Studillac is a name given to an American customized aftermarket car assembled in

Rockville Centre, New York Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated Village (New York), village located in the Hempstead, New York, Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long ...

between 1953 and 1955, comprising a hard-top

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Man ...

Starliner coupé fitted with an

OHV OHV may refer to: * Overhead valve engine * Off-highway vehicle, aka off-road vehicle * Off-roading * California State Parks California State Parks is the state park system for the U.S. state of California. The system is administered by the C ...

210–250 hp

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

V8 engine
Bill Frick Motors
charged from $1500 to $1795 (manual 3-speed vs automatic) for the conversion or about $4500 to $5000 for a complete car. An option was a dual-range

Hydra-Matic Hydramatic (also known as Hydra-Matic) is an automatic transmission developed by General Motors Corporation's Oldsmobile Division, the ''Hydramatic'' was the first mass-produced fully automatic transmission developed for passenger automobile us ...

transmission. Other extras included leather, wire wheels (bolt-on or

Borrani Ruote Borrani S.p.A. (established 1922 in Milan) is an Italian manufacturer of automobile and motorcycle wheels. They are known for supplying Rudge-Whitworth design centerlocking wire wheels to many Italian racing cars, sports cars and luxury cars ...

knock-off), electric tachometer, etc. With top speed of 125–130 mph and 0 to 60 in 8.5 seconds, it was a very good value compared to the

Aston Martin DB4 The Aston Martin DB4 is a grand tourer that was produced by Aston Martin from 1958 until 1963. The "DB" designation came from Sir David Brown, who built up the company from 1947 onwards. Technically the DB4 was not a development of the DB Mar ...

introduced five years later costing £3967 including taxes ($19,835) having 240 hp, top speed of 139.3 mph and 0 to 60 mph in 9.3 seconds, although even considering the Studillac had upgraded

drum brakes A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating bowl-shaped part called a brake drum. The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surface o ...

, the DB4 had all-wheel

disk brakes A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc (sometimes called a rakerotor) to create friction. There are two basic types of brake pad friction mechanisms: abrasive friction and adherent frict ...

, and very fine fit and finish.Multiple vintage magazine articles collated by Bruce Allen,
Studillac
, ''Fleming's Bond'', May 5, 2014. Fictional CIA agent

Felix Leiter Felix Leiter is a fictional character created by Ian Fleming in the ''James Bond'' books, films, and other media. The character is an operative for the CIA and James Bond's friend. After losing a leg and a hand to a shark attack, Leiter joined ...

, friend of

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

, owned a black Studillac in the Ian Fleming novels '' Diamonds Are Forever'' and '' Goldfinger''. Fleming himself had driven a Studillac when in the US.

References

* Kowalke, Ron (1997). ''Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946–1975'' 4th Edition, Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications.

References

Further reading