The Parts Future?

[Swifster]

In the last two years we've lost two vendors and on the verge of losing a 3rd. This is getting to be a trend. Is there a way to curb this?

Stephen Allen's - GONE
Studebaker Northwest - GONE
SASCO - GOING

Is this going to be a terminal issue trying keep our cars on the road or restore them? I understand these cars will never have the aftermarket support (or the parts sales volume) of Chevrolet or Ford, but this is getting truely scary.

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Tom - Mulberry, FL

1964 Studebaker Daytona - 289 4V, 4-Speed (Cost To Date: $2125.60)

1964 Studebaker Commander 170-1V, 3-speed w/OD (Cost to Date: $623.67)

[Dick Steinkamp]

quote:Originally posted by Swifster

In the last two years we've lost two vendors and on the verge of losing a 3rd. This is getting to be a trend. Is there a way to curb this?

Stephen Allen's - GONE
Studebaker Northwest - GONE
SASCO - GOING

Is this going to be a terminal issue trying keep our cars on the road or restore them?

In all cases, the parts are still there and still available to us.

When you stop and think about it, we've got a huge number of vendors for the relatively low number of car owners. Not that that is bad (for us), but it could be that it is difficult to sustain a Studebaker parts business with so much competition for essentially the same stuff (the exception would be used parts)

Dick Steinkamp
Bellingham, WA

[s2d63lark]

Just a couple of random musings on this thread

I've been away from SDC and its activities for a few years and got back in just over a year ago. I have a number of back issues of TW and have been wondering what has happened to a lot of the past vendors myself. For instance, whatever happened to SIA of St. Louis, Roy Heckers out of California, Hendricks in Pa. I know some have been "merged" (Packard Farm & Studebaker of California) and others bought up (Steven Allen by Studebakers West). I don't believe there is going to be a "terminal issue" with keeping our cars out there but it might take a little more effort to source the items. I wouldn't mind seeing a proper and accurate yearly index or listing of parts vendors published (if there isn't one already) and distributed to the members. Surely this is something the SDC could afford to do based on their last quarterly financial report and would be of major benefit to new members or those older ones who haven't done much purchasing over the years.

Doug



6E40-195 1963 Canadian Lark VY-6

Chatsworth, Ontario, Canada

[r1lark]

SIA of St. Louis was apparently 'absorbed' by Studebaker International. Bob (formally of SIA) now works for Ed at SI.
IIRC, Hendricks was purchased by Craig Piper (Westmoreland Studebaker).

Paul
Winston-Salem, NC
Visit The NEW Studebaker Skytop Registry website at: www.studebakerskytop.com

[Skip Lackie]

quote:Originally posted by s2d63lark

Just a couple of random musings on this thread

I've been away from SDC and its activities for a few years and got back in just over a year ago. I have a number of back issues of TW and have been wondering what has happened to a lot of the past vendors myself. For instance, whatever happened to SIA of St. Louis, Roy Heckers out of California, Hendricks in Pa. I know some have been "merged" (Packard Farm & Studebaker of California) and others bought up (Steven Allen by Studebakers West). I don't believe there is going to be a "terminal issue" with keeping our cars out there but it might take a little more effort to source the items. I wouldn't mind seeing a proper and accurate yearly index or listing of parts vendors published (if there isn't one already) and distributed to the members. Surely this is something the SDC could afford to do based on their last quarterly financial report and would be of major benefit to new members or those older ones who haven't done much purchasing over the years.

Doug



Chatsworth, Ontario, Canada

SDC already provides up-to-date vendor listings in two ways. First, there's a link to a vendor listing right here on this site:

http://www.studebakervendors.com/

Second, SDC publishes an almost-annual glovebox guide that lists all vendors and service providers, though listed by geographic area. It's available for sale through the SDC club store, the link for which is also available on this site:

http://www.studebakerdriversclub.com/sdcstore.asp

Sara Hendricks died, and the parts were sold. The same with Tony Caralla's parts, though some ended up in a landfill. SIA of St Louis (Bob Johnson) sold out to SI.

As to the original question: We have been lucky that we have had two very large vendors (SI and SASCO) plus a number of somewhat smaller operations. This competition has benefitted us by holding prices down and ensuring good service. It remains to be seen whether that situation will continue to pertain after the SASCO inventory is sold.

Skip Lackie
Washington DC

[JBOYLE]

In the latest round of my Avanti restoration, I bought parts from 5-6 dealers (and a few others, like S. Allen's in the past).
I figure it doesn't hurt to speread the wealth...
Maybe something to consider in the future?

Even though this is (probably) my first and last Studebaker, I'm concerned about parts availability for future owners and young guys like Matt.

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

Washington State

[BobPalma]

Good posts and thoughts so far.

The real problem comes when a vendor closes and a majority of his parts are thrown away for lack of anyone wanting to buy them wholesale. This has not happened so far; vendors who have closed have had their stocks absorbed by other vendors, so the parts are more-or-less extant.

