Despite having been stored for a while, this Lark is in better shape than most barn finds. It’s currently located in a garage in Mishawaka, Indiana and is listed here on eBay with a buy-it-now of $5,600 and bidding below that. I kept trying to find major faults with the car and was completely unsuccessful. The Skytop option was quite rare (although no one seems to know exactly how rare). The car runs well, stops, and is a solid car sporting original paint on most surfaces. The gray paint on the hood and fender tops is primer, and my hope would be that a sympathetic partial respray would blend the new paint nicely with the original. Chrome and stainless are said to be good and look the part. Even the interior doesn’t seem to be too bad. This really seems like a lot of car for the money to me, regardless of any value guide amount. What do you think?
well it’s a ‘Gen 2’ style………………worse, it’s a 4 dr…..
the six sucks, especially with an automatic…
I like the Lark,, but there are a lot better Lark choices…..
I’d agree with you … but it’s a skytop!
I like it! The car looks original and it is unusual.
I’m a lot more interested in the ’55-56 Ford Courier (sedan delivery) in bare metal in front of the Stude…
I’m a lot more interested in the (bare metal) 1955-56 Ford Courier (sedan delivery0 that can be seen in front of the Stude in photo 7. The ol’ Stude’s cool. too, and I’ve never even seen a photo of that Skytop.
So in 2011 there were under 50 acounted for,Ive never seen one and I used to belong to the Studebaker Drivers Club and went to a number of shows.If I ever saw a 2dr hardtop with this option I would have bought it immediately.
I have been in SDC since 69 and have seen around 10. Still not very many. The one I liked best a friend of mine from Ohio had. It was 63 Daytona Hardtop with a R1 engine. The only one like that I ever saw.
I like these cars They are simple and are pretty neat with their reasonable size. I would think this could be good daily driver, but I don’t know much about them. Automatic trans is a downer, would prefer a stick, even if it was a 3 on the tree. Soft top is neat but could be another problematic area – wind noise, leaking and potential rust areas. Dave, are these engines bad? I heard about the regular torquing of the head – dont recall if it applies to this model…
Tire, the Studebaker OHV sixes were not that bad. Studebaker simply took it’s small flathead Champion six and designed an overhead valve head for it (if you have the chance to look one over, you’ll notice that the OHVs still have the side covers used to adjust the valves on the old flatheads). Early on, they had problems with cracks between the value seats, but you nearly never hear complaints about that anymore. There were carburetor issues, mostly with the 63-64 models when they switched to the Carter RBS models. The OHV sixes just weren’t as tough as the 259 and 289 V8 engines, they were slow and not nearly as efficient as they should have been. All in all, most feel that there was really just no added benefit in the OHV six over the old flathead. If this car sat next to the same car with a V8, everything else equal, 10 out of 10 Studebaker enthusiasts would chose the V8, just for more power and added cash value. Having said that, there are many of these engines out there with over a hundred thousand miles and still running strong.
It’s kind of like being given the choice between steak or chicken!
You can find out how rare at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend. Not sure why the color is different on the hood. The 6 would not be my choice. They were know to crack the head if over heated. I guess it is ok or seller doesn’t want you to know about it.
The one picture of the various codes says the opening top is black not white.
Black would look better.
I had a 72 skylark sun coupe that had a similar top. Also had a relative that had a nove with a similar top
That paint looks like the iris blue on an MGA down the street. Lovely color. These weren’t sexy or pretty or anything, but they were reliable and solid. Quite over built. Tap a fender and the sound you get is like a tank.
Here in Town? surprise. but not my cup of tea.