Long Lost Studebaker Commander

[Matt Joyce]

I posted this a few years back, never found the car.

Trying again:

I've been surfing the web for my long lost Studebaker. The short story is that my dear old brother died in a crash in 1998 when he was 26. He left me a 1965 Studebaker Commander, brown, 4 door. I started to restore it. Then I ran off to Seattle, chasing a girl. In 2000 donated the car to some Catholic Church charity group in Sacramento, CA and I can't remember their name, don't have any paperwork. Here's what I have: VNC112044 or maybe it's C-112044. I think that's the VIN. The car was brown. Three on the tree. Barely ran. As the years go by, I continue to wish I'd never given it away. I can't express how much it would mean to get it back, restore it. I'd appreciate any help or direction to other resources. I live in Oakland, CA. Thanks.

--
Matt Joyce
415-314-8415

[handworn]

I would think your best bet is to go online and make a list of all the Catholic charity groups in and around Sacramento. How many could there be? Then start calling and explaining your situation, and even if the place itself isn't the right one, which of course most won't be, ask for suggestions about who it might be and who they would use to sell such a car if one were donated now. My guess would be that they probably all use the same few dealers, who are probably members of the church.

Another thought would be to contact the IRS for your 2000 tax return, if you deducted the donation.

My final idea, if those two possibilities don't pan out, is to see if you can get access to the Sacramento newspaper online from that year, because there's a decent possibility that the group auctioned it or otherwise sold it off-- and that there was an advertisement for the sale.

Good luck! Let us know if it works out (and maybe contact the Turning Wheels people-- a successful quest of this sort would be a good story for the magazine).

[sals54]

If you want to check the local paper from that time, it would be the Sacramento Bee. Its at sacbee.com
Good luck.

[StudeRich]

Is there ANY chance that if we could find you ANOTHER '65 Commander 6, 4 Door Sedan, that would help?

Was it Standard or Automatic transmission?

Yes, it would be C-112044.

It appears to have originally been a Green or Blue Car or whatever that underhood Color was.

[57pack]

We donated a VW Jetta years ago to a religious charity.
They in turn placed the car on ebay. The winning bid was $900.
And we received the donation amount for our tax returns.
Maybe the Catholic charity did something similar?