Met the original owners of my Skytop yesterday

[Bill Pressler]

Yesterday afternoon, Mary and Peter Duginski from AZ drove to our house in NE OH from Detroit where they were visiting, to meet us and see their '63 Lark Daytona Skytop R1 which they picked up as a factory retail delivery at South Bend on October 8, 1962! The car was traded in Feb. '65 on a new Plymouth Fury Suburban wagon (same dealer who sold them the Daytona) and the Duginskis hadn't seen the car since!

Oh, the power of the 'net....from the Studebaker Skytop website they had seen photos of the car and the Shipping Certificate from the SNM archives with Peter's name on it, and we'd corresponded for the better part of the last year.

My daughter got a lot of nice photos in town after we took 'er for a spin (top open, of course!). They seemed to really enjoy it. Although it was primarily Mary's car, neither she nor Peter had the gumption to drive it though!

When you get right down to it, the chance of a meeting like this happening is pretty rare I think!

My daughter has the pictures on a disk and I (as Barnlark says) am 'digitally challenged' (!), but I hope to see if Art and Ann might like a short article with some pics for the TW at some point in the not-too-distant future.

[BobGlasscock]

Well, golly gee whiz, I don't know who this "Art and Ann" are, but I want pics and a story in TW! Sounds like a great story, and I never tire of seeing Daytonas.

[dictator27]

You listening, Art?

Terry

[Bob Bryant]

Well, golly gee whiz, I don't know who this "Art and Ann" are, but I want pics and a story in TW!

Art Unger and Ann Turner are the editors of Turning Wheels. You may have been kidding or maybe you just hurry to the fine articles and never noticed.

[Bill Pressler]

I might add they are really nice folks and after a short time visiting felt like I'd known them for years. They were in Detroit to see Henry Ford Museum.

[barnlark]

Here are the happy original owners:

[Bill Pressler]

As always, thanks Dave, for posting some of the photos I sent you!

[Chantony]

What a wonderful story and how happy the original owners must be to see their old car well cared for after 47 years.This has to be something that doesn't happen everyday.Congratulations Bill and best wishes for Mary and Peter ! It will make a great T.W. article.

[4961Studebaker]

With out a doubt write a story.

I will be looking for the story in a couple months. Start typing now.

[studegary]

You state that "it was primarily Mary's car". Maybe the Skytop option appealed to females. My 1963 Daytona Skytop hardtop was originally owned by a Dr. and his wife. The wife was the only one that drove the Skytop. The Dr. had a Cadillac. Even though they were in NY State, they Wintered in Florida. They took the Cadillac to Florida and left the Skytop in their garage in NY for the Winter. The factors of second car and Winter storage kept the miles and rust down on the car. It only had 43K miles when I finally sold it. They lived in the same town that one of my grandmothers was born in - Woodridge, NY.

[58PackardWagon]

It was great to read your story. I experienced the flip side of the coin. I picked up an extremely nice 64 Commander Station Wagon with a fixed roof. I met the original owners. He seem somewhat out of it and she was still very sharp and was selling the car. It had 32,000 original miles on it. I decided not to repaint it because the paint still looked good after a good wax or two. I detailed the underside, the motor and redid the interior (nos). It was about a year later and I too wanted to get some pics of the original owners with the car. I called them up and she answered. She stated that that her husband had passed so to just sent her a pic. She went on to say that he loved that car and that once he found out that the car was sold, we went down into the garage and shot himself.....sad story. I had the car for 17 years and sold it at the last South Bend National meet. It was really a beauty. The car now resides in a museum in FL. By far the nicest Studebaker that I have ever owned.

[Milaca]

Great story Mr. Pressler! Great photographs too of a great car.

[barnlark]

It was great to read your story. I experienced the flip side of the coin. I picked up an extremely nice 64 Commander Station Wagon with a fixed roof. I met the original owners. He seem somewhat out of it and she was still very sharp and was selling the car. It had 32,000 original miles on it. I decided not to repaint it because the paint still looked good after a good wax or two. I detailed the underside, the motor and redid the interior (nos). It was about a year later and I too wanted to get some pics of the original owners with the car. I called them up and she answered. She stated that that her husband had passed so to just sent her a pic. She went on to say that he loved that car and that once he found out that the car was sold, we went down into the garage and shot himself.....sad story. I had the car for 17 years and sold it at the last South Bend National meet. It was really a beauty. The car now resides in a museum in FL. By far the nicest Studebaker that I have ever owned.

Talk about raining on a parade. Yikes. My first thought (cynical & dark, of course) was geez, maybe if you had taken the wife instead, he'd still be alive. <G>

[Bill Pressler]

Gary, maybe the Skytop option did appeal to females. They wanted the bench seat as they had two small kids. They traded in a '60 Thunderbird for the Daytona. They brought two color photos from Labor Day weekend, 1963 with Mary and their then-small children in the car. The car looks the same now as it did then!

At the time, they lived in Moorhead, MN, which was way up across the river from Fargo, ND. A convertible may have been "out" for that part of the country. They both said the car was often hard-to-start in the wintertime but that Peter enjoyed having the oil checked at gas stations as the chrome engine parts often impressed the pump jockeys.

[Bob Andrews]

Pretty cool story. I wonder, why did they get the R1? Did they want it specifically or did it just happen they found it equipped that way?

You might drop them a note and tell them they will be welcome to come and see it anytime they like when it eventually takes up residence in my garage