What sparked your love for Studes?

[Nelsen Motorsports]

What sparked your love for Studebakers? Was it family, obsession with speed, style, just by one being your first car?[?]

For me it was just seeing this lovely little Lark VI sitting beside the road[8D].


The deal never made it to the table, but I was scarred for life.[}] From then on we looked for a 59' 2 door wagon, but we found the car I own today.

I digged those tevas and shorts when I was a kid...


Alex Nelsen, 15 year old Studebaker nut.
1954 Champion Coupe
Lizella, GA

[Sdude]

I've never been one to have something everyone else has. Studebakers are different and I like going to local car shows in a car nobody else there has. [:0]

Besides, Studebaker made some great looking cars that were WAY different from their competitors. [:X]

THen I got involved in the club and fell in love with the people. I guess we are all a little warped (not that there's anything wrong with that!) [}]

Jon Stalnaker
Editor, Hawk Talks
Karel Staple Chapter SDC

[Milaca]

Much like Jon, I like having things no one else has and I like having a car at a show that is 'different' from the others (although this doesnt happen when I'm at a Studebaker car show . I also have some International pickups and a Crosley car and other 'different' things that I have collected.

The other reason for getting into Studebakers is that my mother and her parents are originally from Indiana. I'm not aware of any family working directly for Studebaker, but my grandparents had neighbors that worked there and my great grandma worked at a Delco plant in Kokomo building radios. Back in MN, some of my dad's relation worked for companies that were divisions of Studebaker (Onan and Franklin). My great uncle told me of the many Avantis and Hawks that were parked at the offices of Onan back in the day as that is what the big shots at the company drove at the time.

Oh, and one more thing, I think they look great! The '53 coupe and '56 Hawk look far more stylish than anything Detroit produced at that time.


Love birds...Red Hawks in mating season.
In the middle of Minnestudea

[RareBird]

Dad bought his first (of many) Studes back in 1972, a 53 coupe (I was 12) and he would drag me out to "help him" with his projects. My cars in high school were a 54 Land cruiser, a 63 sliding roof and a 65 Daytona. After high school I moved into a 66 Implala which years later I traded Dad for a 60 Lark VIII.

Had to sell Lark in 1990 when plant I was working in closed and I used the money to go to college. Thought I was done with Studes until wife caught me looking at my dream car, a Packard Hawk [], which I bought from California 2 years ago (currently undergoing total restoration) and 2 weeks ago we brought home an M5. Wife doesn't care much for the Hawk, but I am looking to turn heads at the local car shows. After all who drives a Studebaker or a Packard [?] Looks like I more like my Dad than I thought



Packardbakerly,
J.D.

[sals54]

I don't know what started it, but I've been in love with 53 Studes since I was in the 3rd grade. Thats when I bought my first model of the car and built it to my own specs. I built that model again in 6th and 9th grades, then when I was a Senior in High School I bought mine. I still think its the best looking car on the road.... almost 50 years later.

sals54

[stehlik]

I was poor. I only had $100 from my paper route and a 1950 Studebaker Champion was the only good running car I could afford. I would always be kidded by my friends about my stupidbaker. But whenever we went anywhere as a group they would always want to go in my stupidbaker. As time passed I had dreams of a better car. I got a better job and started looking for my dream. I really didn't know what I wanted until I saw a Black 1955 President hard top in a car lot. Well the hard top was too much money $500, but I found a 55 Commander coupe in the paper for $300 with only 32,000 miles. That was the beginning of my love of Studebaker.....Bob

55pres- Cascade Chapter Oregon

http://users.mcsi.net/cascadestudebaker

[Chris_Dresbach]

I have been asked this before, and for some reason I really don't know what sparked my interest.[?] I have just always liked them for as long as I can remember. Maybe I was just dropped on my head when I was younger[?][)] It does sort of make sense with my being from South Bend, but still even back then I had no idea what those buildings were, or where studebaker were made, and they were never really talked about. I didn't have any family who worked there. In fact, I come from a family of FORD drag racers who worked at Bendix. Figure that one out.[?][^][:0] But how many 16 year olds can say they own a 1940 Studebaker[?][^][8D]

Chris Dresbach. South Bend, In.

1940 Champion two door.
Parts of the 1952 Model N prototype.
1963 Prototype cart built by Studebaker.

[52 Ragtop]

While I was in High School, I took "Power Lab" (auto shop) That was taught by one Ron "rusty with oil" Johnson. He drove a 58 Silver Hawk to school everyday (except when he rode a motorcycle)
He purchased a 56 Golden Hawk from Bob Kapteyn in 1972. I ended up taking some of the body parts to the Vocational Shop where I was taking a body shop class. Eventually, Ron told me about a 57 Golden Hawk in a "Salvage yard" Hanover Auto Salvage in Hanover Wisconsin. I bought it, and the rest so to speak is history!

