For car guys: A controversial design

For the 1953 Studebaker coupe, they went for a "think outside the box" industrial designer rather than an automotive designer. The result was spectacular as well as controversial. Raymond Loewy was certainly not limited to one product for his design talents. He designed everything form locomotives to household appliances. The '53 studebaker evolved into the Hawk series that I still lust after. Certainly ahead of it's time, Loewy widened the box frame around the passenger compartment, and sank the floor pan. This lowered the height of the car several inches. I don't think the design was given the credit deserved.

Moonstruck said:

The '53 studebaker evolved into the Hawk series that I still lust after.

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A high school buddy of mine had a Silver Hawk in 1958 which he put a big Chrysler engine in. He also added a LaSalle transmission & Lincoln Zephyr gears but I don't know if he changed the rear end. We were juniors in high school & his dad helped him with the project. Needless to say, he was the "King of the Road" in our circle.

We're these available with superchargers?

beachbum29 said:

We're these available with superchargers?

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Yes the Golden Hawk was available with a supercharger. It was the later years I believe about '57.

Moonstruck said:

Yes the Golden Hawk was available with a supercharger. It was the later years I believe about '57.

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My grandfather had a Lark which he traded for a 413 Dodge.

I agree w you Don except that I think the 53 Lowboy was better looking than all the Hawks and others that followed.

Both the Studebaker 6 and V8 engines were great too. The eight was heavy for it's size though. The only Stude I ever had was a 47 Champion 6cyl w OD. In my opinion the only weak spot w the Stude's was their suspension.

It's a well proportioned car. A little like the Lancia/Citroen lines. Notice the ads feature women very prominently, they obviously thought that was there market.

It's a bit sad so many car makers have gone to the wall, with it went a lot of diversity.

Andy G said:

It's a well proportioned car. A little like the Lancia/Citroen lines. Notice the ads feature women very prominently, they obviously thought that was there market.

It's a bit sad so many car makers have gone to the wall, with it went a lot of diversity.

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Now we get a crap load of generic BS with black boxes.

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Loewy started with Studebaker prior to the '53s. Raymond Loewy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I remember we had a '53 -- Commander, I think. Another afterwards, I think a '55 or '56 President. Later a '59-ish Lark; built like a tank but wouldn't start in temps below freezing. The Lark was the first one I drove...

-Chris

I had a 52 commander. After a decade of imported sports cars it was very comfortable but not fast. The steering wheel was the same diameter as the Titanic's.

I drove a 6 cylinder Silver Hawk and a 57 sedan with V8 in high school. Some years later I bought a '63 R2 (supercharged) Avanti until moving to Texas (it's either the supercharger or an A/C under the hood). Just sold a '53 coupe from my brothers estate, and am selling a huge pile of spares at the moment. The '53 is a beauty.

Probably the best looking common car ever made.

I had one of these and put a dodge viper motor and tranny in it. Quite fun

Front fenders were the Stude's worst feature

I grew up in South Bend. Everyone called the vertical rust streak on the front fender panel, just ahead of the doors "sideburns".

I owned a couple of Larks, a 59 and a 63; great cars.

The Golden Hawk had a true variable speed supercharger. Other cars had merely "blowers" with v-belt drive directly proportional to engine RPM.

In Golden Hawks when you "mashed the pedal to the metal", the supercharger spooled up to high RPM instantly, way ahead of engine RPM, which quickly followed suit.

The Lark was basically a Lowey body with the ends chopped off to make it "compact". I like the Larks, but later grew to wish I had a real "53 Stude.

manyboats said:

Probably the best looking common car ever made.

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Lovely lines, not quite sold on the size of the tail fins though(from the rear view not from the profile). Still in all a fine looking car.

Edit; on further viewing that was probably a bit of a harsh reflection, need to see one in the flesh, though I don't think there is much of a chance of that over here.