Development
Studebaker Wagonaire's roof design was the invention of industrial designer Brooks Stevens, who was charged by the automaker's president, Sherwood Egbert, to expand the company's limited model range without spending vast amounts of capital on retooling. Stevens was also the designer of the similarly named Kaiser Jeep Wagoneer, a truck-based sport utility vehicle (SUV) that was also introduced along the Wagonaire for the 1963 model year. The Jeep model remained in production almost unchanged on the same platform into 1990s, making it the longest continuous automotive production run in U.S. automotive history.
The Wagonaire roof design was inspired by Stevens' 1959 Scimitar concept car built in Stuttgart Germany by Ruetter for the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation. There were three full-sized Chrysler-based vehicles built for dispay at the 1959 Geneva Motor Show to promote use of aluminum in building cars. One of these was a hardtop (with no "B-pillar") station wagon with a sliding roof panel.
The Studebaker Wagonaire was based on the standard Lark station wagon body that was modified above the beltline. The roof was designed with a panel over the cargo bay that manually retracted into and then locked into position in the forward section of the roof above the rear passenger's seat. This configuration allowed Studebaker to boast that the Wagonaire could transport items (such as standard size refrigerators) in an upright position.
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