Only 27 full package Daytona hardtops were built by Studebaker. Of the original full package Daytona hardtops one could be called a "one of a kind"- the only one in Laguna blue with brown upholstery. The story of this Daytona is even more special. It was unusual in that it was ordered by a loyal Studebaker customer at Porterfield Studebaker in Martinsburg, WV. When the man showed up to take possession of the rare car his wife went in to a "hissy fit" so the customer passed on the car and bought another new Studebaker off the showroom floor. Interestingly, two months later he got a new wife. The car lived most of its life in Martinsburg. A young man bought it and went in to the service. He drove the car to California then drove it back home when his enlistment was up. When he returned home he traded the car in at the local Chrysler dealer. From there several locals owned the car over a period of time. A local car collector bought it and (fortunately) put it in a garage and always said "I'm going to restore that car" but never did. The son of the local Studebaker dealer bought the car then decided he didn't want to mess with it after all. A retired Martinsburg policeman bought the car and over a period of several years he and his friend, an automotive engineer, also local took the car to the policeman's large two car garage and they restored the car. The end result was a virtually perfect car that was completely restored more than 10 years ago and appeared at some local car events and was driven to the 2014 International at Dover Delaware where the owner scored 392 of 400 points. Then it kind of disappeared. Today it came out of the garage and went home with a fine Studebaker man who is also a SDC member.
The retired policeman was seriously injured shortly after Dover and he could never drive again. His condition continued to deteriorate to the point that he will never leave the nursing home. He had called me several years ago about helping to sell the car. The next day his wife died and the selling effort kind of ended. About two months ago his oldest daughter called me about helping to sell the car so I went to it. After talking to Bob Palma and George Krem, with their suggestions I put it on eBay. Bob Palma did a great job of editing my jumble and George Krem offered some nice suggestions too. Then I involved SDC member Jeff Bradel who also has one of the full package Daytonas which is incredibly restored. He came out and detailed the car beyond my imagination and he shot a large number of excellent photos plus edited my approach to listing the car. We actually towed the car out of the garage and placed in a nice background for the pictures then we pushed it back in to the garage.
Access to the car was kind of difficult because no one was living there and I had to call the oldest daughter to come open the place. She was great and finally offered me a key so I could get in without having to wait. The car was almost impossible to start even in its history and the policeman wouldn't let any one else try. The automotive engineer, also a friend of mine, came out to help getting it started. It did start and he drove it a couple miles with no problem. However, after that none of us could get it started, tried starting fluid and everything. We were frantically trying to have the car running for when the buyer showed up. I had even bought eight new spark plugs hoping that would do it. I had pulled the old plugs and they were all nasty, but new plugs didn't help. The buyer and his friend showed up to find a non-starting car. However, the engineer friend brought some test equipment and found a VERY weak spark from the coil. The buyer asked if we could get a new coil. We didn't think we could get a Pertronix coil soon enough, but my friend said "that '59 beside us has a Petronix coil and it starts any time any where'. So, he removed the '59 coil and installed it on the '64. The big moment, he got in the car, turned the key and it fired up on the second turn and ran smoothly. The buyer got it, started it just fine and drove it on to his trailer in the light rain and happily drove away. As he loaded the car the daughter said that daddy never let the car get in the rain. Everyone was happy, especially me because I had bitten off more than I could chew.
The retired policeman was seriously injured shortly after Dover and he could never drive again. His condition continued to deteriorate to the point that he will never leave the nursing home. He had called me several years ago about helping to sell the car. The next day his wife died and the selling effort kind of ended. About two months ago his oldest daughter called me about helping to sell the car so I went to it. After talking to Bob Palma and George Krem, with their suggestions I put it on eBay. Bob Palma did a great job of editing my jumble and George Krem offered some nice suggestions too. Then I involved SDC member Jeff Bradel who also has one of the full package Daytonas which is incredibly restored. He came out and detailed the car beyond my imagination and he shot a large number of excellent photos plus edited my approach to listing the car. We actually towed the car out of the garage and placed in a nice background for the pictures then we pushed it back in to the garage.
Access to the car was kind of difficult because no one was living there and I had to call the oldest daughter to come open the place. She was great and finally offered me a key so I could get in without having to wait. The car was almost impossible to start even in its history and the policeman wouldn't let any one else try. The automotive engineer, also a friend of mine, came out to help getting it started. It did start and he drove it a couple miles with no problem. However, after that none of us could get it started, tried starting fluid and everything. We were frantically trying to have the car running for when the buyer showed up. I had even bought eight new spark plugs hoping that would do it. I had pulled the old plugs and they were all nasty, but new plugs didn't help. The buyer and his friend showed up to find a non-starting car. However, the engineer friend brought some test equipment and found a VERY weak spark from the coil. The buyer asked if we could get a new coil. We didn't think we could get a Pertronix coil soon enough, but my friend said "that '59 beside us has a Petronix coil and it starts any time any where'. So, he removed the '59 coil and installed it on the '64. The big moment, he got in the car, turned the key and it fired up on the second turn and ran smoothly. The buyer got it, started it just fine and drove it on to his trailer in the light rain and happily drove away. As he loaded the car the daughter said that daddy never let the car get in the rain. Everyone was happy, especially me because I had bitten off more than I could chew.
Attached Files
Comment