First outing today

[alanmende]

Well, it has been a long time coming, but I took Grace, our '54 Commander Starliner hardtop, on her first outing today. Every year, the company I work for, Tyco Electronics, has a lunch hour employee car show at its AMP Drive facility in Harrisburg, PA. While I didn't take any photos of the her at the car show proper, I did take a couple when I backed her out of the garage this morning and in my building's parking lot. The last time Grace was in that parking lot, she was still in Mary Kay Pink primer, had no interior, and had a hood latch that consisted of a length of heavy wire wound around her front bumper. You've come a long way, baby.





Kindest regards,

Alan Mende
Hummelstown, PA

[Guido]

Nice job! We now need to find you some wheel covers.

Guido Salvage - "Where rust is beautiful" and real Studebaker horsepower lives

See pictures here: http://community.webshots.com/user/GuidoSalvage

Hiding and preserving Studebakers in Richmond, Goochland & Louisa, Va.

[showbizkid]

That is truly a gorgeous car, Alan. Congratulations!


[img=left]http://members.cox.net/clarknovak/lark.gif[/img=left]

Clark in San Diego
'63 F2/Lark Standard

http://studeblogger.blogspot.com

https://www.studebakersandiego.com

[Avantidon]

OK Alan, now that GRACE has seen daylight for the first time this year, it is time to plan on "Day Tripping" her to Lancaster for display on the Concours Field at the International Meet. Who knows she may meet a fellow or two and then there could be little Graces for you to take care of. Since it is less than 40 miles to the International meet, I will be checking the registrations and Concours entry for you and Grace. If you and she do not appear on the list by mid-August, the KRC Regional Studebaker Police Force led by our esteemed Police Chief will be knocking on your door with a Meet Warrant. Know you will be there and thanks for showing us Grace. I am sure your fellow AMP (ooopppss I mean Tyco) employees enjoyed seeing her.

See you in the future as I write about our past

[StudeDave57]

quote:Originally posted by Guido

Nice job! We now need to find you some wheel covers.

NAW~ looks good just like it sits~ Two thumbs up- fer sure. Very cool!!!


StudeDave [8D]
San Diego, Ca.
San Diego County SDC

https://www.studebakersandiego.com

'54 Commander Regal 4dr 'Ruby'
'57 Parkview 'Betsy' (she's a 2dr wagon...)
'57 Commander DeLuxe 2dr 'Baby'
'57 Champion Custom 2dr 'Jewel'
'58 Packard sedan 'Cleo'
'65 Cruiser 'Sweet Pea'

Part owner of the one and only
'55 PROTOTYPE panel van

[alanmende]

Hi Don,

Yes, we will be in Lancaster in September. I won't say that I haven't gotten around to registering yet, but I'd like my wife, Cathy, to go through the meet book to decide if there are any tours she'd like to go on. I'll also have the car at Macungie on the 2nd and 3rd of August. I imagine I'll see you there.

And Guido, I do have wheel covers for Grace; I just haven't picked out the little dings in them and buffed them. This week I still need to make appointments for a front end alignment and installation of the headliner.

Alan

[Warren Webb]

MAGNIFICENT!! Truely a credit to all of us who enjoy the end result of your sharing all your blood & sweat to reach such a noteworthy finish.

60 Lark convertible
61 Champ
62 Daytona convertible
63 G.T. R-2,4 speed
63 Avanti (2)
66 Daytona Sport Sedan

[Bredehoft]

This is the only time I have seen those huge fog lights look good. Usually, they are much farther outside and look terrible (IMHO) - these look good - great car!

--george

1963 Lark Daytona HT - 63V J8 175

[alanmende]

Thank you, George, and everyone else for their positive comments. Regarding the fog light bumper guards, I never liked those huge standard ones on '54s; the little ones from 1953 seemed more in keeping with Bob Bourke's sleek design. While there was nothing to prevent me from putting the small ones on our '54, I really wanted the car to appear as original as possible, hence the fog lights. Close in, they look good; pushed out toward the corners just doesn't do anything for me.

Oh, and as a completely unrelated aside, the just about perfect match for 1954 Shoshone Red is the "Number 4 Red' model paint from Testor's. That's what my brother and I always called it when we were kids building model cars. Nowadays, in the 1/4 oz. bottle, it's #1104; in the 3 oz. spray cans it's #1204. But whatever you call it, I use it for touch-up paint on our car. In the brightest of sunlight, there might be the slightest difference between #4 Red and what the restoration shop used on our car, But the body plugs that I painted with the model paint and put in the trunk floor look like a match the the rest of the paint.

Alan

[avantilover]

Interesting that the front and back number plates are different.

John Clements
Avantilover, your South Australian Studebaker lover!!!
Secretary Studebaker Car Club of SA (as of 3/19/08)
Lockleys South Australia

[Avantidon]

John, front plate is true 54 PA plate while the back plate is a current PA Antique Plate. PA allow you to run year of manufacture on the front if you wish but you must run current plate on the rear. I prefer to run only one plate on the rear but that's an individual choice.[}]

See you in the future as I write about our past

[BobPalma]

Very nice. 'Love the curb feelers! BP

[alanmende]

Hi Bob,

I love those curb feelers, too. I don't recall where I found them, but they're NOS, originally purchased from local New Jersey department store, Bambergers, for about a dollar. The receipt was still in the box. I have to raise the front one a bit because in a left turn, it "strums" on the pavement. They will, however, save those expensive and soon-to-be-clean wide whitewall radial tires.

And to John in Australia, that purple PA antique plate isn't the current one. Oh, it's still legal, but the Keystone State changed to a wimpy-looking antique plate (http://www.papl8s.com/stamp_files/AntiqueA15A.jpg). Those of us (and I suspect "Avantidon" Don Jones is included) who were fortunate enough to register our cars as antiques back in the "purple plate era" always gloat over that fact. By the way, you can see all manner of PA plates at http://www.papl8s.com/pa_plate_image...HICLE%20PLATES.

Kindest regards,

Alan Mende
Hummelstown, PA

PS: And to confuse the issue even more, I'm thinking about trying to find a 1954 New Jersey plate for the front of our car because I have a license plate topper from Covert's Garage in Neshanic Station, NJ. Covert's was the Studebaker and John Deere dealer in the area of New Jersey where I grew up.

[Avantidon]

Alan. kind of funny as I am also very familiar with Covert's garage as is it is not tofar from me and many people who see me have told me about it. Go to a flee market in Adamstown PA or in Felington NJ and I bet you'll find your tag a a very reasonable price.

[JBOYLE]

Nice car. Looks first-rate.
I'd love to drive a C/K someday just to see what they're like.

63 Avanti R1 2788
1914 Stutz Bearcat
(George Barris replica)

Washington State