I went back to the wrecking yard yesterday - the one I'd written about a few days ago. I had to collect the deck lid I'd bought on my first trip.
I asked about another part I'd seen in the yard and an elderly (more elderly than me anyway!) overheard the Studebaker banter between me and the yard owner. When the phone took away the yard owners attention, the white-haired fella next to me offered some nuggets of details about some of Studebakers final offerings.
The yard owner and I had been discussing the Studebaker-Packard merger, so this fella offered that Studebaker had adopted Packard's 327 V8 as well as their Ultramatic after the merger. Well, I offered that such a sharing HAD taken place with the 56 Golden Hawk (with a 352 instead of a 327), but that that was the ONLY instance of such driveline sharing.
"No, no...... I made my living rebuilding automatics and I remember well that Avantis had Ultramatics in them!"
Well, I gave him a quick history of auto trannies in Studebakers - and by this time I had everyone in the office listening in (maybe a half dozen or so). Then came the nugget about them failing (ultimately) because of some sort of law suit(s) about postwar styling as well as the dismal sales of the radical bullet-nosed cars. I offered that 1950 had been their best sales year!
Heh - after that I had no further "facts" thrown at me - only questions. And I gave a condensed version of their final years and cessation of auto-making - which amazed them - the fact that the company actually survived the end of car making.
It was 103 outside - maybe hotter in the open air office - so I cut my class short and headed for home.
I asked about another part I'd seen in the yard and an elderly (more elderly than me anyway!) overheard the Studebaker banter between me and the yard owner. When the phone took away the yard owners attention, the white-haired fella next to me offered some nuggets of details about some of Studebakers final offerings.
The yard owner and I had been discussing the Studebaker-Packard merger, so this fella offered that Studebaker had adopted Packard's 327 V8 as well as their Ultramatic after the merger. Well, I offered that such a sharing HAD taken place with the 56 Golden Hawk (with a 352 instead of a 327), but that that was the ONLY instance of such driveline sharing.
"No, no...... I made my living rebuilding automatics and I remember well that Avantis had Ultramatics in them!"
Well, I gave him a quick history of auto trannies in Studebakers - and by this time I had everyone in the office listening in (maybe a half dozen or so). Then came the nugget about them failing (ultimately) because of some sort of law suit(s) about postwar styling as well as the dismal sales of the radical bullet-nosed cars. I offered that 1950 had been their best sales year!
Heh - after that I had no further "facts" thrown at me - only questions. And I gave a condensed version of their final years and cessation of auto-making - which amazed them - the fact that the company actually survived the end of car making.
It was 103 outside - maybe hotter in the open air office - so I cut my class short and headed for home.
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