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On the inside, passengers and drivers will discover an elegant look. The instrument panel is covered with shoe-sole leather, and a navigation system with LCD monitor is built-in into the center dash. The seats are lined with black and cognac beige leather-based, auto verkoop which is also used for the leather-based inserts in the footwell.

Solely two Model Js came near being “sports automobiles,” a pair of specials unofficially referred to as SSJ. Each had been built by the Cord-owned Central Manufacturing Company, using the La Grande name, on “short” 125-inch wheelbases. Both have been first driven by film stars. The primary was owned by Gary Cooper. The second was loaned to Clark Gable as a demonstrator, however was not bought by Gable. Each vehicles survive right this moment, though as museum items, and there’s nonetheless no definitive information on their performance. But they should have been shattering, what with relatively lean bodies, 400-horse “ram’s horn” engines, and chassis 17 inches shorter than commonplace.

The Studebaker Hawk nearly died, too, mainly due to dismal 1958 gross sales (solely about 8,230 units). What saved it alive was stress from sellers, who wished a companion model to sell alongside the Lark. The corporate obliged, but it had to chop its losses someplace, so there was now only a single pillared Silver Hawk, out there with a destroked 90-horsepower 169.6-cubic-inch six or the “small-block” 259.2-cubic-inch V-eight in 180- and 195-horsepower kind. Air conditioning, energy steering and brakes, and automatic remained on the options roster, however finned brake drums had been no longer obtainable and the six/automatic combo left the Hawk dreadfully underpowered.