Car of the Week: 1964 Studebaker Daytona convertible

With just 703 built, there just weren’t many 1964 Studebaker Daytona convertibles built, especially now, 60 years after they were minted. And among those few survivors, Neil and Robin Loughlin’s example stands tall. Neil largely restored the Daytona himself, and despite the excellent results of his work, he’s not afraid to drive it. We discovered Neil and the car one Sunday afternoon at the Bakers of Milford car show in Milford, Mich.

Studebaker goes out on a Lark

Automobile designer Brooks Stevens effected more than a facelift when he created the refreshed Studebaker Daytona hardtop in 1964. The crisp chiseled and squared-off roof that Stevens grafted onto the now-five-year-old 1959 Studebaker Lark body looked every bit as up to date as Chevy’s equally formal-roofed ’64 Impala. Yet the Daytona body was even older than the Lark itself, having been based on the earlier Studebaker body shell that dated to 1953. Lacking the finances to offer an all-new car after poor sales of the 1957 and 1958 Studebaker models, Studebaker designers and engineers added shorter new front and rear fenders to the 1953 Studebaker body’s basic center section, thus saving significant tooling expense in creating the new compact Lark for 1959. The 1953 Studebaker was already smaller than its contemporary competitors from the “Big Three,” so of course the 1964 Daytona was narrower than the full-size 1964 Chevrolet. Further making the Lark appear smaller among other cars of its day was the fact that most American cars had grown substantially wider since the 1953 Studebaker body debuted. However, the relatively small size of the subsequent Lark and Daytona models based upon the old Studebaker body fit nicely within America’s expanding compact car market.

Sales success of the Lark helped make Studebaker profitable again, but there still wasn’t money for a new body in the early 1960s, so Studebaker relied on facelifts to keep the Lark looking fresh. 1961 brought new roof tooling to a few models and a change to quad headlamps on the higher-end Larks. 1962 saw a change to the rear fenders of all compact Larks but the station wagons and quad headlamps across the board. That model year also saw the introduction of the Daytona two-door hardtop and convertible models in the Lark series. In pitching the new Daytona for 1962 in a brochure, Studebaker said it was “America’s New Action Car! Sports car type bucket seats, a handsome and handy between-seat front console, and a woodgrained dash with clear, sports car type instrumentation are highlights of the Lark Daytona’s Action Styled interior ­— all dramatically suggestive of the outstanding performance and handling made possible by its optional 4-speed gearbox and up to 225 HP power range.” The “glamorous” Daytona was also fitted with “luxurious” vinyl upholstery materials, as well as a fully carpeted floor, and was available with a six-cylinder or the V-8 mentioned in the brochure. A convertible version of Studebaker’s sporty new Daytona was the official pace car for the 1962 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, hosted in the South Bend automaker’s home state of Indiana.

Changes were minor from the 1962 to 1963 Studebaker Daytona hardtops and convertibles, but a facelift of the bread-and-butter Studebaker sedans, coupes and wagons gave the cars a forward-leaning, flush headlamp-and-grille treatment. However, Studebaker’s sporty Gran Turismo Hawk and Avanti coupes remained little changed from the previous year.

What really made the Daytona stand out in 1964 was its available performance options. Lacking money for frequent styling changes, Studebaker had attempted to garner attention through performance with its Hawk coupes, which continued into the 1960s due to dealer demand, and the stunning fiberglass-bodied Avanti coupe, which debuted in 1963. Studebaker’s overhead-valve V-8, introduced in 1951, had been a farsighted-enough design that more than a dozen years later, it was being boosted to outputs exceeding one horse-power per cubic inch.

By the 1960s, Studebaker designated its high-output V-8s as its R-series engines. The “base” R1 engine developed 240 hp from a 289-cubic-inch displacement. Next came the R2, also a 289, but equipped with a supercharger for a factory-rated 289 hp. The R3, also supercharged and with a slightly larger displacement of 304.5 cubic inches, gave a power rating of 335 hp. The final engine in this series, dubbed the R4, ran two four-barrel carburetors without supercharging for 280 hp. It was this engine that Studebaker selected to create a “street sleeper” from its relatively docile-looking Daytona hardtop.

