The first Excalibur was an automobile fitted on a Studebaker chassis and for a real short time with a Studebaker engine. This was the year 1964 and just about the same time that the first Excalibur received a Studebaker engine, Studebaker stopped building cars. This is the story about a show car that went on for a very successful production run.
Brooks Stevens Excalibur
The fine automobile featured in this article is a 1986 Excalibur Series V Phaeton. A beautifully styled automobile which was designed by Brooks Stevens. At that time, Stevens was a design consultant for Studebaker and was asked to design a new automobile for the upcoming New York Auto Show. Studebaker wanted a “show car“. In fact, Studebaker sales had been going south for a long time and the company wanted the show car to help boost their presence and image. At that time the only think Studebaker was building was the Lark model in Ontario, Canada. They were holding on by a thread.
Stevens and his team actually built the prototype car in about two months. The car would be a contemporary classic. A car with 1930’s type styling. When the prototype was ready just a few days before the auto show was to begin, Studebaker announced it was ceasing production. The 1964 Excalibur nevertheless was displayed at the New York show. Steven’s himself and his sons decided to move forward with their car project and purchased a small booth at the show and proceeded to show the car themselves. The reception was extraordinary. In fact, Brooks Stevens immediately had a list of enthusiastic buyers.
Vintage auto enthusiasts may remember that the Excalibur was designed after the Mercedes-Benz SSK. Not line for line but with a lot of similarities. Brooks Stevens had even owned an SSK at one time.
Excalibur’s GM Engine
With Studebaker and it’s 289 cubic inch V-8 out of the picture, Stevens arranged to receive Chevrolet engines for his new car. The engines that Chevrolet provided were 327 cubic inch V-8’s that could deliver 300 HP. Chevy had tuned the engines to Corvette standards. All of a sudden the new Excalibur became a true performance car. The Excalibur with it;s new engine was rated at a top speed of 160 MPH and the 0-60 in under 5 seconds. Truly a mutyl)e 0-60 idpdcapti[ehrclass=n oCg pbt line FExcalibxt">1986 Excalibur
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