1955 Studebaker SPEEDSTER

V8 260 CU IN

7I65279

Clear

what we have here is i believe a VERY RARE studebaker.in 1955 studebaker only made 2215 of these!! it was the high performance/luxury model of the range. funny since the cutlass w 30's, the high performance buick gran sports, ,etc of later years did exactly this, they built a luxury high performance car with leather interior and made it expensive. i believe it was well over$3200 base price when new. to give you perspective, a new 1955 chevrolet was about $1800 back then,depending on how you equipped it( approx 85% more than a chevrolet), which is ALOT. the SPEEDSTER was a top of the line :"halo" car for studebaker and only produced one year. it later led to the production of the HAWK.not since the 1920's had studebaker use the top of the line name:"speedster" the styling of the studebakers were controversial in the 50's.i personally was always fascinated with them but was never really in love with them.after they went out of business, i read raymond lowes designs( the lead designer) were years ahead of themselves.now that over 50 years have passed,i find this car QUITE attractive,especially considering the sexy 2 or 3 tone paint jobs they came in.shown is the lemon lime paint scheme i particularly like.of course they offered many more color combos.this picture shows you what they can look like after a restoration. restore this car and take it to a car show or where ever, you will find this car will get ALL THE ATTENTION,AND NO ONE WILL GIVE A 55,56, or 57 CHEVY A SECOND GLANCE,,sitting next to this unusual car. i have always never second guessed my taste in things,and i even thought about doing this one myself,but time and space limits the possibility; so i am selling it. this car is i would say 80%+ complete.various trim etc, is off the car and so far missing.i am still sorting out the car and the previous owners items that were stored with the car in a warehouse.you will have to look at the pictures, the taillights are off the car,i might or might not have them so far they have not shown up but i have about 5 hours of personal belongings in boxes to go through yet,so they very well might be there. the car was involved in a front end accident(easily repairable).i have the center part of the grill(pictured) as well as one side of the large chrome pieces that adorned the front end.i have the rear bumper as well,that are all rechromeable and therefore usuable. there is also a rebuilt transmission still tagged by the transmission shop as "rebuilt" that i will include with the car if it brings enough money.if not i will make it available to the new owner at extra cost.the engine is intact,it is missing the radiator.i "may" have that,i am not sure.i have a few radiators so one may very well be the one that belongs in it/the oil bath air cleaner,etc,etc are all intact and as last run. the interior seems to be intact with the original white large diamond stiched LEATHER interior. there is surface rust all over the car as it sat in a warehouse close to the beach..the trunk,and top of the car had large vinyl mattress's placed on top of them so there is no surface rust there due to the finish being protected.SO what i am saying is it looks MUCH worse THAN IT REALLY IS.THE VISABLE rust is just surface rust due to salt air sitting on the surface of the car.mind you there is the normal rusted rocker panel areas and a couple of the bottoms of the fenders will need metal welded in it.there is also some small holes in the drivers floor board.when under it, i DID NOT notice any frame rust through, so i believe the car is WELL worth doing(restoring).these cars came with 160 mph speedometers and 8,000 rpm tachs,which this one still has. the car is currently stored inside,but i will need the space as soon as possible thus the reason for selling it. i DO NOT have a title for it,but for $225 i can supply a florida title in your name.keep in mind this car needs TOTAL restoration BUT ONCE DONE; YOU HAVE A REAL LOOKER that was over 50 years ahead of its time in styling.again,i REALLY like the style.i have included a picture of it "DONE" in the original lemon lime paint scheme.in no way am i depicting the white car i have is restored like the lemon lime one,but can easily be made to look identicle to it. these cars are so RARE, i did not even know they made them i have NEVER seen one before.the speedster name plate is sitting on my tool box for you to see that came with the car.GOOD LUCK bidding,as it is a NO RESERVE CAR THAT WILL BE SOLD TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!!!