COMPANY

The Excalibur car was built in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was styled like the Mercedes-Benz SSK of 1928. This first Excalibur car was designed in 1951 by industrial designer, Brooks Stevens for his own personal use. There followed a series of roadsters that were built with a 'vintage-modern' body.

These cars did so well in racing competition that Brooks Stevens hoped to get the company, Kaiser-Frazer to build them for public sale. Kaiser-Frazer had suffered losses with the Darrin two-seater, which had been constructed with a fiberglass body. They left the United States market entirely in 1955 and could not fulfill Stevens' dream to build a new car that had classic 1930s styling.

Stevens got another chance at Studebaker in 1963. He had been a design consultant for the company for four years. He was asked by the president of the company, Sherwood Egbert to design cars that would improve the company's public image. The sales of the company had been steadily declining and he was hoping to have some show cars designed for 1964 that would improve sales. The Studebaker plant in Indiana had already been closed and only the plant in Hamilton, Canada remained. With things looking so grim there was hope that the Stevens designs could re-ignite the imagination of the public.

There was only time to outfit three of the already existing lines of Studebaker cars. These were Larks and they did not have much of an impact at the show in Chicago in1964. The next auto show was in April of that year in New York. This time Brooks Stevens was very determined to give the public something that would create a stir and get them to visit their booth. By now the company president, Egbert, had left due to health issues.

The new president, Byers Burlingame, decided to go ahead with Stevens' plan. This plan was to build a new car that looked like a classic Mercedes SSK. This was a car that Stevens had once owned. The car was outfitted with everything, including a Studebaker 290 horsepower 289 V-8. It was built in only six weeks by Stevens with the help of his sons, David and William.

As soon as the car reached New York, Studebaker decided to back out. Company officials were worried it would clash with their new common sense image. Stevens was determined and arranged to show his car in a different place. He was lucky enough to be across from a hot dog stand. These crowds admired the car so much that it turned into a sensation. There were lots of inquiries from people interested in buying the car. As a result of this success, Stevens and his sons formed SS Automobiles.

By the year 1966 they had already built 56 copies that were mildly modified from the show version. This car was known as Excalibur SS. The car now had Chevrolet 327s in a 300-bhp engine and it now reached speeds of up to 160mph. Every few years a new model was introduced. Sales declined in the later years but the company continued building these vehicles into the 1980s.