My Former Studebaker - A Horror Story

[Studedude1961]

Imagine my surprise coming home from the grocery store yesterday when I spied my old 1965 Commander 4-door parked along a narrow street not far from my home. I sold this car in 2003 as part of downsizing from 7 Studebakers to one when I had to abandon rented storage due to a leaky roof and a balky landlord. Anyhow, the 1965 was plain, but very clean and a good-looking car for what it was...a bare-bones, 3-on-the-tree 6. I sold it mainly because I live in the Rust Belt and although I really wanted to use it as a daily driver, I would have hated to see it disintegrate into rust. I sold it to an ex military guy who wanted a fun car to drive on sunny days. He lived about 30 miles away.

Fast forward three years. I spot the car and slowly drive by. The driver's side of the car is visible from the street. Dirty, oily, a couple more scratches, the inside from what I can see is a mess. I feel sort of bad but think hey, whoever owns it now is entitled to use the car as he/she sees fit. I slowly drive by then decide to go around the block for another look. As I round the corner I spy the passenger side of the car and my heart broke. The car has been hit hard on the passenger side. The front door and front fender are badly damaged and by the overall look of the car aren't going to be fixed. I drive slowly home, vowing not to go down that street again.

Sometimes it's best not to know what happens to old friends. Had I known its eventual fate, I would have kept that nice old Studebaker.

Studedude1961
--1963 Cruiser

[JDP]

Once tried to buy a very rare R2 4 speed Cruiser from a ex Studebaker dealer, but he was saving it for his grandsons 16th birthday present. I did end up with parts from the car when the kid drove into a tree a few months after he got it. Sorry to see your old car suffered a wreck too.

Studebaker On The Net http://stude.com
Studebaker News Group

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos.studebaker

64 Daytona HT
64 R2 4 speed Challenger
63 R2 4 speed GT Black
63 R2 4 speed GT White
63 GT Hawk
63 Avanti
62 Daytona HT
53 Coupe

[bams50]

Where is the car? I'd buy it just to save it from getting junked...

You said "rust belt"... is that in PA?

I have a problem with unloved old cars; I have plenty of room for them, and ride to their rescue frequently [:I]

I also love Lincolns; went from central NY to MI last Friday to save a 79 from the crusher (turned out to be a nice old car!!)...

If it's feasible at all, I'd love to go get it......

Robert K. Andrews Owner- IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)

[Studedude1961]

bams50 the car is in Omaha, Nebraska...the "salt the roads" capitol of the Midwest. Perhaps it will show up at the national meet here in September and you can buy it! All it needs is a front passenger door and fender (easy to replace) a good cleanup and some love!

Studedude1961
--1963 Cruiser

[5859]

Even though you sell or give away a car you never really let go of it, I still have twinges of regrete about cars I have sold, I gave a car to my brother inlaw, he is treating it well, but I still feel like it is my duty to check up on it every so often. Bams 50's , My Grandparents had a 2 door 79 continental, they bought it new, it was pretty much loaded with options if I remember correctly was a pretty gold metalic color with white leather interior. Wish it hadn't been totaled.

[Roscomacaw]

A fella here locally had restored a 55 Commander Coupe as a retirement hobby. The guy knew Studes pretty well and did a credible job of restoring this one. When I spotted it in his driveway one day, I asked him why I'd never seen it around town or at car shows.
"OH!" he says.... "I'm saving it to give to my grandson once he gets his license. He's gonna have one slick ride to drive to school and such!"
I didn't express my reservations to him. No need to alienate the fella over his pride and purpose. About a year or so after that, I spot the car next to one of the area high schools. Messed up grille, screwed up paint, broken windows and dubm-looking (I'm sure the kid thought they were "cool") wheels on it. It was sad to see how the car had degraded in such a short time.[V]

Some months later, the grandad called me up to see if I had a switch of some sort for the car. I did and he proceeded to drive out to my place to pick it up.
To my surprize, the car was all repainted and repaired again. You could see the ol' fella was pleased with himself over the car's refreshing. I asked him if the kid was still driving the car and he emphatically replied "Hell no! I shoulda bought him a danged VW like he'd wanted all along. I thought that having a cool car would make him wanna take care of this thing, but I was wrong. I finally bought him his damned VW and took back my 55!"
The last I knew, the 55 migrated to the east coast with it's aging owner.



Miscreant at large.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President 2-dr
1955 President State
1951 Champion Biz cpe
1963 Daytona project FS

[Transtar56]

My youngest son is 14,and he is crazy about Studebakers,goes to a lot of shows and is always with me on the tours. He loves those the best because the other members get a kick out of letting the kid ride with them,he gets to try out all the Studes.Last year he really got a thrill when my buddy Boyd Gettys took him for a rubber burning spin in his R-2 Avanti. Ive got a 63 Cruiser that Im going to get at someday,and was planning on giving it to him when he got his license. That was before I bought him a new motorcycle,a Honda 80R dirt bike.It was a 2001 model,and he sold it for parts for 300 bucks last year.He literaly destroyed the thing,it was a DIRT bike,not built for moto-cross.Broke the frame,messed up the front end,and ran it dry of oil. This year his Mom and I are buying him a Kawasaki 100,and how he treats it wil determine if he gets the Studebaker. He says hes learned from his mistakes,and Im sure he has to some degree,but time will tell.

