Hi:
I enjoyed your observations on the 50 Bulletnose. I agree that the 245 cid inline 6 in combination with the 3 speed overdrive transmission was an amazing combination offering 28mpg or higher along with decent acceleration. This was a low tech engine using pre-war designs and was still ahead in its time and an example to designs to follow. Somehow, in our drive to develop horsepower, the simplicity of these old engines were lost. These engines ran clean and did not require EGR, AIR or use a catalitic convertor to deminish emissions. Such engines could have been cleaned up without spending billions on research which conclude that low compression ratio etc. help engines to run cleaner.
This is just an observation. In 1959 to 1960 the Studebaker Lark was an almost perfect family car from a mechanical point of view. Great fuel economy, decent performance and mechanical longevity. In addition, the cost of maintainance and repair was also low. The problem with these cars was body rust, a problem which could have been controlled using the methods of today.