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Stude (sort of) left out in the COLD!

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  • Stude (sort of) left out in the COLD!

    For those who have only experienced the palmetto tree-lined streets of the South Carolina coastal/beach area, here's a little reality check. Up here, in hillbilly land, winter occasionally comes knocking. Gone are the days when these weather systems would sneak up on us during the night. Thanks to weather satellites, we have had over a week of information regarding the possibility of frozen precipitation. However, try as they do, here on the "edge of winter," forecasting is still pretty much a guessing game.

    With that little disclaimer out of the way, I did my best to prepare for the event. Usually, it seems that with all the declarations of doom, my prep work ends up as wasted time because the predictions are rarely as dire as claimed. This time, I dug my generator out of the clutter, strategically positioned it for access, checked the oil, fueled it up. Even made the trek to the local convenience store for several extra containers of ethanol free gas. One last ditch thought was to spend about an hour after dark in a struggle to place a tarp over the leaky roof on my little feed shed. (not pictured) It is a small 8X8 building I cobbled from a shipping crate about 20 years ago. In addition to storing feed for my animals, I keep a few tools, like a table saw, etc. in that little shed.

    But...at last...I have no room for this little Studebaker remnant. It was given to me, years ago, by a man with a farm about three miles away just to get it out of the weeds in his pasture. It is now my "swap-meet" hauler. In the other building/shack/shed/man-cave (also cobbled together from salvaged junk) snugly sitting in silent repose, are 5 Studebakers, one ATV, one motorcycle, a couple of boats and lots of clutter. In my early '30's, when I began to erect this eyesore, zero thought was given to the concept of "Snow-load." I hope my next post is not me coming back here to post pictures of a debris pile where the whole thing has imploded.

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    John Clary
    Greer, SC

    SDC member since 1975

  • #2
    Aaaaaah, the sunny South.
    Jerry Forrester
    Forrester's Chrome
    Douglasville, Georgia

    See all of Buttercup's pictures at https://imgur.com/a/tBjGzTk

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    • #3
      John, I can relate. Here is my poor truck left out in the snow with no available shelter.
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      Ed Sallia
      Dundee, OR

      Sol Lucet Omnibus

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      • #4
        Ed; with all those trees wouldn't it be possible to just make a simple slanted roof between them to keep away the worst snow & park the Champ under?
        (Here we hardly ever get snow until januari & I've just started to make one more of those what-ever-they're-called-"garages"-without-doors at the back of the allready existing one of the same kind.)
        Last edited by Noxnabaker; 12-10-2018, 01:08 AM.

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        • #5
          John,[QUOTE) the possibility of frozen precipitation[/QUOTE]-so well stated. SNOW to those of us from Canada which is why I am in Arizona at high 60's today. I hope all fairs well for you.
          Cheers,
          Bill

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          • #6
            John -
            Snow load usually refers to more than one foot of wet snow, like we received before Thanksgiving.
            Gary L.
            Wappinger, NY

            SDC member since 1968
            Studebaker enthusiast much longer

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            • #7
              It was noon by the time I ventured out. There are thousands without power in the region. Surprisingly, ours stayed on until about 1:30 pm. Although I had staged the generator for just such an occurrence, I had not run the temporary electrical lines (AKA drop cords). That took about a half hour to round up, connect, and get them into the house. It was then that I realized that that the cords I was to use in the house were just too blasted dirty to have them running across our floor. So, another ten or fifteen minutes of cord cleaning.
              Just as I was about to begin the process of relocating my TV, satellite receiver, internet, etc., etc.,...the power came back on! Fantastic!
              So...if we lose our power now...I'm "readier" than I was.

