Studillac is a name given to a customized aftermarket car assembled in Rockville Centre, New York between 1953 and 1955, comprising a hard-top Studebaker Starliner coupé fitted with an

OHV An overhead valve (OHV) engine, sometimes called a ''pushrod engine'', is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier flathead engines, where the valves were located bel ...

210–250 hp Cadillac V8 engine
Bill Frick Motors
charged from $1500 to $1795 (manual 3-speed vs automatic) for the conversion or about $4500 to $5000 for a complete car. An option was a dual-range

Hydra-Matic Hydramatic (also known as Hydra-Matic) is an automatic transmission developed by both General Motors' Cadillac and Oldsmobile divisions. Introduced in 1939 for the 1940 model year vehicles, the ''Hydramatic'' was the first mass-produced fully ...

transmission. Other extras included leather, wire wheels (bolt-on or

Borrani Ruote Borrani S.p.A. (established 1922 in Milan) is an Italian manufacturer of automobile and motorcycle wheels. They are known for supplying Rudge-Whitworth design centerlocking wire wheels to many Italian racing cars, sports cars and luxury car ...

knock-off Counterfeit consumer goods (or counterfeit and fraudulent, suspect items - CFSI) are goods, often of inferior quality, made or sold under another's brand name without the brand owner's authorization. Sellers of such goods may infringe on eith ...

), electric tachometer, etc. With top speed of 125–130 mph and 0 to 60 in 8.5 seconds, it was a very good value compared to the Aston Martin DB4 introduced five years later costing £3967 including taxes ($19,835) having 240 hp, top speed of 139.3 mph and 0 to 60 mph in 9.3 seconds, although even considering the Studillac had upgraded

drum brakes A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum. The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surfac ...

, the DB4 had all-wheel

disk brakes A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to hold ...

, and very fine fit and finish. Fictional CIA agent

Felix Leiter Felix Leiter is a fictional character created by Ian Fleming in the ''James Bond'' books, films and other media. The character is an operative for the CIA and Bond's friend. After losing a leg and his hand to a shark attack, Leiter joined the ...

, friend of

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

, owned a black Studillac in the Ian Fleming novels '' Diamonds Are Forever'' and '' Goldfinger''. Fleming himself had driven a Studillac when in the US.

References

* Kowalke, Ron (1997). ''Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946–1975'' 4th Edition, Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications.

References

Further reading