New Wagonaire Club!!!!

[Son O Lark]

I'm announcing a NEW club, free to all Wagonaire drivers or owners! It's the Wagonaire Lap Water Club. The only requirement is to have driven a Wagonaire and experience the wonderful sensation of suddenly having a lap full of water. It's quite shocking and never forgotten. Just reply and say "I belong!" A humorous anedote would also be welcomed but not a requirement.

[jclary]

Well...I have not had the pleasure, but...(not to rain on your parade) if you would expand the requirements to include those of us Studebaker drivers with old brittle weather cracked windshield gaskets, I'm sure many would qualify for the "wet leg and foot syndrome."

Then...there are the smug and self confident folks, like myself, who have experienced a huge shower of humility when we learned that we were just a little over confident when we thought we were skilled enough to install and seat that new supple windshield gasket without using additional sealer!

Oh wait....we already have it...SDC!

[sals54]

I'll jump in on this. Although I've never had the experience of getting doused with water while in my Wagonaire, I still love it. Even though its gone. It was a great car. I only had it a couple years, but I gotta tell ya, I got more looks, stares, thumbs up, and gas station conversations in that wagon, than I ever did in my coupe. Especially the women... they seem to be attracted to the wagon more than men. Perhaps it was because it is a station wagon and not a hot rod or rat rod that makes the car and the owner, me, more approachable. Whatever it was, I drew a ton of attention. I've missed that car more than any other Stude I've owned. Even more than the 60 Lark Convertible.
Anyhoo, Great cars. I love them. A Wagonaire is back on my wish list for another go-round. Even posting pictures of it makes my heart ache a little. Here she is:

[scott.rodgers]

I belong!

Also, there's the quarters filled with gallons of water, dirt and sand (if the quarters still exist) and the loudest interior noise known to man (my interior was completely shot)!

[JBOYLE]

A question from someone too young to have experienced 50s cars as an owner or driver in period.
Didn't many (most?) of them leak?

I remember my father had a new 1960 Cadillac and he complained about it.

[skyway]

"the wonderful sensation of suddenly having a lap full of water."

Yup, (especially in cool weather) unforgetable!

[studegary]

I owned a 1963 Daytona Wagonaire for nine years. We used it as a regular, every day car. I never got wet in it.

[stude1964]

Yes I know the feeling of water pouring over my shoulder as I stopped or went downhill! I fixed that roof when I redid the '64 by pulling out the roof and installing new weatherstrip as well as new vinyl hoses to replace the rotted rubber hoses. I routed the hoses past the rocker as well as below the rear quarter panels. No problems since and the wagon has less noise at speed.
Rob in PA.

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

Bravo, stude1964. You fixed it rather than whining about it.

[63t-cab]

Yup,once had a 63 Wagonaire.many a time a wet lap when useing the brakes,the good olo days <GGG> ! even brought Christmas Trees home in it 2 or 3 times,one of those trips was a wet one.

[Bullet]

More than once and you never forget it! I am with Sal, I miss my wagonaire of all the Studebakers I have owned. Once took a table saw in the back 10 miles. Did not air blow it out before I drove and my eyes were hurtin for several hours until the emptied out of the sawdust. Something I will never forget! Drove a wagonaire daily for over 15 years.

Mark

[Chris Pile]

I kept the drain hoses and channels clean on mine - roof locked when not opened.
Never had a problem.

I did get very wet once in a downpour - I opened the front door to get in, and the water cascading out of the end of the drip rail ran all over my pants and the floor.

[rockinhawk]

Not a Wagonaire, but I had the experience ,many times in our 81 Avanti II with the Moon Roof.

[Kurt]

Not in a Wagonaire.... But I did take the Champ to an Automatic car wash and experienced this phenomenon..... Next time I will be ready for it!

[Roscomacaw]

It was 1965. I was at Tan son nhut airfield in Saigon - sitting in the red nylon sling seats that were suspended from the "hog trough" that hung from the cieling of a Fairchild C-123 Provider. Thankfully, I was about two seats from the front of that row of sling seats. I think the flight crew had a sadistic sense of humor about the C-123s habit of accumulating condensation in the hog trough overhead. Surely they were snickering about the second louie that sat, spiffly attired in the frontmost sling seat that nuggy Vietnam morning.
The plane taxied to the end of the taxiway and then turned towards the runway. It was at that point that the pilot stood on the brakes pretty good. The water in the overhead trough surged forward and yielded to gravity. I never saw an officer sputter and fume more than that poor drenched lieutenant. The whole planeload of GIs burst into laughter. One of those INDELIBLE moments of the past.