Studebaker Lark - Closure of South Bend Facility, December, 1963

Closure of South Bend Facility, December, 1963

Studebaker worked very hard to establish a high-performance image for the 1964 lineup, sending a number of them to the Bonneville Salt Flats to set new production-car speed records. Advertisements played up the powerful R-series engines, disc brakes and the company's position that Studebakers were "different ... by design" from other American cars.

Magazine road test reviews of the new cars were generally positive. One of the more-popular automotive magazines of the day even got to help build the car they would test. Gene Booth, the editor of Car Life magazine, went to South Bend and assisted in building a Daytona hardtop with the full R4 Super Performance Package. This car ended up being the only Studebaker equipped from the factory with the optional 304.5 cubic-inch, dual-quad "R4" engine.

Despite styling changes, innovative models like the Wagonaire, the high-performance R-series engines and Super Performance Packages (inspired by the Avanti) that were developed with the help of "Mr. Indy 500" Andy Granatelli (who headed Studebaker's Paxton Products and STP divisions), sales did not increase. By the early autumn of 1963, Studebaker's board of directors acted to slow down the South Bend assembly lines. At the start of the model year, the company was building 60 cars per hour. By late October 1963, some 2,500 workers were laid off and the line speed was reduced.

Rumors were spreading in the media that the board of directors and the company's president, Sherwood Egbert, were at odds over the future of the automotive division. The board's opinion was that it was finally time to find a way out of the auto business. Lending strength to the board's argument were the undeniable facts that Studebaker's subsidiary companies were profitable, while the growing losses at the Automotive Division were literally bleeding the corporation dry.

Despite being terminally ill with cancer, Egbert fought the directors tooth and nail in his efforts to continue auto operations. However, when he had to undergo further cancer surgery (his third since 1962) that month, the board took the opportunity to force Egbert out and execute their plan to wind up automotive production.

Although it would by necessity have to be done slowly and methodically, lest the company expose itself to contract lawsuits from angry dealers (which would have drained even more precious revenue from the company's depleted coffers), the directors quickly put their plan into action. Meeting with the leaders of UAW Local 5, which represented Studebaker's assembly workers, the decision was made to close the South Bend plant and continue production at the company's small Canadian factory in Hamilton, Ontario, which could, it was believed, be operated at a profit.

The closure of the South Bend plant was announced on December 9, 1963, and the final Lark-type car, a Bordeaux Red 1964 Daytona two-door hardtop (originally intended for shipment to a dealer in Pennsylvania), rolled off the assembly line on December 20. This car is now housed at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend.