This could get funny

[clonelark]

I copied this from a post on the dealer site, maybe this could explain how when we get to a Stude judgeing spat over whether this part or that part was original to the car.
I can see it now a guy has a Hawk with a Lark type power steering on a Hawk, or a Hawk AC unit in a Lark. Well my granpa bought it new from a new Studebaker dealer.


Owen Studebaker Company, Laurinburg, NC Studebaker

Mr. Owen would take a new Studebaker from inventory and never sell it. Instead, it went out back behind the garage and was used strictly for parts. Mr. Owen said it was cheaper for him to do that. I remember a line up of mid 50's sedans and Larks, all weather worn, rusty and picked of parts, but technically, new cars.


clonelark

[Mr. Bill]

I am the one who originally posted this little tidbit about Mr. Owen. He was a friend of my father and over the years, I spent a lot of time at the dealership when dad would take one of his many Studebakers in to be worked on. I remember dad saying Mr. Owen started selling Studebakers around 1948. Originally he wanted a Tucker dealership but of course, that never materialized, so he started selling Studebakers.

I never understood his logic on using a new car strictly for parts....

Good friends of my parents bought the last new Studebaker on the lot. It was a silver 66 Cruiser. After Studebaker stopped production, Mr. Owen had a pretty good business servicing the numerous Studebakers still around and selling used Studebakers and other makes.

According to dad, the best mechanic around for Studebakers was to be found at Owen Studebaker in the form of Paul. Dad felt nobody knew Studebakers better than this man. I remember he drove a 59 or 60 Lark hardtop.

After Mr. Owen passed away, the lot was cleared and if I remember correctly, all the Studebakers were hauled away to property owned by Mr. Owen. His wife was still living at that time.

For anyone interested, Laurinburg, NC might still harbor some stashed away Studebakers. It is close to Fayetteville. Scotland Motors occupies the spot where Owen Studebaker once was.

Mr. Owen was "unique"(I would now refer to him as eccentric) and as I recall, not very friendly. He had quite a "vocabulary" and dad would have to remind him not to talk "that way" in front of me. I remember he had poor fitting dentures that he would "click" all the time. Eventually, dad quit doing business with him as he finally stopped driving Studebakers and the last time we were there, dad and I stopped in while out in our new 71 Chrysler Newport Royal that he traded the 55 Ultra Vista with factory air and a 49 Champion Starlight in on. Mr Owen was downright nasty acting when he saw the Chrysler and dad said he wouldn't ever go back, even if just to stop in for no particular reason.

Today, when I think back upon Mr. Owen and his dealership, I'm not impressed.

Best regards

Bill Sapp
Hamlet, NC

[barnlark]

Great story. [^] Wish I was up for a visit to my cousins in Matthews soon, I'd like to see if the cars are still there on his wife's property. If he was that mean, she probably got rid of them pronto, unfortunately.