With the passing of Andy Granatelli I got to thinking about the Studebaker Lark he and his brothers raced. I remember seeing it at a AHRA meet at Wattsburg Drag Strip near Erie, PA in maybe 1961-62. Anybody have any pictures of that Lark ?
It was such a long time ago (50 years) that all I remember is that it was a dark colored car and had the Granatelli name on it somewhere. I was so naïve at the time I didn't realize you could buy a pit pass and roam the pits.
A friend of mine is having a paxton rebuilt by John Erb he knows the car well he was Granatellis crew chief ! and hes a nice guy I think he said it was twin supercharged
I don't think so, I keep remembering it as black or dark brown. The only way I would have known it was the R2 motor was it was on the car somewhere and naturally it was a 4 speed.
Since it was running in the stock class, I don't think that it had twin Paxton's since there wasn't a twin package offered by the factory.
Nope. That's Ted Harbit in his "Tomato" 63 Stude pure stocker at Stanton Michigan at the Pure Stock Drags.
To you guys that know more about it than I do..recently I found a 60s? 289 Studebaker with a top mount McCullough turbocharger and an Edelbrock engine dress up kit..what is it out of? I'll write the number off of the engine if it will help...Rick
It could be out of a variety of Studebakers. Some of the Hawk line of cars were blown, as were some of the Avanti's and probably the Larks were the rarest with the blowers. As far as which had McCullough's and which had Paxton's, that's for someone that knows the Studebaker line a lot better. The superchargers really didn't put out the pressure (6-7#) like the modern day superchargers do, but it was a quick and relatively quick way to gain hp.
My very first hot rod was a Studebaker Lark. The previous owner had the 289 with blower on it. Unfortunately when I bought it the 289 lower end was laying in pieces and the blower got installed on a SBC. Great little car!
--------------- That's not a McCullough turbocharger, it's a belt-driven, centrifugal supercharger. McCullough superchargers were standard equipment on the '57-'58 Packard Hawk/Studebaker Golden Hawk cars and were an available factory option on Larks and Avantis through 1964. McCullough also supplied them to Kaiser in '54 and '55 and to Ford, in 1957, as well offering their own aftermarket kits to put them on just about anything and everything, as well - first under the McCullough name and later and right to the present day still, under the Paxton name. - Mart3406
You mean you found a studebaker car or just the engine? McCulloch blown 289s were available optional equipment on all Studebakers but were usually seen in Avantis, Daytona hardtops, Golden Hawk hardtops etc. The engine number is the only way to identify it especially if it had been modified. Pictures will help.
Been many transplants and swaps over the years, but here's the list of factory supercharged Studebakers: VS57 McCulloch was original equipment on: '57-58 Golden Hawks '58 Packard Hawk '57 Packards When Studebaker bought Paxton Products, the SN60 were part of an extra cost optional R2 and R3 package available on: '63-64 Larks, GT Hawk and Avanti The Granatellis built one factory experimental twin Paxton supercharged Avanti called Due Cento. It ran 195 MPH with 304.5" Studebaker V8. Not bad for a basically production '64. jack vines
49 RatFink...thanks - those 63-64 BVille records held though the 80's.... and he said" is that thing Supercharged ??"....(My Cousin Vinney)
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