This 1922 Studebaker Light Six is listed for sale here on eBay. Located in Harrington, Washington, it does not come with a title. It is listed with a BIN of $8,000 but there is the option to make an offer.
The seller of this Studebaker is quite light on their description. They do describe it as being in excellent condition. Certainly for a car that is rapidly heading towards its 100th birthday it does look rather good. The panels appear to be nice and straight with no obvious signs of rust. The paintwork is not perfect, displaying the occasional ding or scratch. It appears that the car has been the recipient of a new coat of paint at some stage as there are some signs of over-spray in areas like the engine bay, but that’s probably not surprising for a car of this age.
The interior generally presents really well, with the upholstery on the seat and door trims looking to be in really good condition. There is one paint issue on the passenger side of the dash, but all of the gauges appear to be present and the steering wheel also appears to be in good condition.
Nestled under the hood is the 207ci side-valve six that gave the car its name. The condition of the engine is unknown as the seller is not particularly forthcoming on mechanical details. Hopefully appearances count for something, because it does look quite neat. These engines produced 40hp when new, and this one is backed by the 3-speed manual transmission. For a car of this vintage these Studebakers were capable of remarkable fuel economy. I happened to find a road-test conducted by Autocar in 1922, and on a week-long test they were able to average a fuel consumption of 25mpg. These came standard with mechanical brakes fitted to the rear wheels only. However, this car is sporting disc wheels which were only fitted to the Light Six when it wore 4-wheel hydraulic brakes. Incidentally, the hydraulic brakes were the only option available on the Light Six.
Looking around at what’s on offer in the market at present shows the Studebaker Light Six starting at around the $10,000 mark, with prices going as high as the mid $20,000 region. No title and a lack of knowledge of the mechanical condition of this car make it a hard car to place a value on. This car appears to be in good condition, but those two issues will always put a question mark over the value.
Now this is a rare bred car that is sweet
Good price on a reasonably rare car, if the overall condition matches what is seen in the few pics. Probably more usable than a Model T but still a poor match for modern traffic. Roadsters are much rarer than tourings in this make. I’ll be surprised if some Stude collector doesn’t grab this car quickly.