New pix added: Stude Exposure @ 2016 IN State Fair

[BobPalma]

Cool Beans: Studebaker is enjoying good, unexpected exposure at The 2016 Indiana State Fair.

In the Manufacturer's Building, all manner of things are sold...and various charities and governmental agencies have public relations displays, raffles, etc.

Imagine my surprise when I visited The Indiana State Police PR Booth:



Toward the back of the display, you see a tri-fold board with information about Indiana State Police patrol cars:



In the center section is this description:



At the bottom of the left panel is this:



Here's the photo on the right side of that lower left insertion:



To the left of the above photo of the 1962 Lark ISP patrol car is this description:



Overall, pretty doggone cool, methinks.

I saw the above display at The State Fair Monday morning, August 15. The ISP Trooper on PR duty was a younger fellow named Sam Cook (or Cooke; I failed to ascertain), who was maybe 30-32 years old. He said he was from South Bend(!) and took quite an interest in what I told him about the 1962 Lark on their display board. Of course, Studebaker was long gone before he was born in South Bend. He was amazed when I said I had the Production Order and other documents pertaining to those 1962 Larks; the iteration before any of them had Avanti engines, which was toward the end of 1962 production.

I was returning to the fair today (Thursday, August 18), so I made copies of the following documents and took them in for him. He wasn't there today (working elsewhere on the grounds), but the older trooper who was "manning" the booth knew young Trooper Cook and was also interested in the documents. We chatted about them for some time. I left a folder with the "docs" for Trooper Cook to pick up later. The fellow on duty today was genuinely thankful for the chat and copies of the documents, and assured me he would get them to Trooper Cook. I'm sure he will.





(Yes, Snider is misspelled in the above caption. The only person in the photo I didn't know personally was ISP Captain Williams!)



A fun exchange, to be sure. You can imagine their surprise when an "ordinary" citizen walks into the display with documents such as these! They were certainly receptive to conversation about the Studebakers used by The Indiana State Police back in the day.

Elsewhere on the grounds, the large, popular Pioneer Farm Exhibit has a dedicated display of Indiana-built equipment. The display includes one of the few Oliver Tractors made in South Bend, and some unusual tractors made in Shelbyville IN for a few years right after WWII.

The fellow who runs that part of show called me a couple weeks ago, looking for a Studebaker truck to put in that display. I hooked him up with INDY Chapter SDCer Chuck Kern, who provided his cute 1962 Champ stake bed. Here are two fresh photos of that display at the 2016 Indiana State Fair, provided by Chuck:



Chuck is off to the upper left:



Overall, Studebaker is surprisingly well-represented at the 2016 Indiana State Fair a full 50 years after production ceased. BP

[57pack]

Thanks for sharing this story Bob.
Found it very interesting.
Wonder if any State Police Larks survived?

[BobPalma]

Wonder if any State Police Larks survived?

That's a good question, William. In my 54 years of living in central Indiana since age 16 (1962), which is where they would have been wholesaled from the fleet, I can't remember seeing any survivors.

The closest I've come is the 1964 ISP "demo" bought after ISP evaluation by the Snider Auto Service technician whose obituary I wrote about a couple weeks ago, Bill Mitchell. Bill's wife was able to scare up an old 1973 photo of the car in front of their home. It will appear in the September 2016 Turning Wheels in an "in memorium" article I wrote about Bill Mitchell at the end of the coming Co-Operator for September. Although the car was painted the same Marine Blue / Sand Dune White two-tone as the 1962 ISP Production Order, it will necssarily be B&W in The Co-Operator.

'Glad you enjoyed the post. BP

[53k]

That's a good question, William. In my 54 years of living in central Indiana since age 16 (1962), which is where they would have been wholesaled from the fleet, I can't remember seeing any survivors.

The closest I've come is the 1964 ISP "demo" bought after ISP evaluation by the Snider Auto Service technician whose obituary I wrote about a couple weeks ago, Bill Mitchell. Bill's wife was able to scare up an old 1973 photo of the car in front of their home. It will appear in the September 2016 Turning Wheels in an "in memorium" article I wrote about Bill Mitchell at the end of the coming Co-Operator for September. Although the car was painted the same Marine Blue / Sand Dune White two-tone as the 1962 ISP Production Order, it will necssarily be B&W in The Co-Operator.

