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Acree:
Studebaker's pickups of that era had a rounded upper rear roof line.  I wonder how your El Studino (love the name Litvyak!) would look with a rounded, rather than square roof-back. 

Here's a poor attempt to show what I mean:

apophenia:
Very nice! And much more period appropriate than my attempt  :smiley:

In the back of my mind was a cap/topper for the bed. However, a little research reveals that these useful add-ons didn't appear until 1965 (and not in numbers until after 1973). Anyway, FWIW, attached is my image of the 'El Studino' - cheers Litvyak! - with a roof cap (which I based on an image of a custom '53 fitted with a '58 Scotsman parts).

Acree:
Very nice!  I must say that at first glance it appears to be a "normal" station wagon.  Also, I miss the K-H mags!

apophenia:
One of the things that Studebaker's changing teams of designers was amazingly good at was modernising with minimal actual changes to the underpinnings - Bill's Larks are a perfect example of that. And that makes me wonder what else Studebake might have done with the older 'C' body ('low boy') frame.

The appearance of the 1954 Ford Thunderbird probably came as a complete shock to South Bend. Studebaker's first response was the 1955 President Speedster but a 2-seater was planned as a direct competitor to the Thunderbird (and Chevy Corvette). [1] That got me thinking about what such a vehicle would look like if Studebaker dropped that wholly original 2-seater design and followed its more usual 'recycling' techniques.

The result is attached. I thought the '55 Commander body was the place to start. The 'catfish mouth' grille seemed the closest production 'face' to the concept 2-seater. However, I stripped that grill of chrome finish [2] and lost its 'floating' V8 emblem for a cleaner look. Of course, the biggest mods were shortening the hind quarters and turning the coupé into a convertible. Obviously, that also means shortening the frame ... so a good opportunity to stiffen things by adding 'X' bracing (as seen in the photos of Bill's 1/1 Lark resto build).

Would such a move have helped Studebaker? Probably not. After all, Ford dropped its 2-seat T'bird after 1957 in favour a much larded-up 4-seater. Sporty car designs are more fun but sometimes the consumer (or car exec?) just can't be saved from him/herself.

_______________________________

[1] I had thought that the image I collected had come from the 56PackardMan blog but, now, I can't trace my way back to its origin.
[update] Found it ... but on the Hemmings site! (Seems like the 2-seater was a Loewy Studio design but the article doesn't give details.)
-- https://www.hemmings.com/stories/one-of-the-best-decisions-studebaker-ever-made-loewy-designs-focus-of-studebaker-museum-talk/

[2] BTW, designer Bob Bourke hated the chrome-ladened '55 remake ordered by Studebaker management!
-- https://56packardman.blog/2017/10/10/gear-head-tuesday-55-studebaker-speedster-prelude-to-the-hawk/

apophenia:
And yet another Studebaker ... this time moving up a decade for a Canadian-made Cruiser converted into a pickup. I kept the standard 2-door panels and added the 4-door's rear vent window (just to distinguish the roofline from thos of the competitors).

Despite Lityvak's amusing 'Studerino' branding, those RW 1960s car-to-pickup Spanish names make no sense for a Canadian car. Besides, once translated, Ford 'Ranch life' and Chevy 'the Road' are pretty lame names for vehicles anyway. Here's what popped out of the name research rabbit hole ...

- The first commercial use of the word 'pickup' was by Studebaker back in 1913;
- Studebaker's car-to-pickup 1937 Coupe Express predated the Ranchero and El Camino by 2.5 decades; and
- The Scotsman name was first applied to non-frills pickups (but then got re-used for station wagons).

In the end, I followed GM Canada's fake Acadian names like Beaumont, Laurentian, and Grand Parisienne. What I arrived at for Studebaker of Canada's pickup was Commander Château. Love it? Hate it? Any better ideas?

____________________________________

BTW, awkward and ugly names were something of a tradition at Studebaker. That 1937 Coupe Express light pickup was based upon the chassis and front body panels of the 5A Dictator chassis. Sure, why not? ("Please sir, I'd like my new Studebaker Dictator finished in Mussolini Maroon with the Führer Fawn leather interior." Yikes!)

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