Factory 57' Paxton???

[289stude]

I just had an old time in my store and we got to taslking Stude. He's had a bunch of them. He claims his old man bought a new 57 hawk with a Paxton, I quickly called him out, but he knew of the McCoullucks and was possative it was a Paxton. I got to thinking and slightly remembered maybe reading something about a production issue and maybe Stude bought some paxtons for 57'. Any truth to that?




John

53' 2R5 R1 Powershift TT Under Construction

57' Transtar 304 NP540 4:09 TT Under Construction (in Picture)

58' 3E6D Stock Sale Pending

61' 6E7 122 Factory Auto

[gordr]

I don't believe that would have been possible. Robert Paxton McCullogh had the supercharger business, and the chainsaw business, IIRC. He sold the chainsaw business, along with its name, but renamed the supercharger business by his middle name. And that had to have happened after 1958, since McCullogh blowers were used in '58 Golden Hawks, too.

So there would have been no source of Paxton-branded superchargers at all in '57.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[Guido]

Gord,

That was my impression, but I pulled this directly from the Paxton website (http://www.paxtonauto.com/history.html). It states the following:

"In 1956, McCulloch set up a special automotive division, Paxton Superchargers (his middle name), to handle the supercharger division. The same year the company changed the name of the ball drive supercharger to the VS-57 and developed a new variable rate supercharger called the VR-57."

It goes on to state: "In 1958, Paxton Superchargers was sold to the Granatelli brothers. The design of the dated VS-57 was updated to a new model that could withstand higher RPM and increased boost. The SN-60 required fewer components and eliminated the variable rate components found in the VS-57 and VR-57."

Seems odd the name of the company would change but the brand name of the product would not.

Gary


Guido Salvage - "Where rust is beautiful" and real Studebaker horsepower lives

See pictures here: http://community.webshots.com/user/GuidoSalvage

Hiding and preserving Studebakers in Richmond, Goochland & Louisa, Va.

[MikeW]

Here is a source for additional information. Apparently the company was called Paxton Products even when they were making McCulloch superchargers. I was also always told that the name, McCulloch went with the chainsaw division.

http://www.vs57.com/indexvr57.htm

Mike

https://www.packardhawk.com

[289stude]

So would a McCulloch say made by Paxton or Division of ect.




John

53' 2R5 R1 Powershift TT Under Construction

57' Transtar 304 NP540 4:09 TT Under Construction (in Picture)

58' 3E6D Stock Sale Pending

61' 6E7 122 Factory Auto

[StudeRich]

Well obviously whoever wrote the story on the website did not have his facts straight anyway, as the Co. was never sold to the Granatelli Bros. either! [:0] And they were not working for Studebaker or involved in Paxton Products Co. until 1962 which would be when the SN-60 was developed, not 1958!

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA

[barnlark]

But what's odd is this bio on the Granatelli Brothers history have the same facts to seemingly back the Paxton site facts for that purchase, but it's unclear what year. Sounds like late '58 or 59, though. [:0]

http://speedwaysightings.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/the-granatelli-brothers/

[Warren Webb]

I seem to remember in his book "They Call Me Mr. 500" that Andy Granatelli found the problem with the superchargers was that the balls were shipped matched in packages of 4 instead of the 5 that are used, & the result was he purchased the supercharger division. A few years later when the Avanti project was in its beginnings, Studebaker approched Andy & bought the company along with his services & made him president of the division.

60 Lark convertible
61 Champ
62 Daytona convertible
63 G.T. R-2,4 speed
63 Avanti (2)
66 Daytona Sport Sedan