I just got back from my summer trip-the inlaws and I drove from St Paul to Yellowstone and back, along with many interesting side-trips. The whole time, I had my eyes peeled for Studes. We drove 3200+ miles, and I only saw one Lark, one Champ pickup, what I think was an M-series truck (not much left of it) and a C/K on display at a gas-station (that my father-in-law wouldn't stop at so I couldn't get a good look at it). Are Studes really that "thin on the ground" or was I just looking in the wrong place? I figured with the dry climate/no salt in winter there should have been at least a few more out there. [?]
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
summer vacation stude sightings
Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
-
Daan,
Stude-spotting is fun, but it really takes an experienced eye to catch those that are less than prominent as you drive along. So many of the nice ones are ensconced in garages or under car covers when they aren't being driven, and that's understandable I'd think.
Of course, as of this past March, we're FORTY years past the point where the last Studebaker car was constructed. Factor that with their reknowned propensity to degrade to ferrous oxide, a summertime flush of weeds to hide any that might still be sitting about and you end up with one eye tied behind your back[B)] (So to speak)
Honestly - you have to get to where you can see a roofline or a back glass or some other high-water marker and say: Damn! There's a Stude in those weeds (or alternately - behind that fence.)
And even an old experienced Stude-spotter like myself can get fooled now and then. More than once, I've wheeled around to go back and have a second look and find a 58-60 "SquareBird" from Fo*d instead of a GT Hawk! I've also done a 180 only to realize that BIG C-cab I thought I saw was really something else!
Even more visible vehicles can fool you at a distance. Not too long ago I was excited to see a 62-3 Lark coming at me in the opposing lane. Eagle-eyed that baby a LONG way off as it approached[8D] Heh - when it started to get close enough, I was able to discern that it wasn't a Stude at all - it was a first edition Plymouth Valiant![V] Of course, I wanted, so bad, for it to be a Lark.[:I]
What color was the C-K you got a glimpse of? A couple of years ago I sold a gorgeous '54 hardtop to a place in Minn. Guy bought it off ebay to help decorate his tourist trap/gas station/mini-museum kinda place. It was red with the cream-colored roof.
Heh - wife really wanted me to keep that one! It was a sweetheart of a car that I bought out of Turning Wheels for $3500.[]
Speaking of the better half - she's gotten to be quite the Stude-spotter and has given me more than one lead as to where one was parked! Of course, this took years of training.[}]
Miscreant at large.
1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President 2-dr
1955 President State
1951 Champion Biz cpe
1963 Daytona project FSNo deceptive flags to prove I'm patriotic - no biblical BS to impress - just ME and Studebakers - as it should be.
-
We have a lady here in Chino Valley, that runs
around in a 1960 Lark, 3 on the tree w/od and a
V8....has no fears about the down hill run to
Phoenix and back again...Her husband, now retired,
uses his former work truck, a restored C Cab, as
his daily driver. There is a 1959/1960 Lark sitting
on the lot of the Mobile Station in Ash Fork, AZ.
(where the I 40/US 66/AZ 89 all come together)offered
for sale....if anybody is interested..[8D]
Glen Brose
Chino Valley, AZ
Home of "Charlene"
53 Champion Tudr Sedan
Comment
-
I know of 4 early 50' 2R10's in my home town. One is mine. One is a friend of a friend. He pulls a camper with it. The other is at the place where I load mine up with soil and mulch. The owner of this place drives it to work everyday. The other is just outside of town, parked among some other trucks and doesn't move much.
50 2R10
Colorado
Comment
-
That C/K sounds like the one I saw. This place had a "bulletnose", the 53/54 couple, and what looked like a late 70's El Camino with a bulletnose front clip grafted onto it. I really wanted to stop to get a better look at everything, but since I wasn't driving and my father-in-law stops for nothing if it isn't on the itinerary...
Seeing just a few Studes is definitely better than seeing none, right?
Proud new owner of a 56 Power Hawk!
Comment
Comment