With a top speed of 132 mph and 0-to-60-mph acceleration of 7.8 seconds, Studebaker’s R4 Daytona could show its taillamps to any production sedan. Its performance was rivaled only by that of the Pontiac GTO, which was also released in 1964 (see Old Cars “Wangers Secret Weapon,” Dec. 1, 2024).

As might be expected, performance carried a mileage penalty. An R4 Daytona owner could expect little more than 12 to 14 mpg. With a total carburetor venturi area of 13 inches, the Daytona’s 304.5-cid engine was capable of gulping plenty of fuel.

With its R-series, Studebaker worked very hard to establish a high-performance image for the 1964 lineup, sending a number of cars to the Bonneville Salt Flats to set 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 Studebaker’s performance cars were generally positive. 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 R4 engine (304 cid with two four-barrel carburetors).

Performance cars of the 1950s and 1960s have a great reputation for going like lightning in a straight line, but once they come to a corner, watch out. To give the Daytona some measure of road-handling ability, Studebaker fit it with an Avanti suspension package that consisted of stiffer springs and shocks, anti-roll bars front and rear and front disc brakes. To best translate to the pavement the engine’s power, these performance cars came standard with traction bars and a limited-slip differential. To put the R4’s power to pleasurable use, Studebaker fitted its hot Daytona model with a Borg-Warner T-10 four-speed transmission.

Not many performance Daytonas were built with one of the optional R-series engines, making them one of the least-known and rarest muscle cars ­— and real “sleepers” ­— even today. The 1964 Studebaker Daytona conceded little to the fastest-moving midsize cars on the street in their day, and their low production numbers make them scarce collector vehicles today.

By all accounts, all Studebakers from the mid 1960s were rare. Despite their performance cars and their budget-priced models, Studebaker’s Lark, its Daytona derivative, along with the Hawk and Avanti, were not enough to stop Studebaker’s sales slide. In the fall 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 spread across the industry that Studebaker’s 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 bleeding the corporation dry.

Despite being terminally ill with cancer, Egbert fought the directors tooth and nail in his efforts to continue automobile operations. However, when he underwent further cancer surgery 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, Ind., 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 Dec. 9, 1963, and the final car, a Bordeaux Red 1964 Studebaker Daytona two-door hardtop originally intended for shipment to a Pennsylvania dealer, rolled off the assembly line on Dec. 20. This car is now part of the collection at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend.

After the South Bend closing, production continued at Studebaker’s Canadian plant in Hamilton, Ontario, which was overseen by Gordon Grundy, the president of Studebaker of Canada. Grundy was a dedicated Studebaker executive who, like Egbert before him, wanted to see Studebaker continue as a builder of automobiles.

The “second series” Canadian-built 1964 lineup was not much different from the South Bend offerings; however, the entire Challenger series (along with the Hawk, Avanti and all trucks) was dropped. Six-cylinder Daytona models that had not previously been offered in the United States (but had been available in Canada and export markets) were added to the U.S. lineup.

Life with a Lark Daytona

Neil was 18 years old when he purchased the featured 1964 Studebaker Daytona convertible, and now it’s Robin’s favorite car from their private Studebaker collection. Neil remains attached to the car and says, “I’ll never sell it!”

Purchased in 1981 as a non-running basket case, the Laguna Blue Studebaker Daytona convertible was almost immediately sent to Westmoreland Restorations in Blairsville, Pa., for rust repair, body work and paint application. It was a body-off-frame restoration with Neil completing the remainder of the restoration at his shop in Ortonville. A busy career at Chrysler Corp. took precedent over the Studebaker restoration, but Neil stayed the course. After a nearly 20-year process, the end result in 2001 was an award-winning Studebaker that he and Robin remain rightfully proud of. It has been judged twice at Studebaker Drivers Club nationals meets and scored 393 and 389 out of 400 points.

Despite its high-scoring status, Neil and Robin regularly drive their Daytona convertible when Mother Nature cooperates. It has racked up nearly 30,000 miles since the restoration in 2001, yet it still looks factory-fresh thanks to Neil’s efforts to keep it pristine and well maintained. The convertible is one of three Studebakers in the Loughlin collection. It shares garage space with an award-winning 1964 Daytona hardtop that competes annually at the Pure Stock Drags in Stanton, Mich., and a recently restored 1957 Golden Hawk.

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