The Starliner was a beautiful 2-door hardtop offered by Studebaker between 1953 and 1955. Styled by designer Raymond Loewy, the Starliner would serve as the inspiration for the Hawk iteration of sedans and hardtops built between 1956 and 1964. This ’53 Starliner has had the same owner for the past 20 years and it’s described as a daily driver needing a little bodywork and an interior makeover. Mechanically, its sound has had some recent upgrades done.
As one of the dwindling numbers of U.S. independent automakers, Studebaker built more than 151,500 cars and trucks in 1953. Of those, half would be the Commander series that the Starliner was based on. And, of those, nearly 20,000 were sleek hardtops like the one you see here. All Starliners were powered by a 232 cubic inch V8 engine.
We’re told this Studebaker is 100% original and the V8 is paired with an automatic transmission. It’s been treated to some recent brake work and new rear wheel bearings. As a result, the car runs and drives well, and the seller would consider it a “great everyday driver” (like you’d really do that with a classic like this). There is a bit of rust on the passenger side rocker panel, but the rest of the exterior of the vehicle looks good as does the paint. The condition of the chrome is said to be “fair.”
On the other hand, the interior is quite tired and the upholstery, door panels, carpeting, and more need a refresh. Located near San Francisco, California, this car has had only one owner across two decades and the registration is current, not “in-op.” The auto has 147,000 miles but looks less used. There can’t be many of these Studebakers still running around and this one is available here on craigslist for $10,500 OBO. A swell tip brought to us by Barn Finder T.J.!
This is a car that I never appreciated with the exception of the 56 Hawks until after I bought a new 68 Mustang coupe and started thinking about where did the concept of a sleek, affordable, sporty 4 passenger 2-door hardtop come from. That’s when I realized the concept was originated with those 53 Studes. Still a sharp looking car and would love to have it.
I think this Loewy design really stands out as a “palette cleanser” in terms of being clean/modern/different relative to other domestic makes at the time. I would say the same thing about the design of the “53 gullwing Mercedes relative to the rest of the Mercedes lineup and other European makes (include the Citroen ds).
Great find!
I agree with your palette cleanser comment. The ’53 coupe is just so uniquely GORGEOUS, it doesn’t fit in with the standard 50s look (I say that even though I LOVE the 50s cars).
Just a little prettier than the ’51 Kaiser, and both prettier than anything else on the road at the time. And yes, I’d daily it!
Agree! A couple of independents way ahead of their time style-wise. Too bad they couldn’t survive. Compare these to a ’51 or ’52 Ford Chev or Plymouth…
Though often called “Loewy coupes,” these cars in fact were designed by Bob Bourke, head of the Studebaker design team at Raymond Loewy Associates, not by Loewy himself. Aaron Severson’s excellent Ate Up With Motor website notes that Loewy was mainly in Europe during the car’s development but he did select which of several concepts done by Bourke’s team he preferred, the nod going to what was essentially Bourke’s own design.
When I saw the light green ’53 sitting on top of another car at the local wrecking yard with no power train I couldn’t believe what a good looking car it was. It was in great condition and as I had a big Olds engine sitting in my dorm room I bought it on the spot. $38 and they charged me $5 to carefully take it down and deliver it to my dorm parking lot. Bought 4 wide Ford wheels to bolt on it and waited for it to be delivered. 6 months later it had a new interior, new blue metallic paint, and a very hot Olds engine and 4 speed automatic transmission. After it arrived, my roommate, who owned a black ’53 with a big late model engine and a LeSalle transmission, and I sat down with a six pack and just looked at it until it got dark. This car sure gets a near the top position on my favorite car list.
Surely that’s not the end of that story. Please tell us about some sort of wild road trips with crazy girl friends and dads having to make bail, or even something as mundane as 500 miles to a Stones concert.
How about a 125 mile trip with cool girl friends to go to an Ike and Tina Turner Revue? You think that didn’t rock!
I saw one in Limestone Maine at the old Loring AFB testing for the salt. It had the biggest turbo I’d ever seen.
Rockers are an easy fix, two piece inner and outer and readily available. But the door hinges can be a nightmare and are different from just about any other brand. Heater core is under the passenger seat and replacements are very difficult to find. I agree that it’s one of the best looking cars ever built, and the engines are just about bullet proof.
I knew Bob Bourke in the late ’70s, both as a fellow industrial designer and “Nutmeg Stater.” He still had his ’53 or ’54 Studie Coupe in the garage but his day-to-day ride was a Gen I Ford Fiesta. Can’t fault him for that; it was an honest car and a good clean design. It was a car that both of us would have been proud to have been able to say that is was one or our designs.
Bob never got much of the credit for the Studie, Ol’ RL was a credit hog, a real piece of work.
My only claim to fame was having done very early preliminary sketches for FIAT which eventually became the SEAT 133, the FIAT 850-based follow-on design using the same mechanicals as the 850. It was produced in Spain and the bodily remains of many are popular with the Scandinavians in their Jokkus racing. Look Jokkus racing up on YouTube, it’s an absolute “hoot” of racing on the cheap. Be sure to check out the specs which are even more entertaining!
B/F you are driving me nuts with cars like this one. My imagination runs wild and I start thinking that I should have this car and I could easily do it . Then I check my drivers license and note my date of birth and reality sets in and if that doesn’t do it ,I check my bank balance. My wife says to stop looking at this sight, she is right but at least I can dream while I have my morning cup of coffee.
Joe I think you just spoke for many, if not most, of us on this site.
Joe, Couldn’t agree more. “The mind is willing but the body is weak!”