BTW, Ron is completing a second restoration on his 56J, and I am completing my 63 Avanti, we hope to get the two of them together soon at a meet!
Jim

[studeclunker]

It's all my Grandmother's fault! She did it, from beyond the grave at that![}] I didn't pay much attention to the little wagon she bought in early '62. After all, I was only six years old. She died six months later and left the car to my mother. Well more precisely, she left my Mother a choice between a '32 Pierce Arrow and the '62 Studebaker. Mum wanted the P.A. Dad told her she was taking the Studebaker. She took it home to the ranch (I got to ride with her in May of '63) and parked it in the barn and had my brother put a tarp over it. It stayed there for another six or seven years till I started Seventh Grade. There was no room for me to attend at Paynes Creek elementary (K-9) So, I had to go to Red Bluff for school. Problem was, there wasn't a bus for me either. Mum said they could have just had me ride on the High School bus, but the School District said no. Well, she didn't want to drive me to school and home again every day, so she arranged for me to have a special permit. Eleven years old and I was driving a, to all practical purposes, new car. Even better, Grandmum's car! We returned to So. Cal. the following fall so the car went back under the tarp and stayed there till the ranch was sold in 1975. I've always wondered what happened to that car...

Fast forward to about ten years ago... My last new car fell apart (it was five years old by that time) and I was thoroughly disgusted. So, I started looking for an older/classic car to drive. Something decently built and yet something I could work on. Two years later I found my '71 Caddie Coupe' DeVille. Nice car, even if it only satisfied the first qualification. I was befriended by the old fellow who sold me the Caddie and we used to talk about old cars. He had a really nice Studebaker early thirties hot rod Coupe. She was just right in Arrest Me (Candy Apple) Red![8D] Pops also had a beautiful 48 or 49 Commander show car in the barn he never took out.[] Anyway, after drooling on that for several months, Pops showed me a wagon he had just picked up. Well to make a long story short, I bought his '64 Commander wagon. Wish I'd been able to swing the '48-9 Commander, but oh well.


Home of the famous Mr. Ed!
K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Studebaker!
Ron Smith
Where the heck is Lewiston, CA?

[silverhawk]

Hmmm...I think it all first started with my Dad, grandpa, cousin, and I, going to get the '62 Lark. Skip all the details and events, and now here I am, LOL!

Dylan Wills
Everett, Wa.

'61 lark deluxe 4 door wagon

[s2dwagon]

Studepidity!

[289stude]

Well I just turned 36 last week. I bought my first stude ( a 52 2R10 ) when I was 19. It was freshly restored (the wrong way, that I know now) but it was beautiful. It was burghandy with a 350 4 speed 4X4 with headers and 33" tires. I never knew Studebaker made trucks and only ever seen pics of a golden hawk and a bullet nose in books. I just had to have it so I barrowed some $ and bought it. Man I can't believe that was 16 years ago. Anyhow I drove it for a while and just sold it about 5 years ago. Now I am a full force stude lover, I can't get enough of them.

John

62' Deluxe R2 4SPD.

63' R1 Wagonaire

57' Transtar 259 punched to 312 NP540 4:09 TT Under Construction

58' 3E6D Stock

64' (Studebaker Built) Trailer Toter

[JGK 940]

1) Grandfather's 1950 Land Cruiser 3/OD
2) Father's 1953 Champion Starlight 3/OD
3) Aunt's 1959 Regal 4D Sedan Lark VI/FOM
4) Neighbor's early-production Avanti R1/PS
5) The Daytona HT/vert double-page spread in the full-size "Different... By Design" catalog for 1964

Keoni Dibelka / HiloFoto
In Hawai'i; on Hawai'i; on the Windward Side
If da salt air never chew 'em up bumbye da lava will...

[1950 Champion RegalDeluxe]

I always liked Studebaker Trucks and liked the look of all of the 1950's Studebaker vehicles.

[edpjr]

I bought my 1st Studebaker in 1973 when I was still in High School. I picked up a 1972 copy of Classic Car magazine at the local newstand and was very impressed by a pic of a yellow '53. No one in my family had owned a Stude to my knowledge. My Dad was a Cadillac man. And, I had a 1970 Trans Am at the time. After school I worked in the family automotive parts and accessories business. I was showing the mag around and, by chance, one of the customers said he knew where a '53 coupe was located and thought the owner would sell it. Next day we went to an obscure farm and sure enough, parked beside a barn with a 1967 tag on it, there was a yellow '53 Champion 6 cyl automatic coupe. The chrome was all pitted, the interior completely shot, and with rust holes in the floorboard. It hadn't been cranked in 6 years. Didn't matter though. The car beckoned to me like "Christine." I handed the farmer $100 cash, got the title, and had it towed the next day. My friends and I put hundreds of amateur repair hours into it. I had the motor completely rebuilt, but it still wouldn't pull a greasy string. I also had it repainted in the original canary yellow. Never accomplished a whole lot with the interior except repairing the rust holes. Anyway, the next year I happened upon a one owner black 2dr Hd Top '59 Lark V-8 with factory 4V carb and dual exhausts for $275. That car was sharp and would move on. I never worked on the '53 again and eventually sold it to a friend. But anyway, I've had a special love for "Stupidbakers" since 1972...[]

edp/NC
'63 Avanti
'66 Commander