[bams50]

HMM, my GPS says it's only 1163 miles to Omaha......................

Robert K. Andrews Owner- IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)

[bonehead007]

Same thing happened to me. 25yrs ago, a lady around the corner from me had a mint 55 Commander with 35000 miles, no rust, like new. I got it running & tried like hell to get her to sell it to me. GAve up after a year. A few years later, I'm walking thru my college campus & spot an old car in the distance so, decide to go look. As I get closer, I see its the Commander that used to be hers. Looked in from the drivers side and saw that it was. Went to the passenger side and from the front to the rear, all along the side, it was smashed in, including the pillars between the doors. What a waste to see the shape it went to. I still have the original owners manual and a set of keys from it as a reminder.

[jcarmichael]

I gave both of my daughters cars when they were in high school but I would only work on them if they helped. We restored a nice 1966 MGB with wire wheels for my oldest girl and she took real good care of it as she had some of her hard work in it also. We rebuilt a 1981 Mustang to look like a new (at the time) 1986 5.0 Mustang for my second girl and she drove it for several years after she got married and also took good care of it. I think the secret is to have them help restore the car.

1961 Lark

[r1lark]

quote:Originally posted by jcarmichael

I gave both of my daughters cars when they were in high school but I would only work on them if they helped. We restored a nice 1966 MGB with wire wheels for my oldest girl and she took real good care of it as she had some of her hard work in it also. We rebuilt a 1981 Mustang to look like a new (at the time) 1986 5.0 Mustang for my second girl and she drove it for several years after she got married and also took good care of it. I think the secret is to have them help restore the car.
1961 Lark

My oldest son (16) has been talking lately about wanting to get an older Mopar for us <G> to fix up. I told him that he would have to show me that he is serious, by helping me on my cars first and learning from the ground up. He agreed.

So........a couple of days ago, I gave him the nastiest job I could find - scraping the oily gunk/goo from the bottom of the floorboard on my '54 Champion. You know, the grease that gets slung up from the rear tranny seal and the slip joint on the 2-piece driveshaft on an old car. The only easy part was that I have the tranny and driveshafts out right now, doing an O/D conversion.

He worked two evenings on this, using a body filler applicator to remove the stuff (told him I didn't want the paint scratched by a putty knife<BOSEG&gt, and then wiping the rest clean with kerosene on a rag. The first night, he was SO dirty, he literally rolled around in the stuff!! The second night he stayed somewhat cleaner.

But he stuck with it, didn't complain, actually seemed like he was having fun, and when I looked at what he had finished last night, he did a great job! You could eat off the bottom of the floorpan in the areas that he cleaned.

Next job is to scrape all the grease off the rear axle (and on the floorboard above), clean it with degreaser, and prime it<G>.

Paul

Visit The Studebaker Skytop Registry website at: http://hometown.aol.com/r1skytop/myhomepage/index.html

[55s]

I still have the 55 Champion Coupe I bought when I was 14 and restored. (I secretly hoped it was a Speedster like my mom's).

20 years later, I bought a vandalized 55 Commander to replace the front fenders on the Champion. Ended up restoring it too.

40 years later, I have all three (Champion, Commander and Speedster), and a few more.

Is it a curse because you did get rid of it, or because you can't seem to get rid of it?

Paul R

[tlakeusa]

As a school teacher for 20 years, I can only say that it is the wisedom of the ages, you get out of it what you put into it. Kids don't respect what is given to them. They gotta earn it. Ignorance can be cured , indifference can be diminshed. If ya monitor them and instruct properly , plus know what the hell u/r talking about. Then great things can happen. Otherwise ya get disapointment that often is from the seeds you have sown. My son too is cleaning the hell out of the bottom side on our Land Cruiser. He is understanding what it is to bust knuckles and how to find out to do things right and what it is to do stuff over til you get it right. We all want to imbue "pride of ownership", it is a formula that has many ingredients, the most important of which is personal accountability.

[mbstude]

My 63 Daytona was my birthday present when I turned 10. My mom and grandad had redone the car in the late '80's for her to drive. I've got it where I can drive it, and it even stops! It's a really good car, and I'm doing a lot of the work myself. And the dump truck, well, it was kinda given to me, I paid all of $2.00 for it. But, I did a lot of the work on it too. I LIKE getting down and dirty when working on old cars. Driving that dump truck to school today really made me feel proud. I look around at all the 4x4 Chevies and Fords and Honda Accords and think about how proud I am of redoing an Studebaker myself. Studebakers are the car for me, and I love working on mine as well as keeping up my grandad's. Guess I learned at an early age... I've cleaned a little grease off a few cars too.

Matthew Burnette, the 16 year old Stude nut.
South Georgia Chapter
63 Daytona HT (project)
51 Stude dump truck (yes, I won the raffle)
52 Commander Starliner (basket case)

MANY more Studes in the family and a few parts cars

http://community.webshots.com/user/mbstude101

And here: http://community.webshots.com/user/mbstudepagetwo
And here too: http://photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos