By Jim Brennan

UDMan

Welcome to another installment of the CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot, a regular feature which aims to expand the definition of what a muscle car is, and to expand your mind while doing so. Avanti is an Italian word for forward, and was probably the perfect name for the newest Studebaker coupe that was introduced in the fall of 1962. The design had many design firsts that later became inspirational factors in future cars during the next two decades. Key features include a long hood and short deck, popularized by the Ford Mustang: grill-less front end, which was popularized a decade later with other performance oriented cars, a glass fastback rear, picked up for the Plymouth Barracuda, and other vehicles, as well as other styling touches, too numerous to mention here. Lets just say that when the Avanti was introduced, it looked like nothing else on the market. But is it a muscle car, and does it deserve a place in the parking lot?

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot: The 1963 – 64 Studebaker Avanti" »

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

For those of you not in the Studebaker cult, this is the mother of all Studebaker performance engines. It’s the Hemi, ZL1, and SOHC Ford of the Studebaker world and because they are as rare as hen’s teeth, when one comes up for sale, it demands big numbers. This one went for $25,000.

The engines were built by Paxton Products for Studebaker back when Andy Granatelli was being hired out to make horsepower and publicity for Studebaker. As is stated in the ad, engines identical to this one powered two Studes to international speed and endurance records with Andy himself behind the wheel.

It’s not the romper, stomper flashy piece that a Hemi is, but put in a light car with the right gearing, this sucker could terrorize the streets with the best of them. There was lots of super tuning done to these motors with respect to balancing and precision machining, but the coolest parts in our book are the dual quad intake manifold and the special Granatelli-only (not repopped) cylinder heads.

This is the ultimate “factory” Studebaker motor. Thanks for the tip Joe Roberts! Here’s the ad

By Ron Honig

WaytooFurious

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to cross an El Camino with a Studebaker? Well according to this ad on eBay you wind up with a Studnimo. The unfortunate thing about this add is that it does not really show the true potential of this car. Check out the pictures after the jump and you will see that given the right wheels and paint you can wind up with a sensational car. I first spotted this completed Studnimo at Euroa a couple of years ago, and have seen it at various shows since then. Do you think this is a worthwhile project?

Continue reading "Anyone for a Studnimo?" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Fast & Furious is opening this week–woohoo, you heard it here first!–and to help whip moviegoers into a car-crazy frenzy, Screen Junkies has put together this encyclopedic post covering (in detail) what they consider to be the top 40 movie cars of all time. Expect the usual suspects: Christine, Bullitt’s Mustang, and Doc Brown’s DeLorean all made the top ten. But there’s also a few rides that you probably haven’t thought about in awhile. Cameron’s dad’s ’61 Ferrari 250 GT, which met such a violent and terrible end (beaten up by an angst-ridden rich kid, then run through a plate glass window into a ravine? Ugh). Louise’s ’66 T-Bird convertible: hells yeah, “the best car for an Arkansas waitress and housewife to conspicuously flee the authorities after shooting a rapist.” And does anyone remember this crazy-painted bulletnose Stude from The Muppet Movie? Check out the full article here, and let us know if any of your faves didn’t make the list.

By Jim Brennan

UDMan

Welcome to the CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot, a regular feature which aims to expand the notion of what a muscle car is, and maybe to drop the hint that the muscle car’s roots can be traced back a lot further than the range of years that we generally think of these cars as coming from. It has been over 50 years since the Studebaker Golden Hawk graced America’s highways. Since Studebaker is no longer in business, can we now ask if the Golden Hawk is or is not a muscle car? I think it’s worth taking a look. Introducing the Studebaker Golden Hawk.

Continue reading "CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot – The 1956 – 58 Studebaker Golden Hawk" »

By Jim Brennan

UDMan

Welcome to the CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot, a regular feature which aims to expand the notion of what a muscle car is. Today’s featured car is that last of the once great Packard line of cars, but by this time they were nothing but glorified Studebakers. Let me introduce you to the 1958 Packard Hawk.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot: The 1958 Packard Hawk" »

To any student of the world’s best GT cars, the Studebaker Avanti is a coveted classic. Studebaker was an early producer of automobiles, making the jump from creating horse-drawn carriages. It developed a reputation for being well-built, yet slightly stodgy cars. Seeking to find a niche after World War II, the company danced between conservative sedans and quirky coupes. In 1954, just as the company fell out of the top ten auto producers, they purchased Packard. Not only did the move kill the company financially, it also furthered the stodgy image.

Continue reading after the jump.

Continue reading "Studebaker Avanti Exhibits the Power of Creativity" »

By John Coyle

Editor

Gorgeous cars are one thing—but I’m a sucker for a good story. And fortunately, I didn’t have compromise on either of those elements when it came time to write up this week’s Amoco Ultimate Favorite. I mean, this Starliner Coupe is an absolute knockout, and the story? Well, you can read that for yourself:

"In 2005 the US Post Office issued a series of stamps of American SportsCars of the 1950s. In the series was a 1953 Studebaker StarlinerCoupe—the same car that my parents had when I was a kid (we had the ’54 model). I had not even seen one in decades and just seeing it onthe stamp made me smile. To my amazement, when I did an internetsearch, many popped up—everything from rust buckets to show cars.Having recently lost both of my parents, the nostalgic tug was toogreat. I searched until I found this beauty and have spent the lastyear restoring it."

If you haven’t already checked out the Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It Photo Contest, you definitely should! Who knows? You might even win something!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

A lot of cars don’t end up looking as good as their rendering. This one looks better! More pics after the jump.

Continue reading "SEMA 2008: Awesome '31 Studebaker in the Toyo Booth" »

Racing can be and is dangerous and running in La Carrera Panamericana is no exception. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have read comments on various message boards saying things like, "It’s not really a race" or "It’s a race where CEO types compete in cars that really don’t go all that fast." The best reply I have to those types of comments is to invite them down to watch, and then afterwards I’ll ask them if they still feel that way. Then there are those who make the argument, "They stopped that race back in 1954 and now it’s just a rally format." This time I would ask them if they knew what in the hell they are talking about. The fact is, the cars today are a much faster than they were back then, not to mention in those days they couldn’t corner worth a damn, had very poor tires, and the roads were mostly unpaved. And back in the 50s the race continued at high speed right through the villages and towns, whereas today the only city we race at speed trough is Mexico City, with thousands of police on hand.

Continue reading, with tons of pics from the race after the jump!

Continue reading "La Carrera Panamericana 2008" »