In the 1970’s my brother had this cars twin. He absolutely loved his Stude but as we all have done he sold it. His had a metal plaque on the dash it said Henry and gave the car’s birthday. Fifteen or so years later I saw a 53 Studebaker sitting near the highway for sale. I stopped to look. It was the same car. Had the exact nameplate on the dash. I informed my brother but he had moved on to other interests.
I thought these were fantastic looking cars, the moment they appeared in late 1952. Other ’53s I loved instantly were:
1953 Chrysler
1953 Mercury
1953 Kaiser Dragon
1953 Pontiac…
1953 was a great year!
So someone explain to me why studebaker never offered this as a convertible? The back seat could easily be eliminated for the top mech. The early corvettes were only 6 cylinders. Seems like a huge miss and a car that would have helped studebaker a lot.
remember these cars well I was just 16 years old best friend had one rebuilt engine just 2 of us being young and dumb after we stripped the engine down to the bare block we where ready to take it to machine shop to be bored out so we put it in the trunk of my 1956 Chevy convertible on the way to shop leaf springs in Chevy broke
My wonderful Uncle in Saskatchewan owned a ’49 Starlight Coupe, relegated to the back 40 (400?) likely by the time this car debuted. I can’t reconcile that this is a ’53! It looks nothing like the other domestic offerings that year.
I’m amazed that this car hasn’t sold yet. These Loewy coupes are hard to find, especially the Commander V8s.
I think it’s the best-looking car of the 1950s.
Hello, Bub! I was around when these were new: yes, it’s a ’53. It did not STAND OUT at the time, however, because the 1947 “first by far with a post-war car” through 1952 Studes, while clumsily, had a somewhat similar profile — and this just looked like a smartly dressed-up, sleeked and re-styled Studebaker, to us at the time. There was no mistaking it for anything else. I don’t think we appreciated then how revolutionary and iconic it was. They added un-needed chrome in 1954, and the 1955 was excessively heavy enough in chrome, to destroy the look of the design. But dripping things in fullsome chrome was the trend with most makes. Making this car into the Hawk was a grand idea (could have done without those fins!). In 1962, they finally got things right with Hawk styling — but it was too late for Studebaker. Those,cowl vents that ran from 1947 through 1964 were HORRIBLE for RUST!!!
Harrison, I agree with you about 1953 and not until the 1962 Hawk being the best years. Since I wasn’t born until 1964, I barely knew anything about Studebaker or any of the orphans. Still, my last (and best built) model car was a1953 Studebaker coupe.
remember the 1953 very well I was 9 years old in 1953 later in 1961 when we all turned 16 my best friend had one nice car
Sweet !
Harrison I also was around in 1953 was 8 years old do you remember in 1955 they came out with a green and yellow one lots of chrome and two tone
I never paid a lot of attention to the colours — but I certainly remember the added chrome to the tail-lights in 1954, and then that ridiculously overdone grille on the ’55 — spoiled the whole thing! Too bad that neither one of us has a 1955 Studebaket showroom brochure (or, do YOU have one?). I used to save those, beginning in the 1940s, for all sorts of makes — Packard in particular. And I would look for old ones (which dealers were happy to let you have, back then). I also had just about every month of Ford Times, from 1946 forward. I lost all of these things in a 1972 house-fire. Is that YOUR black ’58 Chevrolet Impala?
Hi, Al! I never paid a lot of attention to the colours — but I certainly remember the added chrome to the tail-lights in 1954, and then that ridiculously overdone grille on the ’55 — spoiled the whole thing! Too bad that neither one of us has a 1955 Studebaket showroom brochure (or, do YOU have one?). I used to save those, beginning in the 1940s, for all sorts of makes — Packard in particular. And I would look for old ones (which dealers were happy to let you have, back then). I also had just about every month of Ford Times, from 1946 forward. I lost all of these things in a 1972 house-fire. Is that YOUR black ’58 Chevrolet Impala?
wow you just bought back a couple of good memories Ford times and the brochure from dealer showrooms I collected them all in the 50s pic of Impala simulter to mine sold mine for $800 when I went in the service in 1964
For 1953, this was an incredibly well designed car as a two door hardtop. All of the lines and proportions were just right. However, the sedan version, the one that most people bought, looked ungainly and misproportioned. Consequently, sales were not what they should have been. Studebaker blew it and was bought by Packard the very next year.
For 1953, this was an incredibly well designed car especially as a two door hardtop. All of the lines and proportions were just right. However, the sedan version, the one that most people should have bought, looked ungainly and misproportioned. Consequently, sales were not what they should have been. Studebaker blew it and was bought by Packard the very next year.
Dave Brown, I agree entirely.
My first car in 1961 was a 53 Starliner in black over red with a shaved trunk and a Chevy 283 engine, but otherwise stock with OEM “wire” wheel covers and bumper mounted front fog lights. The interior was nearly perfect except for one tear in the driver’s seat back where its former owner apparently forgot to take a screw driver out of a back pocket. I drove it all through college in Michigan and Ohio, replacing inner rocker panels along the way, but unfortunately spun out on a wet, slick highway in the rain and mashed the passenger door on a fence post, and eventually lost it and a sister parts Starliner in a barn in Ohio as victims of a divorce. If this one was not so far from Arkansas…….?
Forgot to mention one of the features was the “hill holder” valve in the brake line that prevented roll back on a hill as the clutch was released and mine was converted to 12 volts for the Chevy engine with a tap on the 12 volt battery for the 6 volt instruments.
When one considers what was available for 1953 this was “The Future”!