A good portion of the United States is locked into one of the worst winters in years. For those of us who live in that nightmare, or at least for me, there is mainly one thing on my mind at all times: rust. Salty roads = rusty vehicles. Period. Now, about this 1959 Studebaker which can be found here on Craigslist with an asking price of $3,000 or best offer, or trade. It’s located in Huntington Beach, California. Thanks to Ikey H. for sending in this tip!
I only mention rust because this Lark appears to have a fair amount of it. I think of California cars as basically being rust-free but I guess they do have that gigantic salty brine called the Pacific Ocean right there, don’t they? This car should be checked over carefully. It looks great in some photos but in others, it’s scary. Thankfully, the seller mentions it so they aren’t trying to hide anything and that’s a good sign. This car was apparently part of the Harrah’s collection and the included certificate gives a date of 1984. Interesting.
The first-generation Lark was such a fun car, design-wise. It may not have been the sexiest or the fastest or best-handling, although with that little V8 they were fairly sprightly, as nobody says anymore. It just looks like a fun, happy car, almost cartoon-like and I say that in a good way. I’m a little confused when the seller says “Selling my Studebaker Lark 1963 (1960 Model) 44K Original Miles on it, the car runs great, everything works, I drive it almost every day to work (about 6 miles per day).” I’m not quite sure what a “1963 (1960 Model)” Lark is?
As you expected, there are no engine photos but you know by the VIII badges that this car should have Studebaker’s 259 cubic-inch V8 which would have had 180 to 195 hp depending on the carburetor. The interior looks a little modified and possibly warm for California in the seat fabric department, and this is it for interior photos. They did include a handy (?) photo of the cover of the owner’s manual and the aforementioned Harrah’s certificate. They say that “It must go asap, I’m moving to Europe!”, but they also say that they may consider a trade. This one is a head-scratcher. Hagerty is at $11,700 for a #1 Concours quality Lark sedan with a V8. Can this Lark be saved from the ravages of rust given the amount that shows up in the photos?
I might be seeing things but the rust at the end of the roof just above the windshield in the enlarged photo has holes in it . It’ll take some skilled fabbing to fix them.
Oh they were fun little cars alright–provided you could keep the rust monster
at bay. Studes were notoriously prone
to rust and would become piles of rusty
metal flakes within 5 years or so. Sad too
because other than the rust issues, they
were rugged little cars that could
stretch a gallon of gas. Just look it over
good before you buy it. All sales final.
The Studebaker Driver’s Club is probably one of THE strongest where help with your classic goes. Members are extremely helpful, a wealth of information, and eager to point you to sources for parts. The `59-`61 models can be somewhat economical to restore; there are even people with NOS sheet metal available!!
I’m guessing the car spent time in the rust belt, or had to be right on the Pacific Ocean to develop that rust.
Wonder what it looked like when it was sitting inside at Harrahs? Has all that rust formed since 1984? The head-on frontal shot on the ad makes it look like a lot of salt has blasted its way into the creases of the hood, above the windshield, and forward edges of the doors. Wonder if there was ever any filler used?
Nice looking Studebaker. I’ve always loved the 1959-61 Lark. Whether it’s the Lark VI or the Lark VIII, as long as it runs, everything on it works like it should, I’d be willing to consider driving one.
This poor old Lark is something of an emigma. The condition of the body with all of its rust doesn’t make any sense to me. I have owned more than 10 Larks, and I not only live in an area that heavily uses salt on the roads. I also had to contend with mud, as I lived in the country with the closest paved road was 6 miles away. The seller states that it only has 44K miles on the clock, but I have NEVER seen a Lark or any Studebaker rust above the windshield as this one. The trailing edge of the front fenders is normal, unfortunately, as it could have been corrected at the factory. The fenders are folded over about 2 inches then bolted to the cowl post. If this area had been sealed from the first it would have helped, but this car appears that all of the door drains are or had been plugged. It would be easier and cheaper just to replace the doors as there are many available, but the roof is frightning. Also, the leading edge of the hood is rusty. Never have I seen one rust like this one. An under hood picture would have been nice, too. But they were and still are a fun little car to have, I have really enjoyed all that I had and still have.
I worked with a guy who had a 1960 Lark VIII. His was a light blue four door. It had a V8 engine, and automatic transmission. How many gears it had, I cannot remember, nor do I know whether the blue was a factory colour, or if it was originally a dark blue, but had oxidized from exposure to the elements and was now a light blue. I got to ride in it a few times during the time I worked with him.
There were people on the Studebaker forum a few years back that were giving away almost rust free bare bodies. The frames are the same from ’59-’66, some are just made of heavier gauge steel.
We drove Stude Larks from 1960 to the end, nice little handling car as a squad
car, being in the city and haveing a cheap city concil usually got glorified taxies
The 259 having a 2 barrell if had to idle(a lot) would cough, backfire thru carb and would have to run it so as it would run decent. After 6 out of 8 hours in it felt like a buckboard at the end of shift. And Yup, they rusted, badly but we traded them off every year, but people were waiting in line to get a trade in as they had great maintenance and mostly 30-50,000 mi’s
I agree. If I could find one in decent condition, I’d buy one and use it for business purposes.
We At the ripe old age of 12, my dad taught me how to drive in his 61 Lark VI with a three on the tree. I then taught my older sister and then my twin sister. My parents would let me put the cars in the garage every night, but not before driving up and down the driveway (about 100 feet) a few times. When the lawn was dried out, I’d take a couple laps around the house and garage. Even though this was my dad’s work car, for some reason he let me put two red racing stripes and an STP sticker on it. The red actually looked pretty good on the baby blue paint. I’d like to say that as a dad, I was as cool mine was, but it would not be true.
I remember when cars had the option of a manual shifting transmission. My first car was a 1978 Toyota pickup truck. It had a 5spd. floor mounted transmission.
Had a friend in HS who had one of these, a 6 cylinder as I remember. He kept it through four years of college and who knows how many years of grad school. We both hated it. It was indestructible. We tried. His parents bought it for him. They figured that with a 6 he couldn’t get in too much trouble. They were wrong. I’d bet that horrible little car is still running somewhere (Cuba??). His was red. We were always going to try to find a wrecked Mercedes Radiator grill (180-220 type. We thought it looked like it would fit. Probably would have cost more than the car. It served him well, he went on to become a psychiatrist.
Air conditioning and dual exhaust !
Make an offer and drive it .
New lower price! Seller has removed the reference to Harrahs Collection in the body of his listing. Still shows the certificate. Starting price now $2800.
You put a ‘question mark’ after the word ‘handy. I think the seller uses the word in the German sense. In Germany, instead of using the word cellphone, we use the word ‘handy’, so I guess it’s a cellphone photo of the manual?
The Harrah Connection is a bit puzzling to me, as Bill Harrah passed away in 1978, and it was my understanding that no more cars were purchased or acquired After that date.
The museum had been talking with me about buying my very rare 1948 Packard Taxicab for his Packard collection*, but let me know they were no longer interested in late 1978. [It wasn’t for sale anyway!]
*Harrah was attempting to put together a comprehensive Packard Collection, one example of each model.