late fifties Pontiacs, certainly none from Rambler. I had a '53 Studebaker Lowry Coupe, it only ran "one day" in the short period i had it, the idiot before me turned the battery around backwards. The Studebaker had a positive ground, at least it did in 1953. Tulsa,Ok. had some 289 Larks as police cars in 1960 or 1961 that ran pretty good, for the times.

 

[Rick Dorion]

Wow - that brings back memories. I had a two door, V8, three on the tree. Keep it. Very nice score!

 

[blue66]

That little 259 V* in your Lark actually weighs as much as a BBC!

Maybe a little more. I've heard figures of as much as 720 lbs. Fairly dependable, my parents had several strange autos while i was growing up and the old 1950 bathtub Nash, with the fold down seats was a much better car. It does look like that "Studebaker" was very well restored. Do you have enough garage space to keep it indoors?

Fortuneately yes, I have a 30x50 pole building split into 25x30's, one half finished off and insulated. One half cold.
It is really unbelieveable how nice it is and how nice it drives.

 

[cstraub]

Brian,
Let me know if you decide to sell it, I have a friend that is Stude nut...

 

[kirkwoodken]

I know it's off subject, and that Wikipedia and other sources say that "few, if any, fuel injected Rebels were sold", but our local "rich kid" had one. I never looked under the hood. It had FI badges. I had no reason not to believe it at the time. (Chrysler tried the same Bendix FI, I believe, with little success. In 57, seemed like everybody had FI. Some Pontiacs used the Rochester FI unit: a guy who had one called me about 20 years ago to work on it. I worked with a guy that had a Chrysler Turbine car: they never sold those, either.) His dad bought him a brand new Avanti, which he immediately butchered by installing an Olds in it. Of course, the Olds was fast, and it was probably bigger than 394, but an Avanti was an instant "collectable" that had been ruined. I was only 17 then, but it still bothered me that someone would do that to a nice car just because he could.

I had a 55 Olds HT. Still have dreams about it. Was my favorite car. You could drive it in the rain with the windows open, and not get wet. A family could live in the trunk. When it idled, it made NO noise. Olds made some of the best cars on the Planet. My 55 could have driven over a Toyota.

America made some neat cars. In 1969, after my first Z-28 had been stolen and stripped, I was talking to a friend that worked at a imported car dealership. He had a new Toyota that I looked at for $2400. It had a sprayed on vinyl roof cover, and was the cheapest built car I had ever seen. I couldn't understand who would buy such a thing when you could buy a used 1968 Camaro for $1800, and use the $600 difference in price to buy gas. (At 35 cents a gallon.) Or even a 1960 Pontiac for $800, and use the rest of the money for gas. Never made sense to me. But people bought them anyway. When is the last time you saw a 1969 Toyota?

 

[30-A rider]

If it was mine Id keep it real drivable for the wife....Id throw on some large white walls, like 3"...put on some baby moons and trim rings.....dual exhaust all the way out back and drive it.

 

[Harold Sutton]

If it was mine Id keep it real drivable for the wife....Id throw on some large white walls, like 3"...put on some baby moons and trim rings.....dual exhaust all the way out back and drive it.

I'd leave it exactly the way the guy restored it and only sell if you need the money, definately put it away during the winter and start it regularly.

 

[LeoP]

Another vote for leaving it stock and just driving it. :thumbsup: