From the Raymond Loewy Design Studio came the all new 1953 Studebaker Commander Starliner (the hardtop) V8. The basic chassis would be reworked and outfitted with new tasteful body panels all the way to the early '60s GT Hawk. At the time, with serious cash flow problems, 4 door sedans as well as their Conestoga station wagon had to be abandoned. There was one convertible made but the extra weight on the small OHC V8 made performance suffer. As is, the Commander Starliner compared favorably in performance with Chrysler's 300B which was basically a street legal NASCAR racer. It wasn't until their merger with Packard that the car got a serious performance upgrade using the Packard 352 cid V8 which could be equipped with a Paxton supercharger which made the Packard the precursor to '60s muscle cars. I was impressed as a kid with the way the later '50s Golden Hawk were being customized not realizing that the Hawk's tailfins were fiberglass add-ons and the sleek custom rear deck was done by merelu replacing the stock deck lid with a used '53. Kudos to Studebaker for all their styling cues done on a shoestring budget.
From the Raymond Loewy Design Studio came the all new 1953 Studebaker Commander Starliner (the hardtop) V8. The basic chassis would be reworked and outfitted with new tasteful body panels all the way to the early '60s GT Hawk. At the time, with serious cash flow problems, 4 door sedans as well as their Conestoga station wagon had to be abandoned. There was one convertible made but the extra weight on the small OHC V8 made performance suffer. As is, the Commander Starliner compared favorably in performance with Chrysler's 300B which was basically a street legal NASCAR racer. It wasn't until their merger with Packard that the car got a serious performance upgrade using the Packard 352 cid V8 which could be equipped with a Paxton supercharger which made the Packard the precursor to '60s muscle cars. I was impressed as a kid with the way the later '50s Golden Hawk were being customized not realizing that the Hawk's tailfins were fiberglass add-ons and the sleek custom rear deck was done by merelu replacing the stock deck lid with a used '53. Kudos to Studebaker for all their styling cues done on a shoestring budget.
Model By Danbury Mint.
Considering all of the cars from all of the companies that were available in 1953 this car is one kick ass beautiful absolutely beautiful stylistic and beautiful automobiles ever available.
For 1953, this car was artistic. It was different from anything the Big Three mustered up that year, as most were carry-overs from '52 and the year before that. But Studebaker had a style and flair that was new to car buyers eyes and it certainly stood out and was noticed when seen among the other brands. I have this Danbury Mint model and love it.
