Studebaker was in such bad financial shape in the early 1960s that it didn’t have money for brand-new models and platforms. To counter this, the company tasked industrial designer Brooks Stevens with expanding the limited model range on a minuscule budget.
The Wagonaire is one of the cars he came up with.The station wagon was heavily based on the Lark compact and shared a long list of components with older Studebaker automobiles. But Stevens wanted a grocery-getter that would stand out so he also designed it with a unique and innovative sliding rear roof.
The retractable roof left the trunk section fully exposed and enabled owners to haul items that would otherwise be too tall for a conventional station wagon. The gimmick didn’t make the Wagonaire very popular though and Studebaker sold only 11,915 units in 1963, the nameplate’s first year on the market. And sales decreased toward 1966 when both the Wagonaire and the company disappeared for good.
Come 2022 and these wagons are quite rare. Not only because most of them didn’t have the retractable roof option but also because many of them were abandoned in junkyards as more modern cars became available. The roof also tended to leak so these grocery getters were difficult to maintain and many owners just gave up on them.
The 1963 example you see here is one of those cars. Parked back in 1983, the Wagonaire never made it back on the road and ended up sitting for a whopping 39 years as of 2022. But unlike many of its siblings, it soldiered on in one piece. And that’s exactly why YouTube’s “What the Rust?” decided to give it a second chance.
Once a gorgeous turquoise grocery getter with a matching interior, the Wagonaire is now covered in surface rust and what appears to be a second layer of red paint. But it’s surprisingly solid for a vehicle that’s been sitting for almost four decades and very complete. Yes, the retractable roof section is still in place, as is the folding glove box that also doubles as a vanity shelf.
And not only does it still have an engine under the hood, but it’s also a Studebaker-made 259-cubic-inch (4.2-liter) V8. That’s important to Studebaker enthusiasts, as the Wagonaire was also offered with a Chevrolet-sourced 283-cubic-inch (4.6-liter) unit starting in 1965. Not surprisingly, the engine is almost stuck after 39 years with no sip of gasoline, but our host manages to get it running again. There’s no word on whether he’s planning on putting it back on the road but hopefully, this Wagonaire will become more than just a parts car. Check it out in the video below and tell me if you think it’s worth restoring or not.