Classic Studebaker Cars for Sale

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Buy & Sell Studebaker Classics. New listings added daily.

Commander (12) Champion (11) Champ (6) Avanti (4) Hawk (4) Gran Turismo (3) Starlight (3) Lark (2)

Studebaker, one of America's oldest vehicle manufacturers (1852–1967), produced distinctively styled cars that stood apart from the Big Three. The Avanti, Hawk, and Champion are prized collectibles.

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United States

1948 Studebaker Champion

$12,495 100,000 miles

Dealer

United States

Frequently Asked Questions about Classic Studebaker

Studebaker is a family name, an altered form of a German surname. The family, from Solingen, Germany, was named Stutenbecker and reached Philadelphia in 1736 aboard the ship Harle. The Dictionary of American Family Names explains Stutenbecker as an occupational name for a baker, from Middle Low German stute, a fine white bread, and becker, baker. The Studebaker family association also records an earlier spelling, Staudenbecker.

Brothers Henry and Clement Studebaker founded the business on February 16, 1852, when they opened the H & C Studebaker blacksmith shop in South Bend, Indiana. A younger brother, John Mohler Studebaker, joined in 1858 and bought Henry's share. The firm was incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, and the Smithsonian Libraries describes it as having become one of the world's largest makers of horse-drawn vehicles.

Studebaker entered the automobile business in 1902 with an electric car and added gasoline-powered cars in 1904. Its early gasoline cars came from partnerships with other makers, including Garford of Elyria, Ohio, and E-M-F of Detroit. The Studebaker Corporation was formed in 1911, when the wagon company combined with E-M-F. Cars were built in Detroit at first, and the first South Bend-built Studebaker automobile, a Light Six, followed in 1920.

Studebaker's home plant was in South Bend, Indiana, where the first South Bend-built car was completed in 1920 and production stopped on December 20, 1963. Earlier cars came from the former E-M-F plants in Detroit, which stayed in use into the early 1930s. A West Coast assembly plant in Vernon, California, closed on June 8, 1956. In Canada, a plant in Hamilton, Ontario, began turning out cars in 1948 and built the last Studebakers in 1966.

Studebaker and Packard formally merged in October 1954, forming the Studebaker-Packard Corporation. The Studebaker National Museum notes that neither company was entirely healthy and that the combined firm struggled for survival. Packard production in Detroit ended in 1956, the remaining Packards were built in South Bend, and 1958 was the final year for the Packard line. The Lark was introduced as a 1959 model.

After World War II Studebaker was known for its styling, much of it from Raymond Loewy Associates, whose work for the company began in 1936. The redesigned 1947 Champion and Commander were promoted as "First by Far with a Postwar Car", and the Starlight coupe had a wraparound rear window. The 1950 models wore the "bullet nose" front, the 1953 Starliner hardtop was the work of Loewy designer Robert Bourke, and the Hawk line ran through the 1956-1964 model years.

A small team led by industrial designer Raymond Loewy designed the Studebaker Avanti for company president Sherwood Egbert. Loewy and three assistants, John Ebstein, Bob Andrews and Tom Kellogg, did the work in 1961 in a rented house in Palm Springs, California. The Avanti had a fiberglass body and front disc brakes and was introduced in 1962. Studebaker stopped building it when the South Bend plant closed in December 1963.

Studebaker built its last car in March 1966 at its plant in Hamilton, Ontario. The main factory in South Bend, Indiana, had stopped production on December 20, 1963, ending the Hawk and Avanti. The Studebaker National Museum dates the final car to March 17, 1966, while some accounts give March 16. That car, a turquoise Cruiser four-door sedan, is now at the museum in South Bend. The Smithsonian Libraries history says the company's persistent financial problems were never overcome.

The 61 Studebaker listings on Classic Cars Arena right now are priced from $4,995 to $67,496, with a median asking price of $20,995. These are the prices sellers are asking today, not sale prices, and the figures change as cars are listed and sold.

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