Brook Stevens Struggle to Launch the Excalibur
The Excalibur motor car is credited as being created by Brooke Stevens. Born in Milwaukee in the summer of 1911Brooks Stevenswas, from an early age, an automobile enthusiast, following his father around to automobile shows and wanting to learn everything he could about this relatively new form of transport. He became an exceptional design engineer with most of his most noted engineering innovations being related to the motoring industry, where he spend much of his working life as a design consultant.
It was to be in when Brook was employed by Studebaker that the idea for the present day Excalibur classic car was born. Brook was asked to design some special cars for them to exhibit at the automobile shows they were planning to attend in 1964. Brook came up with the idea of the Studebaker Lark, three in fact. One, wasa black and pink convertible known as "Mademoiselle", a vehicle called "Yachtman", and a "Town Car" featuring central roll-over hoop and a vinyl half-roof. However, these were not a total success and did not draw the crowds Studebaker was hoping for; Brook knew that he needed to create something really special for the next show. He then had the idea of building a ‘new classic’, which was call the Mercebaker and a take off of the 1928 Mercedes SS. It was from this car that the idea for the Excalibur was born, with the help of his son.
However, the two-seater convertible Mercebaker, soon to become the renowned Excalibur did not have an easy launch. It was on its way to be exhibited at an automobile show when Brook received a call from the management of Studebaker to say that they would not be exhibiting the car on their stand because it did not fit with the mass market image their company wished to project to the public. Undeterred, Brook called the show’s 0rganiser, Jerry Allen. to ask for help. Allen found them a small corner to place the car and, to the amazement of Brook and his two sons David and Steve, it instantly attracted enormous attention, with people queuing to buy it. A few weeks later, the Excalibur, now fully branded with its rightful name, was exhibited at a race track in California. It proved equally successful at this event and soon afterwards was to be featured in ‘Automobile quarterly’. In July of that same year (1984), Brook gave his sons $10,000 and with bank finance making up the total of $60,000, they started Brooks Design Associates, which became one of the classic small automobile manufacturers of the twentieth century.
With the Excalibur, Brook Stevens and his sons created what many other manufacturers thought was impossible. They created a classic car replica that everyone wanted to own, a car that has earned its place in the history of US motoring and surmounted many obstacles to remain in production into the late 1980s, a tribute to the flair and design talent of Brook Stevens and his two sons. Now, in its own right, the Excalibur is joining the ranks of Classic cars and it is a place that has been well earned.
