I miss it - 51 Land Cruiser

[tennessee_anomaly]

4th of July 1987 - my wife & I, along with a friend of mine, drove from Knoxville, TN to Sallisaw, OK to look at this car that had been advertised in Hemmings. The moment I saw the photo in the ad I knew I would buy it upon seeing it in the flesh. It was the dumbest thing to do, but I did it. I will never forget the drive home - we drove a 1985 Chevy pickup with a towbar out there, but I drove the Studebaker all the way back. What a blast - even in 1987, you didn't see these things on the road - I'll never forget the honking horns, thumbs up, including a beautiful blonde in a solid white Porsche with the reddest lipstick and one of the largest smiles I have ever seen. I'm not sure how many quarts of oil I added on that trip - I think it was 5. I'll also never forget stopping for the night in Lonoke, Arkansas, getting a motel room, opening the door, and large rats scurried across the floor. When I told the manager of this fleabag about it, he said, in a very rich accent - "Oh No, is not possible!" I thought we would never get our money back - we drove another 30 minutes before I felt it was worth taking a chance on another room. It was a trip and experience I'll never forget. I did a lot of work on that Stude, and bought some NOS parts from another SDCer, John Brichetto.

I kept that Stude for 3 years before selling it to buy a 1954 Chrysler Station Wagon. The Chrysler was a whole lot more car and was even more scarce - but, it just didn't have the charisma of the Studebaker, which was very cute. The Chrysler was just odd looking - most people had never seen one.

About six months after I sold the Stude, I saw it being pulled on a trailer - the color had been changed from Maui Blue to Peach with green flames, and the wide whitewalls were gone in favor of some large chromey type mags. It was sad.

I found these photos and scanned them in. Hopefully, the link will work. Note the 1965 Buick Riviera Gran Sport Coupe in the background - a rare car in itself.

http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff377/lewisSon2291/

[2R5]

Nice story , nice car ....we've all had cars we wish we'd of kept. Mine was a ' 52 2dr sedan , should never of let that one go .

[Sdude]

Lucky you. We have a 51 Land Cruiser for sale in our club. It's not as nice as the one in your pictures but it could be if you want to restore it.

Check it out at www.hawktalks.com

OOPS, I just checked the link and the new issue of Hawk Talks has yet to be posted. It should be posted soon as it has been completed and sent to our webmaster. Look for the December issue. BTW the Land Cruiser for sale is a running project car with a 63 289 Stude motor and automatic transmission. He's asking $2500 for it which seems reasonable to me.

[jclary]

Land cruisers are great rides! My daughter took this old snapshot and had it blown up and framed for me. This one is Maui blue and just turned 59,000 miles this year.

The unique thing about this picture (and it is probably hard to see on the forum) is a special effect she placed in the windshield reflection. What at first appears to be clouds is actually a picture of Jennifer and I standing beside my '60 Lark parked in front of the Gator Bowl. I think it was the year Clemson defeated Stanford U. Great memories.

[aenthal]

I have a 1952 Land Cruiser (same car, different trim) and they do ride nicely.
But they don't really brake well.
The quality of the suspension and the smoothness of the ride is first rate. It goes over the speed bumps on my street the nicest of any vehicle I own, especially my modern car.
I just can't take it to work. Got three long hills in a row.
Goes up fine. No fun at all to drive down.
(Not really the Studebaker's fault. All my old cars are no fun on those specific hills. The Studebaker, being the oldest, just happens to be the worst equipped for that kind of braking).

[Andy R.]

What a BEAUT!
Oh man, my Dad would be flipping over these photos.
If those LCs are indeed Maui Blue, they are identical to my Grandfather's first Studebaker, the one that started this interest for my family.

[tennessee_anomaly]

"I have a 1952 Land Cruiser (same car, different trim) and they do ride nicely.
But they don't really brake well.
The quality of the suspension and the smoothness of the ride is first rate. It goes over the speed bumps on my street the nicest of any vehicle I own, especially my modern car.
I just can't take it to work. Got three long hills in a row.
Goes up fine. No fun at all to drive down.
(Not really the Studebaker's fault. All my old cars are no fun on those specific hills. The Studebaker, being the oldest, just happens to be the worst equipped for that kind of braking)."

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I rebuilt the brakes from one end to the other on my Cruiser, but I never had confidence in them. Lucky I never hit anyone in the rear. I drove that car like the wind WITH NO WORKING EMERGENCY BRAKE, very foolish. The automatic tranny needed to be rebuilt, I believe. IIRC correctly, and I may not, when in drive, the car was supposed to take off in second and shift once to high. This car took off in low and roughly shifted to high. I tried my best to adjust it using the shop manual, but never could get it to go into second. I'm not sure how many miles were on the car, but there were quite a few. The front suspension was worn out, needed to be rebuilt. When the engine got good and hot, it would smoke quite a bit. One time, at a 4 way intersection, a guy behind me on this narrow two lane road shouted "Hey Man, how bout letting me get by? You're chokin' me to death!" My car did not have the front fender ornaments like the one in jclary's photo - is that a factory option? I've seen them on several others.