Studebaker Wagonaire

The Studebaker Wagonaire wis a station wagon produced bi the Studebaker Corporation o Sooth Bend, Indiana, frae 1963-1966. The wagon featurt a retractable slidin rear ruif section that alloued the vehicle tae cairy items that wad itherwise be too taw for a staundart caur o the era.

Studebaker Wagonaire's unique ruif wis the invention o industrial designer Brooks Stevens, who wis chairged bi the company's preses Sherwood Egbert tae find as mony ways possible tae expand the company's leemitit model range athoot spendin vast amounts o caipital on retoolin. Ironically, Stevens wis an aa the designer o the Kaiser Jeep Wagoneer, a truck based SUV that remained in production till the 1990s.

The Wagonaire, which wis inspired bi Stevens' German-biggit 1959 Scimitar concept caur, wis based on the standard Studebaker Lark station wagon body, which wis suitably modified abuin the beltline. Wha made the caur unique wis the ruif ower the cargo bay, which manually retractit intae an then lockt intae poseetion in the forrit section o the ruif abuin the rear passenger's seat. This unique configuration alloued Studebaker tae boast that the Wagonaire coud transport items (sic as standard size refrigerators) in an upright poseetion.

Wagonaires seatit sax passengers (five wi the optional front bucket seats), an coud seat aicht when equipt wi a rear-facin third-row seat, which wis available as an option throu 1965. When the third seat wis ordered, the caurs wur fitted wi special "Captive-Air" (puncture-resistant) tires, as the additional seat tuik up the space required for a spare tire an wheel.

Unfortunately for Studebaker, early buyers suin foond that thair new wagons' roofs leakt watter near the front o the slidin section. This problem wis addresst — wi leemitit success — bi the factory. As a result o the leak problem, fixt-ruif station wagons wur rusht intae production alangside the Wagonaire an became available in Januar 1963. Thir sauld for US$100 less nor the slidin-ruif wagons, but it wis technically a "delete option", meanin that if the buyer wantit the fixt ruif versus the slider, it haed tae be specifically ordered that wey bi the sellin dealer an wis no a separate model.

When Studebaker closed its Sooth Bend, Indiana, assembly plant an continued production at its Hamilton, Ontariae, Canadae, plant, the company eliminatit its "halo" models, the Avanti an Hawk, but continued tae big Lark-based sedans an Wagonaires.

The 1964 models, which wur biggit ae in Canadae efter December 1963, wur the last tae cairy Studebaker's awn engines. Beginnin wi the 1965 models, General Motors supplied ingines based on the Chevrolet sax-cylinder an V8 designs. The 1965 models wur available ae wi the slidin ruif.

The fixed-ruif option made a return for Studebaker's final model year in 1966, but the third seat wis no langer offered. In addition, the '66 Wagonaire finally wis made a model in its ain right, blending the exterior features o the Commander wi the interior trim grade o the sporty Daytona. Anly 940 Wagonaires war biggit for '66, makin ony fixed-ruif model rare.

Matchbox-Lesney made a miniature Wagonaire, complete wi a slidin ruif section, which wis sauld for mony years efter Studebaker stopt production. Husky an aa manufactured a Wagonaire seemilar in size tae the Matchbox product.

A hie-performance station wagon?

The 1963-64 Daytona version o the Wagonaire coud be considered the forebear o the current "pocket-rocket wagon" fad. When equipped wi a V8, Carter 4-barrel carburetor, an a column mountit shifter manual transmission wi owerdrive, the Wagonaire coud haud its awn against several maks o "muscle caurs" frae the era. Interestingly, frae its earliest days on the mercat, the Wagonaire coud be ordered wi ony o Studebaker's available "R-series" hie-performance Avanti V8 ingines an the fower-speed floor-shift manual transmission. Few (if ony) wur ordered wi sic hie-performance equipment, houiver.

Short-lived revival o the concept

The concept o the retractable ruif wis pickt up bi automaker General Motors for a model in its GMC Envoy line in 2003 as a 2004 model. Ads for the new Envoy XUV incorrectly toutit the featur as "first iver". Ane featur that GMC did adopt that Studebaker niver did wis pouer operation o the ruif section.

Houiver, the Envoy XUV wis nae mair popular than the Wagonaire haed been, an GMC discontinued the model in 2005.

References

Maloney, James H. (1994). Studebaker Cars. Crestline Books. ISBN 0-87938-884-6.
Langworth, Richard (1979). Studebaker, the Postwar Years. Motorbooks International. ISBN 0-87938-058-6.
Gunnell, John, Editor (1987). The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975. Kraus Publications. ISBN 0-87341-096-3.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors leet (link)

External links

Volkswagen relives old concept Archived 2011-02-01 at the Wayback Machine