Sad day at our house, the '64 convertible went home with another man

[53k]

The buyer of our '64 Bordeaux Red Daytona convertible came today with the balance due and drove home in the car. He is a SDCer, a Keystone Region member, Ed Riedel of Dover, Delaware. I know it's going to a good home, but I also know I'm going to regret giving it up. I finally had it running so good, stopped the last oil leak (replaced fuel pump), just one rattle that I have never been able to find... I will never find another Studebaker as absolutely rust free as this car (no rust EVER).
As you can see, he plans to enjoy it as a convertible driving it 200 miles home.

[StudeRich]

Missing the best Studebakers ever built

Waah! I feel for ya Paul, I am going to be there soon when I put my '64 Daytona Hardtop up, and I am definitely going to miss it!

[jackb]

mmmmm...funny how some things and folks are.....when I sold my 64' raggie a few years back, I didn't even see it go up on the shipping truck. I owned that car in 1977...2nd owner...put over 100K miles on it , quite a few of them cross country in 83', frame off restoration. I personally took every nut and bolt off of every system and with the exception of Westmoreland's perfect bodywork..assembled the same. The only sore spot I have now is my daughters (9 & 11) , do miss it on ice cream runs.......I guess its just not the same in a 4dr Cruiser......but I just went out in the rain to fill the tank in the Cruiser..I would never do that in the ragtop..........Sad thing is, I drove 14K perfect miles in that restored car. The new owner had nothing but problems with it the minute , and I repeat, the minute he got into it......funny...

[Gunslinger]

Paul...I would have loved to have that Daytona sitting here just a short distance from Harpers Ferry, where you could visit it regularly, but lack of garage space, a kid in college (and not wanting to push my wife's tolerance), pretty much made that not doable. I hope the new owner enjoys it.

[Milaca]

Paul, you did keep a spare key to it, right?

[Rerun]

Paul,

Jump in that nice Avanti that you bought and take it for a spin. You won't miss the Daytona quite so much. BTDT!

[bams50]

Paul, it was almost exactly a year ago I sold the prize of my collection, 35K mile 65 Lincoln Convertible. Sold on eBay, never met the buyer in person; just watched it go on the transport. The buyer was a younger guy from a well-to-do family that wanted it to cruise with his wife and daughters. He e-mailed me a few weeks later to say they were loving the car, and that's the last I heard. That was my dream car, and it was hard to let it go, but life did go on. Heck, I only get those pangs of regret a couple times a week nowadays

Since you decided to let it go, I'm glad you had a successful transaction. Heck, maybe you and I will be like Jim Bradley and own our cars again sometime in the future

[52 Ragtop]

JackB,
I "believe" that your 64 ragtop is only a few miles from me here in Noblesville Indiana. Yours was a "Strao Blue" one, correct? It is being well taken care of by John Elmer.

Jim

[53k]

Paul, you did keep a spare key to it, right?

Good idea, but it never even crossed my mind- gave him both sets.

[53k]

Paul,

Jump in that nice Avanti that you bought and take it for a spin. You won't miss the Daytona quite so much. BTDT!

Would you believe I have only driven it once? Would you also believe Karen drove it before I did (other than pulling it on and off the trailer)? A day or two after we got back with it, she drove it about 200 yards up the road, turned around and came back (didn't know how much gas was in it). Second time, a couple days ago after putting six gallons of 93 in it, I drove around the "block" (about three miles). It drove and rode very nicely, with power steering and Turner brakes it felt pretty much like a modern car (except for the noise). With the 3.54 TT and smaller diameter tires (225x60x16s), it turns a bunch of revs at highway speed. After finding only two quarts of oil in it, I want to get under it and check a bunch of things before I commit to much of a drive. I am finding more curious things as I go too. The power window relay is an aftermarket thing that someone mounted on the flat part of the firewall in front of the driver- maybe they had to move it to plumb the dual master cylinder. The transmission cooler lines don't go to the radiator, but to a cooler mounted in front of and below the condenser. Then yesterday I noticed a vacuum line that ended with a golf T plug. Checking the parts book I determined that should go to a throttle kicker which isn't there. I'm also a bit concerned about the heavy surface rust on the underside. The frame, rear tube cross member and hog troughs are fine, but I found where the gas line had been patched with a length of rubber hose and the rest of it was pretty rusty (it does have all new steel brake lines). i got the build sheet and it turns out that the tilt column was not listed so it must have been added some time later. I found that the turn signals are very sensitive to the tilt column location- too high and the left turn won't work, too low and the right won't work. The hand brake cable is also frozen. And, I need to replace the cracked manifold ASAP. I found the manifold flange studs yesterday at my FLAPS so after I get the grass cut, I'm on it. Re the ugly speakers in the doors, I had some DupliColor paint that was very close to the claret interior so I painted the grilles that are in the claret part and that drastically improved the appearance. I have the new black carpet panels for the bottom of the doors so I will take out the speaker that are in that part, patch the holes and put the new carpet over the damaged areas. I guess I'll be going through the same things I did after buying the convertible, hopefully just not as expensive.

[candbstudebakers]

Paul I have had dealings in the past with Ed. nice guy, looks like he got a super car, just send a 64 convert to Australia yesterday, is Ed on the forum?....Bob

[t1003nl]

Paul - This is the difference between Studebaker owners and many brand-X owners. We get so attached to them. I can't imagine not driving my '64 convertible. It is truely a fun car to drive. Sorry you had to sell yours. I'm sure the new owner will get a lot of joy from driving it. After all, this is a drivers club.

Neil

[53k]

I let my buyer drive the car home (about 200 miles) with my plate since he just got the title when he picked up the car. He returned it to me with this note- "Paul,
It ran great. ran it up to 75M.P.H. The wife even likes it. I'll call you next week. Thanks Again, Ed"
Made me feel better.