Studebaker Starlight

The Starlight coupe was a unique 2-door body style offered by Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana from 1947 to 1952 in its Champion and Commander model series. The Starlight body style was considered a halo model and was designated 5P. It was also manufactured in Vernon, California. Unlike other pillared two-door sedans that use two side windows separated from the rear window by roof supports, designer Robert E Bourke created a roof rounded at the rear with a wraparound window system that provided a panoramic effect, similar to a railroad observation car. The curved window was achieved with four fixed panels of glass. The roof was supported by two wide pillars immediately behind the doors and in front of the wraparound back window. The body style was originally named, simply, "5-passenger coupe"; however, for the 1949 model year it was renamed Starlight Coupe. Critics of the radically styled models commented by asking the rhetorical question, "Which way is it going?" However, the car's unique profile provided the Studebaker marque with an easily recognized model.