'Glad you enjoyed the post. BP

My uncle used to buy vehicles for the state of Kansas. He told me that the Highway Patrol tested a 1963 Lark for their use. It must have been a R-2 car because they clocked it at 132 mph on the Kansas Turnpike in their testing. They ultimately decided that it was too light for high speed use on Kansas highways where high winds were common.

[tjanowia]

Great story Bob, now maybe the ISP will be a little more lenient when we blast by them in our Studebakers. Not that I would ever endorse this.

[8E45E]

Great story Bob, now maybe the ISP will be a little more lenient when we blast by them in our Studebakers. Not that I would ever endorse this.

Why not? Sherwood Egbert reportedly did in brand new Avantis between the factory and the Proving Ground to randomly 'test' them!

Craig

[6hk71400]

Bob, what ever happened to the 63 that was in a back garage the that was a State of Indiana car that was sold on a used car lot in 1966? As I remember, you were sidelined by surgery and then it seemed like the daughter of the owner was hard to get in touch or just decided not to sell.

Bob Miles

[T.J lavallee]

No cage divider for back seat suspects? I didn't see it on the build sheet.

[BobPalma]

Bob, what ever happened to the 63 that was in a back garage the that was a State of Indiana car that was sold on a used car lot in 1966? As I remember, you were sidelined by surgery and then it seemed like the daughter of the owner was hard to get in touch or just decided not to sell. Bob Miles

The short answer is that it fell between the cracks, Bob.

I didn't so much give up chasing her as other matters simply took precedence; "X" number of irons in the fire, if you know what I mean. 'Not a conscious decision, "Well, I think I'll give up on that."

I'd have to say I finally left at least three unanswered messages on her phone...and right now, I'd have to look pretty hard for her phone number. BP

[studegary]

Now, it appears that Indiana uses Canadian built police cars.

[fargoguy]

Cool Post, Bob. Do you have any more pics of the Custom Trators? They are the Shelbyville built tractors built after the war using Mopar drivelines. My Dad restored one a couple years ago- they were built by Custom Tractor Company, but sold under the name of whoever sold them. Ours was sold through Rock Oil Company of Edmonton, Ab, so it is called a Rockol. They were also sold as Lehr, Simpson, Ward and Custom. They are cool machines, some even have Fluid Drive Transmissions mated to the Flathead six engine. Ours is quite fast for a tractor- and a unique addidtion to our collection.

[BobPalma]

Cool Post, Bob. Do you have any more pics of the Custom Trators? They are the Shelbyville built tractors built after the war using Mopar drivelines. My Dad restored one a couple years ago- they were built by Custom Tractor Company, but sold under the name of whoever sold them. Ours was sold through Rock Oil Company of Edmonton, Ab, so it is called a Rockol. They were also sold as Lehr, Simpson, Ward and Custom. They are cool machines, some even have Fluid Drive Transmissions mated to the Flathead six engine. Ours is quite fast for a tractor- and a unique addidtion to our collection.

Right-O, Evan; I recognize all the information you posted, as told to me by the friend who organizes that Antique Tractor Exhibit every year at The Indiana State Fair / Pioneer Farm Building and Grounds. I'm sorry I don't have any more pictures, though. There were tractors in that tent by the name of CUSTOM and LEHR.

From what I've learned, again as you say, those tractors were too fast! They'd hit 35-40 MPH and were unsafe at such speeds, but the gearing was incorrect for farm work....again, from what I've been told by people who know a lot more about it than me. BP

[fargoguy]

Thanks Bob- Here's ours- went from this:


To This:

[BobPalma]

Thanks Bob- Here's ours- went from this:


To This:

'Way cool, Evan; that certainly looks familiar.

So how fast do you think yours can go...or how fast have you had it going? ('Not too fast on that left rear tire, I hope; it looks a little age-cracked!)

Is there anything on your tractor's ID plate that says Shelbyville Indiana USA? BP

[fargoguy]

It will easily go 40mph- but its scary- those front wheels wobble pretty good- it has newer rear tires on it now - there is an id plate on it that says something about Custom Tractor Company, Shelbyville, Indiana. I can take a pic in 3 weeks when we have it out for our Threshing weekend.