For one point: Identify what this mock-up was meant to represent
Only a complete and specific answer will earn a point!
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Could have been (should have been?) a Rookie point.
Experts?
1950 Tucker?
More mainstream than Tucker
Post-1941 LaSalle?
Not a LaSalle
This mockup seems very GM-like. It's only a guess, but is it an early postwar design study that was to be all-new in 1946? Maybe Pontiac?
No sir
Hudson Hornet replacement about 1954
Not one of those.
Was Harley Earl involved?
Was it to be a rear-engined project?
Is it a GM styling clay proposal?
Made in USA?
Yes sir
Studebaker?
Yes - locked for RayTheRat
Yeah. I know. I appreciate your patience. I've gone thru more Stude websites, read more owner's stories and found more photos of prototypes that I thought imaginable. But I haven't located that particular image. However, in my own archives, I had the article that told the story of finding the "prototype graveyard in the woods" and the follow-up article that discussed some of the prototypes that could have ended up there. Still, nothing definite, so I'll resort to SWAG techniques. I think the clay model is part of the 1952 "Model N" project that led to the 1953 Loewy Stude. There's one clay in the article that;s described as being "strangely out of sequence." Photo attached.
The greenhouse and rear quarter are very similar to the puzzle photo. They both seem to be 4-door concepts, which makes me wonder if a different "President" or replacement for the "Dictator" model was being considered.
That's what I have for the moment...for what it's worth.
RtR
The puzzle car is not a 4-door.
Lock continues.
Go ahead and unlock it, Otto. I've run outta places to check.
RtR
OK... :-\
Is there an Exner connection?
Exner was part of the design team
Sometimes it's the simplest things that are good clues . . . in this case, the number of letters on the rear deck led me to think it had to be a make with a LOT of letters in it's name, such as "Studebaker". Now, having said that. I am having the same search dilemma as Ray. All of that just means this is a great puzzle - we kind of know what we're looking for, we just can"t find it (yet). I guess I have to ask, although I think I already know what the answer will be . . . seeing as it's a Studebaker, is there any Raymond Loewy involvement in this particular design?
No more or less Loewy input than any other Studebaker styling models of a similar vintage, as near as I can determine.
Could this one have doubled up...like a scale model for the 1947 Studebaker Champion kustom by Albrecht Goertz?
Not a custom; I don't think Goertz had anything to do with it.
This a s proposal for a production Studebaker, but this configuration didn't make into production.
I would describe it as a late 1940s mock-up, not full size, that forecasted the 1950-51 bullet-nose Studebakers. Probably a Robert Bourke design under the direction of Raymond Loewy...
Sure - but what is different about this one, versus other mock-ups from the same company and time?
QuoteSure - but what is different about this one, versus other mock-ups from the same company and time?
Well, it's a fastback like the GM Sedanettes, but I don't think that's it . . . . it also appears to be a hatchback, and that's pretty significant even if Kaiser was thinking along the same lines. I think the integrated rear bumper and tail lights are pretty forward-thinking, as well. Also no "A" pillar to speak of, and it looks as if it could have been a hardtop although it's hard to tell if that's supposed to be a "B" pillar or not from this angle. Lots of little things that make it "different" from the numerous Studebaker styling clays we all CAN find . . . good job by you turning up this one, I haven't been able to find anything specific on it yet.
Quote from: fyreline on October 31, 2012, 05:20:59 PM
. . . . it also appears to be a hatchback
That's the missing piece.
One point each for RtR and the fyreman