For 1962, Studebaker once again restyled its aging product line and sent it out to do battle against the Detroit three.
As Studebaker prepared for the 1962 season, the Indiana automaker was in trouble once more. The 1959 Lark, which was in fact the previous ’56-58 full-sized package cleverly repackaged as a compact, sold well in ’59 and ’60, but then the volume dropped dramatically as the compacts from the Detroit three entered the category. (See our feature on the ’59 Lark here.) Moving quickly, new president Sherwood Egbert called on his friend Brooks Stevens, the independent designer who created the ’62 Gran Turismo Hawk, to perform his makeover magic on the Lark line as well.
In Stevens’ redesign, the sedans and wagons were placed on Studebaker’s longer 113-in wheelbase package, while the two-door coupe and convertible were assembled on a shorter 109-in chassis. The chassis themselves, essentially a legacy from 1953, remained largely unchanged. The front end was freshened up with a Mercedes-style grille, while the major change in the exterior sheet metal was at the rear.
Stevens squared up and extended the rear quarter panels, adding trunk space and stretching out the lines, giving the car more physical presence—more like an intermediate than a compact. Depending on body style, the new models were from eight to 13 inches greater in length than the year before, much of it in the rear overhang.
There was a new model at the top of the Studebaker line, too: the Lark Daytona. Available as a two-door pillarless hardtop or a convertible, the Daytona featured snazzy interiors designed by Stevens with a woodgrain dash, bucket seats, and a center console (above). An optional Borg-Warner T-10 four-speed manual transmission with floor shifter could be coupled to a 289 cubic-inch V8 with a four-barrel carburetor and 225 horsepower.
No, the redesigned ’62 Lark did not save the company. But both the Lark and Stevens’ other creation, the Gran Turismo Hawk, did score a remarkable increase in sales (both shown below). Hawk volume, while still small, more than doubled, while Lark sales climbed from not quite 65,000 in ’61 to more than 93,000 in ’62. If not for a six-week strike at the South Bend plant, sales surely would have topped 100,000 units. But it wasn’t nearly enough to reverse the company’s fortunes, and U.S. production at Studebaker was halted for good on December 20, 1963.
I have always rejected the idea that Studebaker was emulating the Mercedes’ grille.Nearly everyone outside of North America was using some sort of upright grille.(Rolls,Jaguar,MG,….) Why give Mercedes’ the credit?And Studebakers Hawk was using the upright grille since 56.The grille is clearly an evolution of the Hawk grille.
I still regret having bought a new Corvair when I could have bought one of these.
one reason may be that in 1962 most Mercedes Benz dealers were Studebaker dealers. At that time Mercedes Benz had not yet established an independent dealer structure in the U.S.
Many of the strongest Studebaker dealers evolved into Mercedes dealers as Studebaker went into decline. American Service Center of Arlington VA is a major example. Studebaker was very actively involved. The association cushioned Studebaker, and in no way aggravated its problems.
Ed,
Across the river in Maryland, like ASC in Arlington, McNey Motors had been a Packard dealership that then took on Studebaker and a year later Mercedes-Benz, The franchise morphed into what is known as EuroMotorcars.
In 1973 I had a call from a friendly employee at McNey telling me to hotfoot it to the lot and check the contents of the dumpster out back, as they were throwing away anything connected with Studebaker-Packard. I ended up filling the back of my new Dodge B-100 van with lots of S-P goodies!
In that dumpster I found, and still have today, a big framed print of an ocean-going ship in a port, unloading Mercedes cars and trucks one at a time by crane. The bottom of the print says “Mercedes-Benz all over the world” and in smaller print “Studebaker-Packard Corp. Sole importer in North America.”
That grille does look like a Benz. But a ’70s Benz! In ’61 the Mercedes grille was still a tall beehive, except for the sports models which were horizontal ovals. So if Stevens was outright copying Benz, he was also a clairvoyant.
I had a ’62 Lark six two door sedan for ten years (2007-17). Basically the header photo car here, but in blue. Still miss it.
I have a ’62 Lark Daytona convertible and love it. It draws lots of attention at local car shows.
Dan,
40 Years ago I had a ’62 Daytona convertible, red with black interior, A/C and 6 cylinder. That description wouldn’t possibly sound like your car does it? always wondered what happened to it.
No, mine was originally metallic brown with a 6 cylinder an no ac. https://www.studebakersocal.com/Member_Scott_5.jpg
Here’s a photo of my car from years ago, Found the photo on Pinterest, but have no idea where the photo came from!
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/376613587566300905/
Nice!!!
Thanks, I still miss that car, I got it from an elderly couple who bought it new. When I arrived at their home to look at it, I was driving my ’62 GT Hawk. They quickly decided their car would go to a good home if I bought it, so we worked out a price and I picked it up a few days later.
Another man had wanted to buy the car, but he mentioned he would put a ’57 Golden Hawk engine in it, and they did not want that to occur. They actually asked me what kind of changes I would do to the car, and I said “nothing!”
From new they called the Daytona “Carol”, and always said they were going Caroling instead of driving!
Brooks Stevens was really talented; his updates on both the Lark and Hawk were minimal, but they made all the difference in the world in modernizing them.
The ’62 and later Larks struck me as mid-size cars rather than compacts, both inside and out. I think outside, 15 inch wheels in an era of 13, four headlights, and full-radius rear wheel openings add to that effect.
I always laugh a little when I read that only the ‘better’ or ‘best’ Stude dealers got M-B. I’m of the mind that if a dealer would buy tools and signage, he got ‘Benz. My tiny hometown dealer, two-car showroom and six service bays, got ‘Benz.
Quite so. Studebaker marketed the cars as “right sized” and as the big 3 blanketed the compact class, tried to shift upmarket. Hence the extended deck, etc. Thank you for your interest.
Bill Pressler,
In the early 1970s I had a copy of a book listing all the Studebaker dealerships when the company shut down, and I traveled all over the mid-Atlantic area looking at the locations. I found quite a few M-B dealerships that evolved from the S-P agreement, and based on photos I saw from the 1950s, they varied in size. I suspect the dealer’s physical size was just one aspect of being awarded the M-B franchise.
About 30 years ago I bought a 1955 Packard 400 from Mr. Benson, the owner of the S-P dealership in Annapolis, MD. He said he was able to pick up the M-B franchise, even though the showroom was 3-4 cars max. [Annapolis, while the state capitol, was a fairly rural town in the 50s, not part of the huge Baltimore-Washington corridor it is today]
Mr. Benson said one of the main deciding factors was the number of cars the dealer sold each year, and Benson Motors sold a lot of cars because, while it was fairly rural, the Annapolis area had [and still has] a large number of upper income residents. Today the location is still in the same place, but the showroom can handle about 6 cars, with the parts/service dept in a newer location.
What I also learned in my travels 50+ years ago searching for S-P dealerships, was all the M-B locations had nothing related to S-P products, and I discovered why, when a contact at McNey M-B in Bethesda, MD called me and advised me to come right down to the dealership, as they were throwing out everything related to S-P. I raided the dumpster out back, and actually filled my Dodge B-200 LWB van with goodies several times! He told me an order came from M-B corporate to rid all dealerships with anything related to S-P.