The big awareness of this will come when SASCO closes. At that time, we'll see how many of the parts are sold for scrap to be recycled (iron and such), or simply hauled to the landfill (soft trim and plastic). (Well, OK; discussing plastic on a Studebaker is somewhat akin to inventorying chrome-plated die-cast on a Scotsman.) BP

[PackardV8]

Thing to remember is when SASCO was around and Studebaker closed, hundreds of tons went for scrap. SASCO had neither the money, the space nor the foreknowledge to keep all that was available. Each time a vendor closes, there is a scrappage factor. As long as a part is on the shelf, might as well keep it. When it has to be packed and shipped across the country, a certain percentage inevitably gets tossed. Years down the road, that was the part you needed.

thnx, jack vines

PackardV8

[showbizkid]

Roy Heckers is still around and he advertises in the San Diego chapter newsletter. I talked to him last year about some parts and he'd been having some family health issues, so he is not as active as he once was, but if you call him he'll answer the phone


[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

[mbstude]

Stephen Allen's sold out to Studebakers West and Studebaker International. None of the parts were scrapped, and every single piece of Stephen's inventory is still available.

Studebakers Northwest (as stated in the thread by Mike) has only shut down temporarily, and they will come back bigger and better than ever.

SASCO, on the other hand, is obviously a bit different. I have heard, however, that Studebaker International is working hard on expanding their inventory with that of SASCO's.

Matthew Burnette
Hazlehurst, GA

[Swifster]

I guess the big concern is for 10-15 years down the road. I don't mean this in a derogatory manor, but many of the vendors aren't getting any younger. As people retire or pass, we'll have more and more consolidation, with scrapage being a real possibility. Maybe I'm being a 'Chicken Little' while thinking out loud but it does cause a little consternation.

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Tom - Mulberry, FL

1964 Studebaker Daytona - 289 4V, 4-Speed (Cost To Date: $2125.60)

1964 Studebaker Commander 170-1V, 3-speed w/OD (Cost to Date: $623.67)

[PlainBrownR2]

Let's put it another way. I'm probably a little more mechanically inclined person which means I can probably get away with quite a bit more without running to a Studebaker vendor(sorry guys, just call it convenience). Like a few months back I wanted to switch to 12V heater motors for the '55. Not a problem, with a little fidgeting I could get a reasonable universal heater motor into both housings with a little bit of reengineering of the housing and squirrel cage. In the case where parts are simple(and there's more than a few in these simple engines) parts aren't as big a problem yet as they're used in Brand X's elsewhere. That's how I believe I picked up the Sealed Power valve guides from NAPA, it's a simple tube with a hole that's probably used in a Brand X engine somewhere as well. Where parts supply could hit the wall is the dwindling harder to find, shrinking supply, one off items. I could find a heater motor in a part's store but a Lark JTS manifold to fit the supercharger on top, no chance. If you're going for the gusto and going for stock this is where it can become much more difficult. This also leads to a few of us(we know who we are) who are squirrelling the harder to find items for that day in the future when they may not be readily available and we need that spare whatits because the one we had just went poof.

At the moment I'm not freaking too much about it. At the May meet in SB we had the regulars as well as the other vendors who are "bringing stuff to light for the first time", so to speak. We also have a diversity of smaller vendors as well as the larger vendors, which is fairly common. LOL, at least here, I won't see a potential problem until that lonnnnnng running mainstay of a show is pulled due to low attendance.

[IMG=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/55%20Studebaker%20Commander%20Streetrod%20Project/DSC00017-1-1.jpg[/IMG=left]
[IMG=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/55%20Studebaker%20Commander%20Streetrod%20Project/DSC00017-4-1.jpg[/IMG=left]
[IMG=right]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/Ex%20Studebaker%20Plant%20Locomotive/P1000578-1.jpg[/IMG=right]
[IMG=right]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/My%201964%20Studebaker%20Commander%20R2/P1010168.jpg[/IMG=right]

[DEEPNHOCK]

The reported demise of Studebaker Northwest was premature...

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=29491

(copy)
To all of our loyal customers~
This shut-down is not a permanent situation.
The parts (or cars) are NOT going anywhere.
SNW is under 'new' management. The new guy () has dictated that now is the time to re-organize in order to better serve our customers. Those who know SNW know that customers are very important to us, and will receive top-notch service when they call. Reorganizing will allow us to offer even better service (and more part numbers) in a much more efficient manor. There is no time-line for completion just yet, but it won't be long before we will open back up and be ready for your business. Look for a new website as well.

Once again- we're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Please direct any comments/questions to me~ thank you.
<snip>
StudeDave '57
Ferndale, WA

quote:Originally posted by Swifster

In the last two years we've lost two vendors and on the verge of losing a 3rd. This is getting to be a trend. Is there a way to curb this?

Stephen Allen's - GONE
Studebaker Northwest - GONE
SASCO - GOING

Is this going to be a terminal issue trying keep our cars on the road or restore them? I understand these cars will never have the aftermarket support (or the parts sales volume) of Chevrolet or Ford, but this is getting truely scary.
<snip>

[hotrodstude]

returning to the studebaker camp after 40 years as aford nut i was really shocked by the numbers of vendors for studebaker (try getting parts for a 1969 ford galaxie.) at my local junkyard there are more stude than all 1960's fords together. i think that the biggest problem in the furure will be fuel. the government wants all to be green. unless you want to start doing hybyrd con versions.maybe you but not me. i think i have enough time to finish my 63 lark so i could have a couple of years driving before they ban gas.

[52-fan]

If the market is there, the parts will follow. Of course, I may get priced out of the hobby, but that's life.
As the numbers of die hard Studebaker fans dwindle our cars will go the way that the Model As and Ts have. Most will be modified and a few will be kept in museums and collections and rarely used.


1952 Champion Starlight, 1962 Daytona, both w/overdrive.Searcy,Arkansas
"I may be lazy, but I'm not shiftless."