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I can’t say that I saw an article on Berner’s car. It would have to have been late 60’s to early 70’s. I was at his place around that time frame looking at a white 63 R2 GT that he said was the test car for the first full pkg GT. I think tha car is up in Washington now and owned by the Bells. I think he was dismantling his race car at that time

Thanks Nelson… I was pretty sure we were speaking of two different Larks! Did you ever see the HRM article on Bergener’s car?

Hopefully this 1982 info fills in some gaps concerning B300… Rosters can be considerable work… For a time I was roster keeper for the President Speedster model… Starting with a prior roster that had about 185 cars in it, the Speedster roster had about 350 examples before I moved on!

Mike Salamanivich owned and drove Studependous,a straight axle 60 Lark sedan running an R3 with R4 intake. The R3 came from his mother’s Avanti. I still have correspondence letters from Mike from back in my college days. I even got the cam specs from him and had a duplicate cam made from the same company in California. If I remember correctly he was in the 10’s with the car. Bergner also ran a Lark with a modified Stude engine. I don’t have any real good info on that car. A B300 engine number would hint that it was built by someone later than the Granatellis. I think Studependous was featured in Popular Hot Rodding back in the early to mid 70’s?

Apparently, R5642 was ordered the way it was… a very expensive Studebaker Avanti… to try to recoup some of the investment capital loaned to a family member in an attempt to prop up a Studebaker dealership he opened. After Studebaker ended car production, ordering this car was apparently one way for the loaner to get some of his money back…. By ordering a new ‘very expensive’ Studebaker… at no charge.

We attended a ‘Cars & Coffee’ this Sunday morning in our ‘55 Studebaker President Speedster….. I think this is a great idea!… The show ran from 7AM till 11AM… and our Stude was back in the garage before the midday heat hit… leaving time to do other things later in the afternoon… My point is this… As I get older, attending a car show midday during the summer months, with the usual New England high temperatures and humidity, is something I’ve began to avoid over the last few years… My Avantis and other Studes are non-A/C cars!… So an early morning meet seems to me to be good way to ‘beat the heat’… (not to mention there being less traffic on the roads to contend with.) This summer it’s going to be Cars & Coffee for me !!

I don’t remember the PO for that car saying “sold rush” but I might be wrong. It was an R3 so would think they had to be ordered special.

Studebaker Avanti seats?

Jim Bergener’s ‘60 Lark drag race machine was definitely called ‘Studependous’! That name was written on the sides of the car, and featured in Hot Rod Magazine. Who is Mike Salamunovich? I believe you are thinking of a completely different car that used that same name.

Correct! Good job.

The cushion seating area.

DRW46, Here is the ad from the Fall 0f 1982 if it will help.

Besides a complete fuel tank cleaning and inspection…I would change every rubber fuel line hose and take a good, hard look at the metal fuel lines and replace if necessary. Once all that is done I would run a can of Seafoam through the intake…that will clean the combustion chambers and smoke up the neighborhood. Follow that up with a set of new spark plugs.

2"

The article on R 5482 doesn't mention damaged pistons. According to the article Jim Bergener's car was called the Lethal Lark. Mike Salamunovich raced the Studependous. Is it the same car with different names and owners?

MFG: Thank you for the additional information. I will add this to the R3/R4 Engine Roster. As the years pass, all this "history" becomes more murky and confusing. That is why I began to accumulate and sort out all the earlier R3 Registers/Rosters, in order to try to make some sense of all this before more time goes by.

As an aside…. The Studependous Lark (with this R4? engine) ran like a rocket on rails! The car was written up in a period HOT ROD magazine, with photos. One of the photos was an overhead shot of this engine with the R4 dual quad manifold installed on it AND a Paxton supercharger. The supercharger boost was split to the carburetors with a custom made ‘Y’ adapter. Now, Mr. Bergener was selling this engine with three cracked pistons… and I’m wondering (and it’s only a guess) if he was running the 12.5 compression pistons and that Paxton blower… which would account for the Lark’s fast times?

Very interesting!! What I have is the ‘for sale’ ad which Mr. Bergener ran in 1982, in which he stated that B300 started life as a 12.5 compression R4… and he was offering it, (with it having three cracked pistons) and throwing in a complete Avanti R2 engine for $4,000… The twin four manifold and an R3 type carb air box, and a few other parts came with the deal. Once again….INTERESTING INDEED!!

My records show B300 was produced by Paxton as an R3 "engine only". It was a 299 cu. in. engine with High Output Pulleys. It was installed and raced in a 1960 Lark by Jim Bergner. Installed in Avanti R5482 in about 1986 by Ventris. As of 2002, owned by Null in CA. Any corrections or additions are welcome.

Always thought a factory produced chrome bezel in there would have been a nice touch…. similar to what they did on the square light Avanti’s, but that never happened!

PS Ard…. Definitely no fuel pump inside tank.

Thoughts?… Guesses??

Are you referring to the top height of the seatbacks, or the horizontal height of the front & rear seat cushions?

I’m afraid that the fuel tank needs to be removed and cleaned… That ‘bottom dead center’ outlet really can cause issues like this.., However, it’s great to hear that your ‘400’ runs well… and it wouldn’t surprise me if the smoke clears up after a time!

MFG... SHE STARTED... and ran like a clock.. Carb is in great condition and all is near perfect. I said '''Near''' cause She is smoking pretty bad.. I'm assuming some continued running might help that issue.It hadn't been started for around 8-10 years. I couldn't use the gas line or tank.. It's just not delivering fuel. I blew the line out but it still isn't pouring out (or even trickling) due to gravity. ....SO... I set up an auxiliary tank (5 gal can) and some hose. That got Her running and idling perfectly.. She raps up instantly as well. I have to wonder if in the tank, there might be a pump tied to the fuel float gauge...If so... that would be the issue. BUT I'M THRILLED !!!