1953 Studebaker Starliner

Introduction of the Studebaker Starliner Coupe in 1953 was a full success for Studebaker. The breathtaking design of the car, advertised as "The new American car with the European look" created a run to the Studebaker dealers.

Designed by the design studio of Raymond Loewy, the design of this car was years ahead and looks modern even today. Less than 5 ft high (approx. 140 cm) combined with a long wheelbase, this was the formula to success.

When the car was introduced, Studebaker did not expect such a run on the coupes. The coupes outpaced the sedans by 4:1, which created a severe problem to production planning and supply chain at Studebaker. But this was not the only problem, it is said, that the front end of the car was not stiff enough after the engine was mounted. This caused efforts to improve the front end of the car. But Borg Warner, as the supplier of the transmission, had its issues as well. A strike created issues with the availability of the automatic transmission. Long story short: Studebaker would have been able to sell much more of these cars, but the issues above didn´t allow so....

Interesting detail: it is said that only cars in the first half production year had emblems with a three leged star and an eight in the center on the hoods. But Mercedes protested against this logo because they had protected their three leged star. This is the reason why logos on these cars changed at one point of time.

Raymond Loewy has been the design superstar of those days. He is considered being "the father of industrial design". He and the designers of his design firm designed all kind of products, cars, boats, trains, furniture, household appliances, logos etc...

He even created the design of the "Airforce One", the Greyhound busses, logos for Shell, Exxon, BP, Lucky Strike and they also created the logo for the U.S. Mail.