Bye-bye Sunshine!

[Roscomacaw]

Our 60 Lark - Sunshine - has a new owner after 29 years. I think she's in good hands. I cleaned her up a bit and coaxed her into running again and she went onto the trailer without complaint. My wife's cried all morning, but she did give me permission to sell the car before I moved to do so. Pained me to let it go, but I've not been giving it the love nor attention that such a beauty needs, so it was time for someone else to take over. Interestingly, the new owner's birthday is the same as Sunshine's build date! How cool is that? And he turns 60 this year. Talk about serendipity!

[63t-cab]

Bob, I feel what You are going through ! bitter sweet for sure. I've let two Studebakers go and can relate too Your feelings,though when the carrier actually picks the cars up is when it will come down hard .now i can only assume this little lark is rust free,or as close as one can get

[Corvanti]

what a great looking Lark!!!

i had a problem when i let the Avanti go, but nothing close to when i had to let the '40 leave.

[Roscomacaw]

Sunshine is rock solid. She needs some freshening - tune-up, new hoses 'n belts and such - but her 15 year old Jonquil Yellow still looks great! The irony, I guess, is that I'll be doing some home projects with some of the proceeds of this sale - when I sold her on the rationale that it was getting to tough to work on her.

[Dick Steinkamp]

Beautiful car, Bob. You are fortunate to have owned it.

[Roscomacaw]

Thanks Dick. We had about as much pleasure from that Lark as folks could expect. The wife loved driving it as much as I did - she'd even take her friends out for a cruise now and then, so she was genuinely attached. She'd even had a say in our acquiring it in '85. So new owner, Dennis O'Brien's reviving it and driving it (which he's anxious to do!) is a good fate for it and for us.

[Chicken Hawk]

Be thankful Bob that you know your car is in good hands and should lead a good life from here on. When we lost the '51 we had for 48 years it was like losing a member of the family. It's still in the back corner of the pole barn. Don't have the heart to . . .

Ted

[Bullet]

She's going to a good home! Dennis will take good care of her. He is the VP of the LA Chapter SDC.

Congratulations Dennis!!! Looking forward to seeing her at the next chapter meeting.

Mark
aka Bullet

[jclary]

Do we really own anything? More like "caretakers" for a time. So many of us hang on to stuff until we either lose our health, faculties, or pass on without any say regarding the fate of our possessions. Fortunate is the person who passes a cherished item to the next person with confidence it will be cared for.
Having the good fortune to be alert, aware, involved, and help the process along... means you are fortunate indeed!

[brngarage]

Thanks Bob! Dennis was wearing a huge grin all the way home and couldn't stop talking about the things he's going to do to refresh her! Sunshine is definitely in good hands. Pictures will be posted on our website (www.studebakersla.com) very soon.

[sals54]

[Warren Webb]

Bob, I remember Kelly telling me how beautiful Sunshine was & looking at mine & wishing it looked half as good. I understand your feelings. Feelings I too will have to one day to complete as you have. Your friend, Warren

[rockinhawk]

Kinda like walking your Daughter down the aisle and giving her hand to someone else. He had BETTER take care of her!

[Roscomacaw]

Thanks for the positive comments. Yes, it's a bittersweet experience. Not that I didn't already know this, but I suspect it was not unlike my folks letting me go when I left home in '63. They'd invested time and money and love in me and then I was off to play out my destiny - which all parents hope is a good thing.
Sunshine was a 3-cylinder, rolling basket case when I adopted her in 1985. I restored her and then - not happy with the results (as a reborn 6 cylinder car) - I changed what all was necessary for her to be an able V8 car. We saw her thru three cosmetic refreshments (one thanks to a malicious miscreant) and drove her all over California - enjoying every burble-tuned mile of cruising.
LOL...... I had to explain to Dennis why the heater was never installed as well as some other weather-related tidbits. I told how the car never left our driveway but what the top was down and the weather was appropriate. I mean.... that's probably not ABSOLUTELY true - but it's gotta be really close to the truth. I can think of only one time when we were out and felt compelled to put the top up. And that was a day when we'd just had enough of a particular triple-digit day. I think the only time I had the car judged was at the '96 Internationals in Long Beach. Sunshine was as pretty as ever, but scored low because of an incomplete Climatizer system - not to mention a few other innocent inaccuracies. I had no desire to have a museum piece. I have great respect for those who do have such ambitions, but while I know how to get to that strata, I've never had much drive to get there. For me, if it looked like what Studebaker had in mind, and it was motivated by a Studebaker engine, I had a big, fat grin - period. Spring clamps or screw clamps - red wires or black - my only aim was function and reliability.

[61LaRk4dr]

Thanks for the positive comments. Yes, it's a bittersweet experience. Not that I didn't already know this, but I suspect it was not unlike my folks letting me go when I left home in '63. They'd invested time and money and love in me and then I was off to play out my destiny - which all parents hope is a good thing.
Sunshine was a 3-cylinder, rolling basket case when I adopted her in 1985. I restored her and then - not happy with the results (as a reborn 6 cylinder car) - I changed what all was necessary for her to be an able V8 car. We saw her thru three cosmetic refreshments (one thanks to a malicious miscreant) and drove her all over California - enjoying every burble-tuned mile of cruising.
LOL...... I had to explain to Dennis why the heater was never installed as well as some other weather-related tidbits. I told how the car never left our driveway but what the top was down and the weather was appropriate. I mean.... that's probably not ABSOLUTELY true - but it's gotta be really close to the truth. I can think of only one time when we were out and felt compelled to put the top up. And that was a day when we'd just had enough of a particular triple-digit day. I think the only time I had the car judged was at the '96 Internationals in Long Beach. Sunshine was as pretty as ever, but scored low because of an incomplete Climatizer system - not to mention a few other innocent inaccuracies. I had no desire to have a museum piece. I have great respect for those who do have such ambitions, but while I know how to get to that strata, I've never had much drive to get there. For me, if it looked like what Studebaker had in mind, and it was motivated by a Studebaker engine, I had a big, fat grin - period. Spring clamps or screw clamps - red wires or black - my only aim was function and reliability.

Beautiful Lark! Last year I gave up the car that I drove in high school, a 1963 Ford Galaxie. I bought her from the original owners who had every piece of paperwork (maintenance, insurance, etc.) documented from the day she was bought in late 1963. They still had the original window sticker and dealer plates. The car was a stock beauty, and I drove that car everywhere for the first seven years. Eventually gas prices rose and I was going to college, so the car sat...then graduation and a new job, so the car sat...then kid#1, followed by kid #2. Meanwhile, the car sat. I made sure that it was garaged and still kept up by running it a few minutes everyday, but I knew that I was not able to keep her locked away like that forever. So I reluctantly sold her last year. I know it is not a Studebaker but all the same, it was bittersweet like you said. The silver lining: I was able to pay off an outstanding student loan and because I was going through withdrawals I turned around and bought the 51 LC that I am tinkering with right now. Sometimes in order to make new memories you have to sell the stuff that gave you the old memories (I think I read that in a fortune cookie once)