Frost & French in Los Angeles was a Packard agency long before taking on the
 Studebaker franchise when the Packard Division collapsed in '56. The dealership
 was founded in 1925, became an exclusive Packard franchise in 1940. I 
interviewed Walter Bibens in 1985 for the Packards International magazine.
 Walter had joined the dealership in 1930. He shared with me a lot of the old
 documents and memorabilia, including a telegram from the president of Studebaker
 Autotive Sales Corporation dated March 4, 1966: " Because of heavy and 
irreversible losses by being automotive division, automobile production and 
distribution to be permanently discontinued...." Frost & French quickly purchased
 every remaining new Studebaker in inventory, continuing a small but profitable 
business of selling brand-new '66 Studebakers well into calendar year 1968. They
 remained a service and parts center well into the mid-eighties. When I was a 
graduate student, I had my '57 Golden Hawk, later a 56J and Packard Four Hundred
 serviced there. A complete rebuild of the Flightomatic in the '57 cost me $187 in
 1966, I was provided a clean '57 President as a loaner!


Gil Zimmerman
Riverside, CA