39 Studebaker convertible

[lstude]

There is a guy in England selling a 61 Hawk on eBay which is nice but a little pricy. It does include shipping to the U.S., though but I didn't know that Charlotte had a port [:0], maybe he doesn't mean Charlotte, NC.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1961-STUDEBAKER-HAWK-Restored-Low-Milage-Time-Warp_W0QQitemZ320064936517QQihZ011QQcategoryZ6466QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I would love to have the Hawk, but the most interesting thing to me is the picture of the 39 Studebaker convertible. Studebaker made a few 4 door convertibles in 39 but no 2 door convertibles. This one is obviously a foreign made body. It looks very much like a Mercedes. I wish he had posted a picture of his 33 St. Regis.







Leonard Shepherd, editor, The Commanding Leader, Central Virginia Chapter, http://centralvirginiachapter.org/

[Guido]

Leonard,

I believe this is our own Greg Diffen who lives in Warwick, England. I think that he meant Charleston, SC, a friend of mine just had a Porsche Carrera 4 S delivered there.

I also need to get with you to pick up the rear axle you have.

Gary



Guido Salvage - "Where rust is beautiful"

Studebaker horse drawn buggy; 1946 M-16 fire truck; 1948 M-16 grain truck; 1949 2R16A grain truck; 1949 2R17A fire truck; 1950 2R5 pickup; 1952 2R17A grain truck; 1952 Packard 200 4 door; 1955 E-38 grain truck; 1957 3E-40 flatbed; 1961 6E-28 grain truck; 1962 7E-13D 4x4 rack truck; 1962 7E-7 Champ pickup; 1962 GT Hawk 4 speed; 1963 8E-28 flatbed; 1964 Avanti R2 4 speed; 1964 Cruiser and various other "treasures".

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

[Guido]

Leonard,

I believe this is our own Greg Diffen who lives in Warwick, England. I think that he meant Charleston, SC, a friend of mine just had a Porsche Carrera 4 S delivered there.

I also need to get with you to pick up the rear axle you have.

Gary



Guido Salvage - "Where rust is beautiful"

Studebaker horse drawn buggy; 1946 M-16 fire truck; 1948 M-16 grain truck; 1949 2R16A grain truck; 1949 2R17A fire truck; 1950 2R5 pickup; 1952 2R17A grain truck; 1952 Packard 200 4 door; 1955 E-38 grain truck; 1957 3E-40 flatbed; 1961 6E-28 grain truck; 1962 7E-13D 4x4 rack truck; 1962 7E-7 Champ pickup; 1962 GT Hawk 4 speed; 1963 8E-28 flatbed; 1964 Avanti R2 4 speed; 1964 Cruiser and various other "treasures".

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

[lstude]

I see there are two threads on this subject, but mine is dealing more with the 39 convertible. This is what Richard Quinn said about it.

Hi Leonard;

Yes, that would be Greg Diffen. Know him well. The '39 is a Swiss made body (by Langenthal). They supposedly made 3 on the Studebaker Commander chassis and all have survived. Greg bought it about 2 years ago and took it on a trip with his wife through Europe. We have corresponded about it extensively. He has spent a lot of time in the U.S. and he comes to meets here (a young guy....compared to us!), I last saw him at the South Bend swap meet in May 2005. He is originally from Austalia. He has oher cars, a few Packards, a '37 Studebaker and the '33. The '33 a real neat car with an interesting history. Walled up in Belgium (or was it Holland?) during WWII so the Germans wouldn't find it. Almost 100% original. I had a chance to buy it before Greg did. It has a cracked block and head from freezing up at some point but they did get it running. I have lots of pictures.

Richard Quinn

P.S. And a Merry Christmas to you......yesterday was also my birthday (but whose counting?)!



Leonard Shepherd, editor, The Commanding Leader, Central Virginia Chapter, http://centralvirginiachapter.org/

[lstude]

I see there are two threads on this subject, but mine is dealing more with the 39 convertible. This is what Richard Quinn said about it.

