Studebaker Super Lark: the forgotten compact forerunner of muscle cars (10 photos + 1 video)

For most car enthusiasts, performance is not the descriptor that immediately comes to mind when talking about a brand Studebaker. With a market share that was just minuscule compared to "Big Three", Studebaker focused his efforts on developing cars that could take his customers from point A to point B.





We all know the legendary engineer John DeLorean. He became famous in the 80s, creating the DeLorean DMC-12, but long before that, he made a name for himself in companies such as Studebaker-Packard, Pontiac and Chevrolet. It is he who is called the father of the so-called "muscular" cars, after he took a compact Pontiac Tempest, I stuck a large 6.4-liter V8 engine with 348 hp into it. and created the famous GTO.



Later, other manufacturers followed this trend, so in over the next decade, models such as the Dodge Charger, Plymouth GTX, Chevrolet Chevelle, Ford Torino and many more. In the 50s the ocean was only large and powerful cars, but for a small, compact and powerful such was not. This is the story of a forgotten model now a defunct company and America's unofficial first muscle car. Meet Studebaker Super Lark.





The company was founded in 1852 and was engaged in production of very popular carriages, and switched to cars at the beginning last century. Studebaker has always strived for some "golden mean" in combination of performance and luxury, so perhaps the best call it "American BMW".

But the period of the fifties of the last century was, of course, difficult and the company slowly began to lose momentum due to competition from Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth sides.



During the 1958 recession, company executives noticed that sales compact cars Rambler jumped by 80%, while in The entire industry experienced a decline of as much as 30%. Studebaker got to work and about a year later introduced its compact Lark model.

It should be said that for the full development, testing and perfecting a brand new car usually takes about four years, and Studebaker's speed of just one year meant development was not new.



Moreover, it was somehow assembled from parts of other models. companies, some of which were about ten years old. Lark was far from small, but with a length of 4.7 meters, it was 45 centimeters shorter than more major Champion. It could comfortably accommodate six adults and their baggage, and in the year of its debut, it attracted over 130,000 customers and gave Studebaker to take a break from financial problems.



Already in 1960 there were more modern competitors such as Ford Falcon, Chevrolet Corvair, Plymouth Valiant and others, and Lark sales dropped by more than 50%. In an effort to get media attention information, Studebaker introduces new 4.7 V8 engine liters. He developed 210 hp. outperformed its competitors by at least some years.



During testing at the legendary Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah engineers noticed that a supercharged engine easily fits under the hood of Lark. It seemed that such a step would attract a large media attention to the obsolete compact, so its quickly launched into mass production. He got the name Super Lark and was able to reach a maximum speed of 212 km / h, which is actually actually made him much faster than later legends such as GTO or Charger.



Super Lark's only competitor in 1963 was the Ford Falcon Sprint with V8 engine with 164 horsepower. He needed more ten seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h, while the Super Lark showed a time of 7.3 seconds. The car also came with four-speed manual transmission modified suspension, improved brakes. This version did not sell for long.



Unfortunately, it was released too late and the company announced withdrawal from the US market after 1964, and in Canada there were two more of the year. Super Lark versionsonly 325 units were harvested, of which 53 were Super Lark are the top ones. Many will say that the key problem was $3,500 price (about $32,884 in today's dollars), but there were many more problems. Outdated design and technology, heavy Studebaker's own financial situation and the debut of the new Ford Mustang are all this meant that buyers stopped paying attention to Lark.



However, it is difficult to dispute the impact he had on the automotive industry. world, and the question is, would the aforementioned GTO have been created at all if Super Lark didn't pave the way. As is often the case, pioneers often forget, because it's easier to love the winners, and this "ugly duckling" definitely deserves its place in history.