Geoff Carverhill profiles Studebaker in Britain and the last car dealer to hold the Studebaker franchise in London, with photographs from the Steve Miles Collection.
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Words: Geoff Carverhill Photography: Steve Miles
During the Sixties, most American car manufacturers had UK sales and service representation of some kind or another. The Studebaker franchise was housed in London in a garage on the corner of Holland Road and Kensington High Street, with BM Group (Concessionaires) Ltd. It was to be the last acldressin Britain that would display, and have for sale, new Studebaker models.
Steve Miles caught this '59 Studebaker Silver Hawk coupe parked opposite the Studebaker showroom of the BM Group in Kensington High Street. Outside the neighbouring offices stands a rare longwheelbase Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud limousine.
By the early Twenties, Studebaker Ltd was being operated by managing director Eustace H Watson, with works and offices at Pound Lame,Willesden, in North West London. Its showrooms in Great Portland Street offered a Light Six Landaule'tte with British-built body for £630 (in 1924), but was also available as a chassis only, for £370. A Special Six Tourer and a Big Six Tourer were also offered at £575 and £695 respectively. ·
The next incarnation for Studebaker was Studebaker (England) Ltd, which, during the late Twenties, offered the President and Commander Straight 8 saloons from its showroom and workshop premises in Grosvenor Road, Victoria, South West London. The Autocar magazine road-tested a 30bhp, 4.1-litre, eight-cylinder Commander saloon and was positively. gushing in its praise for the car. -
A photo from the Haym!lrket archives shows what looks to be a 1928 or 1929 Studebaker Commander saloon. This car is fitted with 'Artillery' wheels, but wire wheels with two side-mount spares would have been standard equipment. A righthand-drive 1929 Commander Royal five. seater saloon would set you back £665.
It would not be until the mid-Thirties that Studebaker, along with many other manufacturers, would see profit again following the Wall Street Crash. At the 1935 Motor Show at Olympia, a standardbodied 1936 Studebaker six-cylinder Dictator saloon was being offered at £295, which was also available as a coachbuilt drophead foursome coupe, with coachwork by Salmons, for an additional £100. In 1936 and '37, the Dictator was offered alongside the larger and more expensive eight-cylinder President saloon and cabriolet. Distribution too, had changed: Studebaker Distributors Ltd, based at 385 Euston Road, near Regents Park and close to the company's Great Portland Street showrooms, was now the Studebaker representative.
Studebaker Distributors Ltd continued to be the concessionaires for Studebaker well into the late Fifties, until much of its activity became absorbed into the Henlys retail group.
At the front, a 1963 Gran Turismo Hawk.
As it is registered, it might be a low-mileage demonstrator. Being right-hand drive, it was probably assembled at Studebaker's Hamilton, Ontario, plant. From 1963, much of Studebaker's production was centralised at the Canadian plant following the shutdown of the South Bend, Indiana, plant in December 1963. From 1964 to 1966 all Studebaker production was Canadian.
A new '63 Gran Turismo Hawk, with a Riley 4/72 next to it - presumably a trade-in. There is no clue to how much the Studebaker is going for; however, the retail new car price for this model in 1964 was just over £2200, including purchase tax! Despite its Thunderbird-style roofline treatment, which replaced the Loewy wraparound rear window and a 289 cubic inch V8, it didn't sell as well as Studebaker had hoped: 4634 units in 1963 and 1548 in 1964, its last year » of production.
From the Haymarket archives, a Canadian-built 1934 Studebaker Dictator right-hand-drive saloon poses, straddling the street, for a road test. The car would have undoubtedly have been supplied by Studebaker Distributors Ltd.
With only Rambler occupying the 'compact' segment in the late Fifties, the Lark managed to steal a lead on the Big Three in the US when it was launched in late 1958. This left-handdrive '59 Lark four-door sedan doesn't seem at all out of place next to a Riley 1.5 and an immaculate Morris 8 in this shot of an early Sixties rural car rally. Right-hand-drive models would have been sold as new in the UK by Studebaker Distributors Ltd. The sole concessionaires for Studebaker in the Sixties would be the BM Group Ltd.
A very attractive ' low mileage, one owner' 1963 Lark Daytona two-door hardtop stands for sale in the front showroom area. No indication of price is on the car, or whether it was a V8 or a six-cylinder. The chances are it was the' 169 cubic inch 'six'. All in all, a very nice package, with standard three-speed column shift transmission and power brakes. The six-cylinder Lark Daytona was ·available with Flight-0-Matic automatic transmission, if ordered from new.
This '59 Lark two-door station wagon would have proven itself an able workhorse and load lugger, but someone appears to have run off with the front number plate!
The Lark was also available as a handsome little two-door hardtop. This 1960 Lark Regal V8 is seen parked up in Oxford, circa 1964.
The only noticeable difference in appearance on the 1954 models was the vertical 'teeth' in the grilles. This is a '54 Champion Starlight coupe.
It seemed like a good idea at the time ... in 1954, cash-strapped Studebaker merged with Packard to form the Studebaker-Packard Corporation. By 1955, the elegant '53 models created by Loewy (or should I say Virgil Exner, who has been credited with the design while wo king for Loewy) were looking very distinctive, with massive chrome grilles and bumpers and wide chrome side strip ornamentation. This '55 coupe is a Champion Regal.
By 1956, Studebaker did start to further develop its styling with the new Hawk models. The distinctive profile of the 1953 Studebakers was retained for the 1956 models, as this Flight Hawk shows. A new square-shaped grille raised the bonnet line sufficiently to give the new Hawks a unique and very different front-end look.
A dreary, wet day in Oxford: a 1957 Silver Hawk coupe on the Woodstock Road roundabout.
How many Avantis were sold by BM is unknown, but some did appear on London streets. Along ·with the iconic Hawk it was a superb little car, but ahead of its time, and was not enough to save Studebaker. Although Cruiser and Daytona production would continue in Canada in 1965, only 2045 Studebakers being built in 1966 would see the end of a 64-year span of Studebaker automobile production.
As for the BM Group Ltd, the company either changed brands or ceased trading when Studebaker stopped making cars. Until a few years ago, the premises, including the seven-storey office block above, was the prestige headquarters of the Universal Music Group, home to what was left of Britain's recorded music industry. Universal Music Group has now moved out and the building is currently on the market. Any offers?
Styling changes were minimal between 1957 and '61 for the Hawk, and this '59 Silver Hawk coupe embodies many of the Hawk styling features that made it an enduring classic. The '57 Hawks now featured fibreglass fins, which would, with detail changes, remain until 1961. Engine options were as comprehensive as ever, with the 185.6 cubic inch inline six or a 259 cubic inch VB, or an optional 289 cubic inch VB on Silver Hawks. Gone was the 352 cubic inch Packard VB that was used in the ' 56 model Golden Hawk, which was replaced for '57 by a high-output version of the 289 VB. For 1958, the Golden Hawk received a supercharged 289 VB, but from ' 59 to ' 61 engine options were kept to the basic two V8s and one inline six.
The 1958 Packard Hawk, seen here at the Paris Motor Show of 1958, did nothing to enhance the fortunes of either Packard or Studebaker. It was the last model produced with a Packard badge, and a sad finale for a great car company. Packard ceased production on July 13, 1958. Despite this rather vulgar interloper, Studebaker had a good sales year in 1960 and continued with the Hawk in '61, which was followed by the Gran Turismo Hawk in 1962. The photo is courtesy of the Haymarket archives.