Text 5241, 39 rader
Skriven 2005-01-19 01:27:38 av Jack Yates (1:3613/1275)
   Kommentar till text 5215 av Roy Witt (1:10/22)
Ärende: Motorcycles
===================

 DC>> I know that Tucker and Studebakker were quite advanced, may too
 DC>> advanced, for their time.

 RW> Well, Tucker was up against the big 3 and he wasn't all that much of a
 RW> businessman to start with. I remember my dad taking me to see them
 RW> when they were in showrooms. He wasn't impressed much with all of that
 RW> advancement. I certainly didn't know any better at the time.

According to some, and according to the movie, Tucker managed to raise the ire
of General Motors, and a senator or two.


 RW> As for Studebaker, they were no more advanced than anyone else in
 RW> their field. Their problem was the exotic designs in body styles after
 RW> the war. The old cliche' of 'they don't seem to know which direction
 RW> they're going' fit more than just the body style. Their best years
 RW> were with the Hawk series in the late 50s. That car was ahead of it's
 RW> time by 10 years. I guess people weren't ready for the Mustang yet.

The last "family sedan" that Studebaker built was the Lark, and it was a rather
boxy-looking auto in 1964, when I was working for a Studebaker dealer.
Studebaker was proud that a man could get into the car while wearing a hant and
without banging his knee on the corner of the windshield frame or "A-post". 
This, in the time when styling was long and low, probably did as much or more
to put Studebaker under (in the US) than the advanced design of Raymond Leowy's
coupes.  Studebaker disappeared as the Mustang appeared, though they continued
to build cars in Canada for at least two more years and I have heard that they
were still building Larks in Brazil as much as ten years later.

At one point in time, around '63-66, I think it was, they fitted a half-dozen
or so Larks with Perkins 4-236 Diesel engines, hoping to sell them as taxicabs.
 This too, was to no avail as was the Avanti, which was their last-ditch
attempt to maintain a reasonable market share in the US.

Sorry I can't remember the exact dates..

--- McGuffey's Reader                                 GoldED+/W32
 * Origin:    (1:3613/1275)