The Studebaker Wagonaire was a
station wagon
A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...
produced by the
Studebaker Corporation
Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Ma ...
of
South Bend, Indiana
South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...
, from 1963–1966. It featured a retractable sliding rear
roof
A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...
section that allowed the vehicle to carry items that would otherwise be too tall for a conventional station wagon of the era.
Development
Studebaker Wagonaire's roof design was the invention of industrial designer
Brooks Stevens
Clifford Brooks Stevens (June 7, 1911 – January 4, 1995) was an American industrial designer of home furnishings, appliances, automobiles, and motorcycles, as well as a graphic designer and stylist. Stevens founded Brooks Stevens, Inc., headq ...
, who was charged by the automaker's president,
Sherwood Egbert
Sherwood Harry Egbert (July 24, 1920 – 1969)''Seattle Daily Times'', July 31, 1969, Page 38. was an American businessman and marine. He served as president of the Studebaker-Packard Corporation and Studebaker Corporation from February 1, 1961'' ...
, to expand the company's limited model range without spending vast amounts of capital on retooling. Stevens was also the designer of the similarly named
Jeep Wagoneer
The Jeep Wagoneer is a sport utility vehicle (SUV) nameplate of Jeep vehicles, with several models marketed for the 1963 through 1993 model years and again since the 2022 model year.
Various versions of the Wagoneer were manufactured in the US ...
, a truck-based
sport utility vehicle
A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive.
There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...
(SUV) that was also introduced along the Wagonaire for the 1963 model year. The Jeep model remained in production almost unchanged on the same
platform
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system or ...
into the 1990s, making it the longest continuous production run in U.S. automotive history.
The Wagonaire roof design was inspired by Stevens' 1959 Scimitar
concept car
A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...
built in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
, West Germany, by Ruetter for the
Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation
Olin Corporation is an American manufacturer of ammunition, chlorine, and sodium hydroxide. The company traces its roots to two companies, both founded in 1892: Franklin W. Olin's Equitable Powder Company and the Mathieson Alkali Works. Olin che ...
. There were three full-sized
Chrysler
Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...
-based vehicles built for display at the 1959
Geneva Motor Show
The Geneva International Motor Show is an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show is hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon is organised by th ...
to promote use of
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
in building cars. One of these was a
hardtop
A hardtop is a rigid form of automobile roof, which for modern cars is typically constructed from metal. A hardtop roof can be either fixed (i.e. not removable), Convertible#Detachable hardtop, detachable for separate storing or retractable ha ...
(with no "
B-pillar
The pillars on a car with permanent roof body style (such as four-door Sedan (automobile), sedans) are the vertical or nearly vertical supports of its window area or Greenhouse (automotive), greenhouse—designated respectively as the ''A, B, ...
") station wagon with a sliding roof panel.
Studebaker developed the Wagonaire version using the standard
Lark
Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occu ...
station wagon body that was modified above the beltline. The roof was designed with a panel over the cargo bay that manually retracted into and then locked into position in the forward section of the roof above the rear passenger's seat. This configuration allowed Studebaker to boast that the Wagonaire could transport items (such as standard size
refrigerators) in an upright position.
Production
![1965 Studebaker Commander Wagonaire finished in brown and white in WPB Florida 4of8](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/1965_Studebaker_Commander_Wagonaire_finished_in_brown_and_white_in_WPB_Florida_4of8.jpg)
Wagonaires seated six passengers (five with the optional front bucket seats). The car could seat eight when equipped with a rear-facing third-row seat, which was available as an option through 1965. When the third seat was ordered, the cars were fitted with special "Captive-Air" (puncture-resistant) tires, as the additional seat took up the space required for a spare tire and wheel.
Early buyers soon found that their new wagons' roofs leaked water near the front of the sliding section. This problem was addressed – with limited success – by the factory. While the early roof seals were redesigned and improved, it was also critical that the drainage tubes in the roof slider assembly be kept clear. A series of service letters were sent to dealers to address this but early negative reports probably tarnished the design.
As a result of the leak problem, fixed-roof station wagons were rushed into production alongside the Wagonaire and became available in January 1963. These sold for
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
100 less than the sliding-roof wagons, but it was technically a "delete option" and not a separate model.
When Studebaker closed its
South Bend, Indiana
South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...
, assembly plant and continued production at its
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
, Canada, plant, the company discontinued the
Avanti and
Hawk
Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica.
* The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...
, but continued to build Lark-based sedans and Wagonaires.
The 1964 models, which were built only in Canada after December 1963, were the last to carry Studebaker's own engines. Beginning with the 1965 models,
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
supplied engines based on the
Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
six-cylinder and
V8 designs. The 1965 models were available only with the sliding roof.
The fixed-roof option made a return for Studebaker's final model year in 1966, but the third seat was no longer offered. In addition, the 1966 Wagonaire finally was made a model in its own right, blending the exterior features of the Commander with the interior trim grade of the sporty Daytona. There were also fixed-top Wagonaires available in 1966; while a total of 618 of all types of Wagonaires were built for 1966.
Daytona version
![Studebaker Daytona Wagonaire station wagon at the Rambler Ranch 2of4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Studebaker_Daytona_Wagonaire_station_wagon_at_the_Rambler_Ranch_2of4.jpg)
The 1963–64 Daytona version of the Wagonaire could be equipped with a V8, Carter 4-barrel
carburetor
A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meteri ...
, and a
column mounted shifter manual transmission with
overdrive
Overdrive may refer to:
Organizations
* OverDrive, Inc., a digital distributor of entertainment media
** OverDrive Media Console, a media player developed by OverDrive, Inc.
* Overdrive PC, a subsidiary of Velocity Micro
Technology
* Overdrive ...
. Bucket front seats along with a center console-mounted automatic transmission selector were available. The Wagonaire could also be ordered with any of Studebaker's available "R-series" high-performance Avanti V8 engines and the four-speed floor-shift manual transmission.
Scale models
Matchbox
Phillumeny (also known as phillumenism) is the hobby of collecting different match-related items: matchboxes, matchbox labels, matchbooks, matchcovers, matchsafes, etc.
Matchbox
A matchbox is a box made of cardboard or thin wood and designe ...
-Lesney made a miniature Wagonaire that included a sliding roof section. The scale model was available for many years after Studebaker stopped production of the actual vehicle.
Husky Toys also manufactured a model Wagonaire that was similar in size to the Matchbox product and also featured the sliding rear roof panel.
Revival of the concept
The concept of the retractable roof was picked up by
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
for a model in its GMC Envoy line in 2003 as a 2004 model. Advertisements for the new
Envoy XUV incorrectly touted the feature as "first-ever." An additional feature adopted by GMC was the power operation of the roof section and a movable partition between the passenger area and cargo space. The Envoy XUV model was discontinued in 2005.
References
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External links
{{Studebaker historic timeline
Wagonaire
Station wagons
Rear-wheel-drive vehicles
Cars introduced in 1963
1960s cars