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HomeLark

Lark

1964 Studebaker Daytona rear quarter
Design Notes

1964 Studebaker: Brooks Stevens hammered final nail in the coffin

August 27, 2025 Steve 27

(EXPANDED FROM 4/16/2021) One of my more unpopular takes is that Studebaker shouldn’t have assigned Brooks Stevens to restyle the 1964 Lark. He may have had a more mainstream design sensibility than Raymond Loewy, but […]

1965 Studebaker Lark 4-door sedan
Fake Design

Brooks Stevens’s 1965 Studebaker Lark concept: Almost a baby Continental

June 6, 2025 Steve 5

(EXPANDED FROM 12/10/2021) Brooks Stevens apparently was convinced that he could come up with a new-generation Studebaker Lark design that would top the work of Raymond Loewy’s team, which was then working on an Avanti-inspired […]

Links

Motor Trend coverage shows rise of imported cars in the late-1950s

April 4, 2025 Steve 2

Car-buff magazines have tended to focus primarily on entertaining their readers. Thus, they have mostly avoided serious topics until they become too pressing to ignore. That’s why I find interesting how Motor Trend magazine covered […]

Quotes

Virgil Exner Jr.’s oral history discusses Studebaker Lark and 1962 Chryslers

March 29, 2025 Steve 3

I checked out David Crippen’s (1989) oral history of Virgil Exner Jr. to see if he offered any useful factual details about two lingering historical debates — why the Studebaker Lark as well as the […]

Parody ads about the auto industry and media
Our Sponsors

Was the Studebaker Lark’s styling really stolen?

March 21, 2025 Steve 4
1963 Studebaker Avanti
Fake Design

Was the 1963-64 Studebaker Avanti a fatal mistake?

January 31, 2025 Steve 36

(EXPANDED FROM 4/22/2022) The 1963-64 Studebaker Avanti has been described by historian Patrick Foster as “one of the most beautiful automobiles ever to grace the road” (2008, p. 138). Even so, the premium-priced sporty coupe […]

2006 Ford Five Hundred
History

How often did renaming a car fail to help it sell better?

December 16, 2024 Steve 21

(EXPANDED FROM 6/8/2022) A few years ago Karl Ludvigsen (2022) wondered whether some cars that were renamed should not have been. For example, he noted that Ford might have benefitted by keeping the Cortina name […]

1963 Studebaker Lark Wagonaire
History

Could Studebaker have come out of the 1970s as successful as Jeep?

October 31, 2024 Steve 18

(EXPANDED FROM 4/23/2021) A few years ago our story on Brooks Stevens’s redesign of the 1964 Studebaker generated enough debate that I decided to further flesh out an alternative scenario. To wit, Studebaker would have […]

1959 Studebaker Lark
Editor's Note

Reader of 1959 Studebaker design-theft story dismisses ‘useless exercise’

March 5, 2024 Steve 0

Neil stopped by to comment on our story, “1959 Studebaker: Was it really design theft?” He wrote: “I think this is a useless exercise. Tho it seems to me as the Valient came later, it’s […]

1966 Studebaker Sceptre taillights
Media Analysis

Accounts of Brooks Stevens’s Studebaker Sceptre and siblings can vary

February 3, 2023 Steve 13

Dean’s Garage has reposted a Hemmings story about a number of proposed Studebakers designed by Brooks Stevens. Daniel Strohl (2023) primarily focused on the Sceptre, a replacement for the ancient Hawk. I find the photographs […]

Posts pagination

1 2 »
  • 1962 Ford Galaxie 500
    Did the 1960-64 big Ford sell so poorly because of cannibalization?
    October 16, 2026 37
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    Was 1969 the beginning of the end for the Ford Thunderbird four-door Landau?
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    October 8, 2026 21
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    October 6, 2026 21
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    October 2, 2026 12
  • 1962 Chrysler 300
    Did the 1962-65 Chrysler 300 ‘dilute’ the letter series?
    September 29, 2026 12
  • 1968 Ford Mustang
    Three rules led to a stultifying level of conformity in 1960s U.S. car design
    September 24, 2026 12
  • Internet problems reminded me of U.S. automakers in the 1970s
    May 2, 2026 1
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 146
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