Hi Leonard;

Yes, that would be Greg Diffen. Know him well. The '39 is a Swiss made body (by Langenthal). They supposedly made 3 on the Studebaker Commander chassis and all have survived. Greg bought it about 2 years ago and took it on a trip with his wife through Europe. We have corresponded about it extensively. He has spent a lot of time in the U.S. and he comes to meets here (a young guy....compared to us!), I last saw him at the South Bend swap meet in May 2005. He is originally from Austalia. He has oher cars, a few Packards, a '37 Studebaker and the '33. The '33 a real neat car with an interesting history. Walled up in Belgium (or was it Holland?) during WWII so the Germans wouldn't find it. Almost 100% original. I had a chance to buy it before Greg did. It has a cracked block and head from freezing up at some point but they did get it running. I have lots of pictures.

Richard Quinn

P.S. And a Merry Christmas to you......yesterday was also my birthday (but whose counting?)!



Leonard Shepherd, editor, The Commanding Leader, Central Virginia Chapter, http://centralvirginiachapter.org/

[go-studebaker]

Hi Guys,
if I could get a few pics up on the web site I would do it, but alas I am not too up on how to do that. If somebody wants to send me their email address I will forward pictures to be loded on this forum.

I was wondering if you guys would like Micheline.

She just got a new top about 3 weeks ago, just in time for winter. Micheline also supports a set of used correct hubcaps and new steel belted 16inch WW tyres.
I have always wanted this period of ragtop, and always wanted a 1937 Salmon bodied Convertible Sedan. However this car came up in Nice and I borrowed all I could and stretched myself till I was more than uncomfortable to purchase it in early 2005.

I am the fourth owner of this car. The last owner had the car from 1970. It was bodied by Langenthal which is near Geneva in Switzerland and was sold 2 months before the outbreak of war. There is also a body tag on the car from Alexis Kellner of Mulhouse in France (Near Geneva) Kellner bodied a Bugatti Royal, but whatever the connection between the two coach builders are, I have no idea. They would have been in competition with each other. Anyway Langenthal was a Grerman but moved to Switzerland before the war. I have seen pictures of other cars ( yanks ) with the same body from 1938.
This car was restored back at the Langenthal coachworks in 1971 - 2 and is showing its age now. However it is a fine running 85k original km car with the obligitory polite bumps and scratches. I like it like this as it is just a car to be used and enjoyed without too much care.

It is a wonderful car. The interior comprises two German style bucket seats of the period. It is a fully metal bodied car over an ash frame. The English cars are poor by comparison as they uded Aluminium over wood. All the internal door reveals are chrome finished. When the windows drop down into pillarless mode the side holders swing in to cover the gap.
The cars is a full 5 seater. 2 in the front and 3 in the rear, plus it is a coupe which is far sexier than a four door sedan.

Kristine and I flew to Nice in July 2005 to pick up the car and drive it home to England. It is about an 1100 mile trip diagonally across France. I had been down previously to test drive the car and had the gut felling it would make the distance. If it didnt it did not matter as solving the logistics to get it back to the UK were a nightmare if we trucked it anyway. So we had nothing to loose.

We took 10 full days to quietly on back road mosey across France at 80km/hour tops. Life at this speed takes on new meaning. Superb Dinner Gastronomiques plus wine were the flavor of the trip, and with nothing booked accomodation wise, it was going to be doubly fun and the way I like it. Some days we did 250km and some we did 30km. It was a wonderful trip and our first child ended up being conceived on this holiday. Unfortunally, Kristianne Grace was still born on 5th of May this year, and Micheline was used as her sweet last ride to the church at St Mary's in Warwick for her last rights, and Christening over my body. Kristine and I thought it fitting that her first and last ride should be in the one car. My brother just happened to be over from Oz and drove my 1937 Australian built Stude that we used for our wedding in Melbounre to ferry us behind our daughter.
For us it is a lovely car with some lovely memories. It will be used for a long time whilst in my posession.

