Model X

Ailing Studebaker-Packard announced last week that it was ready for a new try at the auto market with a new car, new financing and new blood. As expected, the new blood was supplied by Abraham M. Sonnabend, an expert at blending tax-loss carry-overs with profits (TIME, Aug. 18), who will now pick up moneymaking acquisitions to balance S.-P.'s $135 million tax carryover. The refinancing comes from 23 banks and insurance companies, which take over S.-P.'s $54.7 million debt in return for $16.5 million in 15-year-notes, and 165,000 shares of convertible preferred stock. But the big news was S.-P.'s 1959 car.

Still unnamed, it will be the smallest U.S.-built auto on the road: almost 3 ft. shorter (175 1/4 in. overall) than any Big Three car, 3 in. shorter than American Motors' Rambler, which has sold 104,677 cars this year. For customer appeal its design will have "a hint" of this year's Hawk sports car in its styling. For variety S.-P.'s "Model X" will come in four body styles, have a choice of V-8 or six-cylinder engines. Said President Harold Churchill: "I'm happy to see the Big Three coming out with cars so long and so low that only Eskimos can get into them. From our market surveys we know this is the right time to get a good reaction with a small, low-cost car." Probable price of S.-P.'s entry: around $2,000. Date: November.

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