I thought newsgroup members might be interested in two intrepid pilots who are making their way to Alaska in pre war Studebakers. Ford Stoecker of Cape Girardeau, Missouri is driving his 1937 President "hump back" panel delivery and John Burgh of Concord, Calif is in his 1946 Champion Coupe. (Incidentally Richard Dormois is accompanying John.) They have been on the road now for 7 days and John has filed two email reports that I am including below. The photo above is compliments of Ann Turner and Art Unger who joined them for a part of the journey. The locations John mentions in his email correspondence place them fairly close to their destination (Fairbanks). You can easily trace their route on a map.
Just thought you folks might like to see how Antique Studebaker Club guys get pleasure out of their vehicles.
Report #1 (8-28-07)
Arrived in Fort Nelson last night......more than half way to
Fairanks. Apart from some rain on Saturday, weather has been perfect. Cars running great, road so far is excellent asphalt pavement, people having much fun. The 46 getting about 19 mpg, the 37 delivering around 16. Delayed about 6 hours in Chetwynd (near Dawlson Creek) by overdrive failure in the '46 due to the over-running clutch frying itself....we dropped the transmission, removed the shredded OD parts, and re-installed it as a conventional transmission. Reduced top speed a bit, but still pleasant to drive. Today we will stop at Laird Hot Springs and marinate our bones in the natural spa for a while. Scenery truly spectacular all along the road...although only one moose seen so far. Hope to send pictures next time (haven't found a place to download from the camera yet.)
Sight-seeing plus driving 400 miles a day makes for long days....we were too tired when we arrived last night to stay up and watch the eclipse. With the clear air and big sky, it would have been impressive up here.
Happy to hear of the successful effort to have a Lark convertible lead the parade officially opening the new Benicia Bridge last Saturday. Thanks to Pat Campbell for arranging this for us. This great exposure is one payoff for our supporting the grand opening of the Willows Cabaret Theater (in the old dealership building) in Martinez in May. More later soon.
John Burgh
Report #2 (8-29-07)
We are in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Everything going well, cars performing just fine. The road continues excellent. Beautiful weather....yesterday we saw (right out on the road, some of them requiring us to stop or slowly pass through them) moose, several herds of buffalo, many Dall sheep, lots of caribou. This morning we visited the Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, and posted two Studebaker signs, an important addition to the 40,000+ that are there already. Tomorrow AM will be sight-seeing in Whitehorse, then departure for Beaver Creek on the Alaska border. We get to Fairbanks late afternoon on Friday. Friendly people and wonderful hospitality everywhere we stop. We are having a blast!
John Burgh
R. Quinn
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