Dick Datson

[64V-K7]

Anyone know his status?

current email address, if appropriate, etc

Apparently the current info online is inaccurate...


thx

[PackardV8]

Should you find him, be sure to pass along our thanks for being a light in the wilderness when Studes were just rusty orphan cheap transport.

jack vines

[sals54]

Ditto Jack,
Dick was THE MAN for decades. Many of us followed his newsletters and participated in the sharing of information well before the internet was a twinkle in anyone's eye. It was fabulous to see what others were doing in the modified and custom world, especially the performance world. Harbit, Covington and Lange to name a few. Pioneers and master craftsmen in their trades. High performance Studebakers ruled the world for a little while, thanks to Dick Datson getting the word out. I hope we find him well and happy.

[DougHolverson]

Just yesterday, I was thinking about him in the Usenet days. He had the first sock-puppet account that I had ever seen. He was pseudonymously his own nest sycophant. How did his "Atlantis" dealie play out.

[DEEPNHOCK]

He was not a nice man if you disagreed with anything he said.

[daytonadave]

Still have several copies of "Total Performance".

[Dan White]

Still have all of mine and his 2 books from the early 90s!

[52-fan]

He seemed eccentric, especially in the later magazines. In any case, the reports of various successes with Studebaker power probably kept me from going totally Mopar in the late 70s.

[DougHolverson]

i got a couple of his books squirreled away. I got to dig them out and see what they are again.

[PackardV8]

He was not a nice man if you disagreed with anything he said.

Just yesterday, I was thinking about him in the Usenet days. He had the first sock-puppet account that I had ever seen. He was pseudonymously his own best sycophant.

He seemed eccentric, especially in the later magazines.

Yes, Yes, and definitely Yes. The phrase, "Often wrong; but never in doubt." comes to mind. To champion Studes in the dark days, one had to be driven, egocentric and willing to do whatever, say whatever it took to keep up interest in those abandoned orphans. We owe him thanks, if not veneration.

jack vines
Obsolete Engineering Division
of Mager Engine

[r1lark]

I also subscribed. Dick did a decent job of collecting information from different folks and putting it together and distributing it. Putting out those books and monthly(?) publications must have been a lot of work in the pre-computer days.

Especially enjoyed following the exploits of Tom Covington and his Studebaker roadster.

Agree with Jack and others, we owe him a thanks for helping keep the interest in Studebaker performance alive years ago.

[JRoberts]

He was not a nice man if you disagreed with anything he said.

Amen to that.

[70Avanti2]

Dick Datson was the internet before there was a internet. If you wanted to know how to fix your Stude. His books were the place to go. The only other place to get how to was TW. Which was very limited. Many many more Stude's would have been scraped if it were not for him.

Thank you Mr. Datson for helping a teenage know nothing kid work on his Studebaker.

[sals54]

He was not a nice man if you disagreed with anything he said.

Seriously? That's the only comment? So, for all the decades of good things he did for Studebakers, and all the help he made available for thousands of folks trying to keep their Studes on the road as cheaply as they could, and for all the help he gave to those few who were trying and succeeding to make their Studebakers perform with the big guys, and for all the thousands of hours he dedicated to the hobby when so many others did nothing...
That's the best comment?
Give me a break.

[studegary]

I remember when he gave lectures/seminars at SDC International Conventions. IIRC, he arrived in a modified 1955.

I did not always agree with him, but he was welcome to express his opinions. I too, have much of his printed material around here somewhere (not like I refer to it).