Seasons Greetings to all and your families

Greg and Kristine

Greg Diffen
Australian Stude nut living in Warwick, United Kingdom

1933 St Regis Brougham Model 56 Dutch delivered
1937 Dicator sedan. Australian Body by TJ Richards
1939 Packard Seven Passenger monster UK delivered
1939 Commander Swiss Cabriolet by Lagenthal
1988 Avanti Convertible

[go-studebaker]

Hi Guys,
if I could get a few pics up on the web site I would do it, but alas I am not too up on how to do that. If somebody wants to send me their email address I will forward pictures to be loded on this forum.

I was wondering if you guys would like Micheline.

She just got a new top about 3 weeks ago, just in time for winter. Micheline also supports a set of used correct hubcaps and new steel belted 16inch WW tyres.
I have always wanted this period of ragtop, and always wanted a 1937 Salmon bodied Convertible Sedan. However this car came up in Nice and I borrowed all I could and stretched myself till I was more than uncomfortable to purchase it in early 2005.

I am the fourth owner of this car. The last owner had the car from 1970. It was bodied by Langenthal which is near Geneva in Switzerland and was sold 2 months before the outbreak of war. There is also a body tag on the car from Alexis Kellner of Mulhouse in France (Near Geneva) Kellner bodied a Bugatti Royal, but whatever the connection between the two coach builders are, I have no idea. They would have been in competition with each other. Anyway Langenthal was a Grerman but moved to Switzerland before the war. I have seen pictures of other cars ( yanks ) with the same body from 1938.
This car was restored back at the Langenthal coachworks in 1971 - 2 and is showing its age now. However it is a fine running 85k original km car with the obligitory polite bumps and scratches. I like it like this as it is just a car to be used and enjoyed without too much care.

It is a wonderful car. The interior comprises two German style bucket seats of the period. It is a fully metal bodied car over an ash frame. The English cars are poor by comparison as they uded Aluminium over wood. All the internal door reveals are chrome finished. When the windows drop down into pillarless mode the side holders swing in to cover the gap.
The cars is a full 5 seater. 2 in the front and 3 in the rear, plus it is a coupe which is far sexier than a four door sedan.

Kristine and I flew to Nice in July 2005 to pick up the car and drive it home to England. It is about an 1100 mile trip diagonally across France. I had been down previously to test drive the car and had the gut felling it would make the distance. If it didnt it did not matter as solving the logistics to get it back to the UK were a nightmare if we trucked it anyway. So we had nothing to loose.

We took 10 full days to quietly on back road mosey across France at 80km/hour tops. Life at this speed takes on new meaning. Superb Dinner Gastronomiques plus wine were the flavor of the trip, and with nothing booked accomodation wise, it was going to be doubly fun and the way I like it. Some days we did 250km and some we did 30km. It was a wonderful trip and our first child ended up being conceived on this holiday. Unfortunally, Kristianne Grace was still born on 5th of May this year, and Micheline was used as her sweet last ride to the church at St Mary's in Warwick for her last rights, and Christening over my body. Kristine and I thought it fitting that her first and last ride should be in the one car. My brother just happened to be over from Oz and drove my 1937 Australian built Stude that we used for our wedding in Melbounre to ferry us behind our daughter.
For us it is a lovely car with some lovely memories. It will be used for a long time whilst in my posession.

Seasons Greetings to all and your families

Greg and Kristine

Greg Diffen
Australian Stude nut living in Warwick, United Kingdom

1933 St Regis Brougham Model 56 Dutch delivered
1937 Dicator sedan. Australian Body by TJ Richards
1939 Packard Seven Passenger monster UK delivered
1939 Commander Swiss Cabriolet by Lagenthal
1988 Avanti Convertible