              I have a four-wheel drive ATV. I had to chisel away ice to get the door open and get it out. That was before our temporary power loss. I was planning on playing with it in the snow. With only 5 inches of snow/ice/sleet mixture, the blasted little machine wouldn't do much more than spin the wheels. I made a couple of circuits around the house, but the whole time it did more sliding and spinning than moving forward. The lugged tires are pretty worn and it shows. I put it back in the shed and don't plan on getting it back out unless absolutely necessary. I will either have to find some chains or probably buy new tires before it would ever be of much use in snow. I would be embarrassed if I went down my steep drive and couldn't get back to the house with my four-wheeler.
              John Clary
              Greer, SC

              SDC member since 1975

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              • #8
                Originally posted by jclary View Post
                ... here's a little reality check.
                John, up here we call that a "dusting."
                Brad Johnson,
                SDC since 1975, ASC since 1990
                Pine Grove Mills, Pa.
                '33 Rockne 10, '51 Commander Starlight. '53 Commander Starlight
                '56 Sky Hawk in process

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                • #9
                  We got about 10 inches here in north central North Carolina. Stuey can handle it.
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                  Mike Davis
                  1964 Champ 8E7-122 "Stuey"

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                  • #10
                    We had the first significant snow last Saturday. I hadn't looked at the weather and was moving stuff around in the garage in anticipation of winter but with no specific idea anything was actually coming. I noticed the M5 was very low on fuel. The roads were clear enough -- some patches of ice but not a lot of salt yet. I fired it up and went to the local gas station for some non-oxy. When I arrived there were a number of men filling gas cans. Wait a minute... that might mean something...

                    Sure enough, by the time I get back to the garage the flakes were starting and within a couple hours we had 3 inches on the ground. I dodged the bullet there.

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                    • #11
                      Watched the forecast and got ready a few days ago.
                      Winterized 'The Black Car' and put it away in its trailer...
                      Split some more firewood and stacked it under cover.
                      Put a cheapie tarp over some of the other 'already split' firewood.
                      They said it was going to be a rain event here (near Savannah, GA)...and they were right.
                      Bad snow from Asheville all the way to Richmond....

                      Hid out in the workshop all day today... Warm inside...
                      Kept the fireplace stoked all day..
                      Nice and warm inside..
                      HTIH (Hope The Info Helps)

                      Jeff


                      Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. Mark Twain



                      Note: SDC# 070190 (and earlier...)

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by rockne10 View Post
                        John, up here we call that a "dusting."
                        I agree with you about that. In one of my past enterprises, (Partner with my brother expediting freight) I have been stranded all over the New England states from New Hampshire all the way out to Minnesota, and points in between. Sometimes, in snow so deep it was drifting up to the trailer on my 13ton capacity box truck. (Buffalo, NY). Thing is, just about everything with wheels in those parts have snow plows mounted in winter. Rarely ever did I have a significant delay in getting where I needed to go. Another hillbilly confession...when I began working with my brother, my greatest anxiety was learning what to do at toll booths than driving in snow. I had seen snow...rarely a toll booth, "exact change," or EZpass??? More than once, I caused some angry gestures, shouts, and lane upsets as I tried to negotiate such an unfamiliar thing called a toll booth?

                        Strangely though, it seems that transplanted Yankees get in more difficult predicaments in snow here than the locals. I think it has more to do with "psychological expectations," where some think that just because they moved south, the little bit of ice and snow here would be a piece of cake. However, here, instead of a nice powdery dry snow, there's usually a good amount of slick ice lurking just beneath the snow. I have traveled a few hundred miles on interstate 90 with little difficulty on a nice bed of powdery snow. That same powder here, over less than a half inch of ice, will render our local roads impassable unless they get brine and sand.
                        John Clary
                        Greer, SC

                        SDC member since 1975

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                        • #13
                          Same here in NC, John. It's the ice that gets you. It doesn't matter where you're from or what you're driving: I remind them, "4-wheel drive doesn't help you stop." (I am a local radio traffic reporter.)
                          Mike Davis
                          1964 Champ 8E7-122 "Stuey"

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                          • #14
                            Bitterly cold here too. I think it dipped into the 40s last night. BRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
                            Oh, I forgot... the sun came out again today. Almost 60 today.

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                            sals54

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                            • #15
                              Wow, you're only 80 miles(ish) away and it sounds like you've been having great weather Sal. Here in Tracy I haven't seen any hint of sun in four days and the high over that time has been 52F, though you wouldn't know it with the humidity running around 90%. It's been cold. No cheap heat either, they won't let us use our fireplaces unless it's clear skys. My shop temp always stays at the nightly low now it has cooled down, it's just the opposite in the summer.

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