There's a proverb....

[JimC]

"Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it."


(That's Proverbs 22:6, lest ye wonder where I got that...)

Elsewhere, I posted thoughts on why I thought it was foolish to throw your hands up and assume that since there are fewer and fewer Studebakers every day that we must accept that our club will eventually merge with another or go extinct.

I won't go into as much of a soapbox rant on that topic right now, but I wanted to restate something: As long as we're passing our passion for Studebakers on to the next generation, they'll live on forever. I'm too young to have ever seen a Studebaker less than 14ish years old. I love them because my grandpa loved them, and let me do exactly what my son is doing in the photo above. Sure, he might decide that cars aren't for him (or worse, start collecting Chevy's! Just kidding!!), but for now, he is in love with Studebakers, and he'll bring that with him forever.

I get a lot of comments on the child seat in the back seat of my Lark. One person recently had the audacity to tell me that having it in the back of the car totally ruined the look. My response was to politely tell him that I want my son to enjoy the car as much as I do, and if that means there's a non-matching child seat, so be it. These cars won't be around tomorrow if our kids don't want them.

Just sayin'.

[Chris Pile]

Right on, Jim!

[BobGlasscock]

I'll second that!

[BobPalma]

Right on, Jim! BP

[53 Stewed Baker]

You are SO right! Been into Studes since MY dad brought home a 51 Bullet nose when I was a pup
Now I'm 70 on my 8/9th Baker AND MY son just drug home a 60 Champ PU. I'm PROUD

Its not th genes Its the enviorment Hope your boy(girls too) CARRY ON

By th way Great lookin Lark Lets see more of it

see ya'll in SB

53 Stewed Baker JIM

[DEEPNHOCK]

Are his first words going to be "Caution - Fan" ???

[FlatheadGeo]

So true! My sons are not into cars. My nephew is, however, into cars and looks, sounds, drives like me and could be my clone. I shall be leaving my Studebaker to him.

[michelle]

AWESOME photo Jim! That's what it's all about right there! When I first started driving, my dad told me I had to be able to change oil, spark plugs, etc. in order to get a a car. He took me down to his shop and picked out a bunch of wrenches and stuff so I'd have my own set of tools to keep in the trunk, put them in an old toolbox and gave 'em to me. That was 20 years ago. When I got the Stude, I brought all the tools out and was cleaning them up (painted the toolbox red and white to match the car) and my dad came over for a visit. He saw the tools all laid out and picked up one of the wrenches, studied it for a minute and said, "ya know, these are the tools my mother gave me back in the 50's when I got my first car." WOW! I had no idea that's where they came from! Anyway, passing this stuff down is so important! I love hearing others' stories!

[Studedude]

Are his first words going to be "Caution - Fan" ???

My thoughts, 'zactly.

[Roscomacaw]

Yeah, that hood safety catch might make an impression on him as well.

[BobPalma]

'Looks to me like the youngster is just lifting the fender cover a tad to check for a battery hold-down. BP

[kmac530]

Don't be a bunch of alarmist old farts people, Dad is watching son and the fan is fine! The motor is NOT running.
Jim, Great pic, I love it!!! Thanks for sharing the pic and your thoughts.
I am newer to Studes and bought mine on a whim not because I was so into to Studes specifically. Just saw it, saw the price, dropped a bid, bought my 2R.
But the reason I am into cars in general is because my dad was the garage alot and allowed me to hang out and "help" since I was under 1 year old. My folks have pics of me sitting in a puddle of spilled motor oil with a head gasket from a '59 Caddy wrapped around my head making motor sounds while my dad is doing a valve job on the Caddy, I was 9 months old. There is a pic I love of my dad holding me and we are eating that LONG string licorice racing to the middle. My dad is wearing his dark blue shop pants and light blue work shop unifom shirt and we are standing in front of a Renault Dolphine that we had just finished painting, I was about 3, maybe not the best Idea to have a 3 yr old in a spray booth, but hey I am fine and I LOVE cars. All cars. Anything cars. All aspects of building cars. Body work. Mechanical work. I love it! I love my memories of building bug motors at 16 yrs old with my best buddy while my dad is looking over my shoulder just making sure we were on the right track.
I remember being 7 yrs old and my dad telling me "if you are gonna ride your motorcycle, you need to learn how to fix it, go get 'your' tools and lets work on it". He made me do all of the work while he supervised. Now I offset my income by servicing motorcycles and quads of all of my friends. I am not making a living but I fiddle in the garage a couple hours a day when my neck can handle it and I make a couple hundred doallars a month which goes back into my Stude.

Thank Pop!

[JimC]

Are his first words going to be "Caution - Fan" ???

His "first word" days are long over. I spent the first two years of his life teaching him to talk, and I suspect I'll spend the rest of it telling him to be quiet What a chatterbox!

He spends almost as much time under that hood as I do, it seems. The pic above was taken yesterday while I was getting useful parts off my hardtop before it gets scrapped. I had both my garages open, and I had left the hood open on the '63 so I could do a couple minor tune up things. While I was in the garage, he climbed up there on the front bumper without my noticing. (mom was watching him.) The first thing I hear him say is "all-tunn-ayer". So I headed over and sure enough, there he was pointing to the alternator. I was so proud.

I think that the greatest crime a car lover can commit is not sharing that passion with his children.

Michelle -

When my grandpa passed, I inherited a lot of his hand tools. They're your basic craftsman fodder from Sears, and most can still be purchased for a few bucks, but knowing their history makes them priceless.

[JimC]

'Looks to me like the youngster is just lifting the fender cover a tad to check for a battery hold-down. BP

...and a few moments later, he rebuilt my carburetor.

[The Gravedigger]

Very nice Jim...... take good care of the kid. And always remind the kid, "stay away from the chevy's" .... lol. If Studes aren't available, go for Ford's or Dodge's.....

That's what I'll plan to teach my children.... same philosophy!