History Channel's Car Hunters....the myth continues

[JRoberts]

I was watching the History Channel's show called "Car Hunters" and was shocked at the lack of knowledge the exhibited there. A couple was looking at a GT Hawk and the seller the car was equipped with a Ford built 289. It was also said that since Studebaker had no money they used parts from Mercedes and Chevrolet. Chevrolet I get, but not Mercedes. I tried to email them, but had to jump through so many hoops to do so, that I am not sure the email really went through.

[avanti76]

My jaw dropped when the salesman said the GT had a Ford 289 and that Studebaker was using parts
from other conpanies on the GT Hawk. Terrible research for the show! How hard is it in todays world of the internet to get the facts right?

[T.J lavallee]

I watched a show called "South Beach Classics" where the star of the show (Bald headed, strange mustached guy) explained to a potential customer that the 62 Studebaker Hawk GT he wanted to trade to the customer originally came with the Ford 289 V8 as he lifted the hood to show it. This guy's got his own nationally televised cable show on Velocity and his limited knowledge is on display for all to see! Jeeeze!!

[GrumpyOne]

I was watching the History Channel's show called "Car Hunters" and was shocked at the lack of knowledge the exhibited there. A couple was looking at a GT Hawk and the seller the car was equipped with a Ford built 289. It was also said that since Studebaker had no money they used parts from Mercedes and Chevrolet. Chevrolet I get, but not Mercedes. I tried to email them, but had to jump through so many hoops to do so, that I am not sure the email really went through.

Er, I believe that the Avanti door latch mechanisms and the Skytop sunroofs were both supplied by Mercedes...

[Mike Van Veghten]

There HAVE been...289 Ford powered Studes.
Back in high school (1968/69 timeframe), a friend bought a Golden Hawk with a supercharged "Ford" in it.
While I'm certainly no expert, but I've never seen a Stude engine with the distributor mounted in the front of the engine.

And yea...I know Studebaker did not build it this way..!

Mike

[8E45E]

Er, I believe that the Avanti door latch mechanisms and the Skytop sunroofs were both supplied by Mercedes...

The Skytop sunroof was supplied by Golde, a German company, unaffiliated with Mercedes Benz.

Craig

[acolds]

Almost all car shows on TV have few facts and more misinformation they show "RESTORED" cars with wrong wheels and tires wrong air cleaners and engines,seats steering wheels and radios. The more you know of cars the less you will be able to watch these cars without getting up set and talking to tv.

[KenS]

I had the opportunity to meet some of the staff from History channel / Pickers, I mentioned some glaring automotive mistakes they had made in some specific shows, their response was - How many people do you think would actually know that ?
And for those that don't know it, History Channel and Velocity are both owned by Discovery.

[Son O Lark]

I had the opportunity to meet some of the staff from History channel / Pickers, I mentioned some glaring automotive mistakes they had made in some specific shows, their response was - How many people do you think would actually know that ?
And for those that don't know it, History Channel and Velocity are both owned by Discovery.

Maybe they should call their channel "The Almost History Channel". If you don't get your historical facts correct, you can't call it history. (There are plenty of other words for it!!)

[DEEPNHOCK]

Velocity has ruined a good car channel.
The shows the put on their constant re-run cycle are soooooo bad.
There's no reality in a barstool interview read the cue card show.
Even the fake crisis shows are faked.
And they will all air again in 13 hours.

[paintim613]

I had the opportunity to meet some of the staff from History channel / Pickers, I mentioned some glaring automotive mistakes they had made in some specific shows, their response was - How many people do you think would actually know that ?
And for those that don't know it, History Channel and Velocity are both owned by Discovery.

And Discovery is owned by a nationally known car guy with his own car museum.

[wittsend]

They say that "sometimes a little knowledge is worse than no knowledge at all." Most of these "semi car people" probably have a vague recollection that Studebaker switched engines in their latter years. Those engines (Chevy, Studebaker, Ford) all started with 28_. Thus, it is easy to not know the specific years the engine manufacture was changed (50+ years ago), who the manufacture was and when they hear a Studebaker has a 289 it becomes a natural (but erroneous assumption) that it is a Ford engine they used.

While a Studebaker person with even limited knowledge knows the correct aspects of the engines used, it might be wise to not snicker too loud because with other brands we are just as liable to make similar errors. The fact that a "car guy" owns Discovery means very little to the production process. The Producer, Director, Editor likely know far less (if nothing at all) about the subject. And these are the people who oversee the production. It is not like the Discovery owner is standing there when the scene was shot. Or, that even he would know the difference either. As for Ted Vernon on SBC, he himself has said he is a salesman far more than he is a "restorer." As I understand it he has over 300 cars in his inventory at any given time. It would be a lot to know everything about every car.

In a world that I'm more familiar with how many would know that the first 56 Sunbeam Tiger's had a Borg Warner trans - and then they used Ford Toploaders? That the first 400 (or so) Tigers had a vinyl dash, not burled wood? It would be very easy to insult a genuine Tiger owner claiming his car was really a fake and point out he didn't even bother to swap out the vinyl Alpine dash. Even the most knowledgeable Tiger people did not know that 79 Tigers were sent to South Africa as CDK cars until 15+years after production ceased. The simple truth is no one is an expert on everything. The Ford 289 in a Studebaker error is something that is likely to occur simply given they have the same listed displacement. It is also said that "what goes around, comes around." So, it might be wise to treat the subject with less exasperation. You never know when we ourselves will make a similar error.

[karterfred88]

History has been rewritten many times over. I ran across this tidbit on GT Hawks--note the "fiberglass roof cap to save tooling costs"

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2003/06/15/collectible-classic--196264-studebaker-gran-turismo-hawk

[plee4139]

Despite the abundance of information, there is still more disinformation around than ever. I chalk up intellectual laziness i.e., repeating something second-hand rather than investigating it themselves. This continues until the lies become truth. Some years ago I was on a boat tour of Huntington harbor on Long Island, and the young tour director identified the former home of department mogul Marshall Fields, now a park, as having belonged to the president of Marshall's, a division of the Federated Stores Corp. I waited till the trip ended, then set him straight.

[StudeNewby]

As a broadcaster and amateur historian, I hate to admit it, but these shows care narry a whit about accuracy. They are about RATINGS and REVENUE. As long as one or the other is high, then that is all they care about.
That being said, according to Wikipedia, "Despite being publicly traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange, the Newhouse family exercise the largest stake in the company, 31%, through privately held Advance Publications.^[2]"