From Round to Rectangular

[murph the surf]

One of the principal reasons for Studebaker's decision to go from the round headlight system to the rectangular system was...........  ???

[mfg]

Pretty much "for the sake of change" for the 1964 models.....A 'different' look for '64?

[murph the surf]

That was a reason,but not the principal reason in Studebaker management's mind.

[studegary]

They were more consistent with the body lines of the front of the car.

[murph the surf]

Quite possibly so,but that wasn't Studebaker's motivation for the change.

[Gunslinger]

I had read somewhere once that it was eventually going to be modification for allowing additional cooling air that was never followed through on.  The rectangular shape was first seen on a plastic model of the Avanti as a custom touch.  

[murph the surf]

Never heard that before,Gunslinger,but that wasn't the principal reason management wanted to go rectangular.

Edited February 11, 2018 by murph the surf

[mfg]

Studebaker management may have become aware of the custom Avanti scale model done by Gene Winfield for AMT that featured 'square lights, 'which went over pretty well with modelers........thereby giving them the idea to go with 'square lights' for 1964!

[murph the surf]

That could very well be where they got the idea,but there was definitely a motivation for Studebaker management to make the change..

[StudeNorm]

The big three were constantly making "model year changes" to show they were developing their cars for the next model year so S-P management felt the need to make a visual statement for the next model year Avanti, even though they tried to say the car is in constant development so model year running changes weren't going to happen.

[r1lark]

To make it look more 'European' ?

[murph the surf]

8 hours ago, StudeNorm said:

The big three were constantly making "model year changes" to show they were developing their cars for the next model year so S-P management felt the need to make a visual statement for the next model year Avanti, even though they tried to say the car is in constant development so model year running changes weren't going to happen.

That's a plausible reason,but not the principal reason for the change.

[murph the surf]

1 hour ago, r1lark said:

To make it look more 'European' ?

That could have been a reason,but not the principal reason.

[Stacey]

How about for show cars? To see if it would be accepted to the public? 

[murph the surf]

9 hours ago, Stacey said:

How about for show cars? To see if it would be accepted to the public? 

That may have been a possibility,but it was not Studebaker's reason for going rectangular.

[r1lark]

Was it something mechanical? Difficulty adjusting the round headlights (maybe the commonly used 'aiming' devices wouldn't work well with the original configuration)? Or weaknesses in the round headlight rims or covers? 

Really really reaching on this one. 

[mfg]

I suppose it was less expensive to manufacture  glass headlamp covers that fit both sides instead of the "63" left & right arrangement...although new separate (L&R) headlamp inner chromed bezels were needed for the "64" headlamp setup!