Studes in Montana Museum

[JBOYLE]

The other day enroute home from Yellowstone National Park, I stopped at the Montana Auto Museum in Deer Lodge on I-90.

In their collection of 150+ cars, they had a few Studebakers...
1940 President two door. Very nice car..very styish.
1951 Bulletnose convertible (no placard so I can't be more specific).
1956 Golden Hawk hardtop (red & white...a neat car).
19?? Avanti II. The placard said it was a 64, but we all know Avanti IIs were post-Studebaker. In any event, it had a cow catcher bumper extention, wire wheels and a sunroof.


Overall, a nice selection of cars from the 30's to 60s.
You'll see the usual suspects (a half dozen Mustangs, one each of the tri-5 Chevys) but also some surprises...like a 1903 Model A and 1907 Model S Fords, a nice 1910 Overland, and an immacualte 1913 Cadillac.
Sure, It's not the Peterson or Harrah's in the old days, but for $8 you can't go too wrong.

The price also gets ypou into the old prison/museum, a antique toy collection and other local museums.

63 Avanti R1 2788
1914 Stutz Bearcat
(George Barris replica)

Washington State

[glen]

Glad to hear the museum is still there, in 1997, it wasn't sure,
due to funding, that it was going to stay open or not and the
cars might have been disbursed back to their owners. My grandfather
was a shotgun guard at the prision, prior to 1933....sure was not
a nice place to be.

[lstude]

I also went through Yellowstone on my way to the Spokane Meet in 2005 and toured the Montana Museum. I don't recall seeing an Avanti or a 51 Studebaker, but I did take pictures of the 41 President coupe, 56 Golden Hawk and the early Studebaker.









There was also an interesting Pierce Arrow motor home.



And when I went through Yellowstone, I noticed these old White busses.





They were covered up so I couldn't see them but I did peak inside and they evidently had modern power plants, because they were automatic.



Leonard Shepherd
http://leonardshepherd.com/

[glen]

The buses were for the tourist season till the mid 60's (?) The
following is a link, for further info on the 1936 White motor
coaches, not just at Yellowstone, but Glacier and Yosemite, as
well.

http://www.nps.gov/yell/historyculture/1936bus.htm

[JBOYLE]

The early Stude is no longer there...and I stand corrected on the 41, that's the one I saw. Unfortunatly, it's been moved to a "head on" position at the end of a row so all I could really see was the front. I would have like to have seen the interior.
The 56 looks like it hasn't moved since the photo was taken, but both cars to it sides are different. As I said in my first post, the 51 had no placard and looked to have been recently drive. Perhaps an owner took it out for a spin. The Pierce Arrow bus wasn't there.
Some cars are owned by the museum, about 1/3 seem to be owned by a local couple (a very eclectic collection) and another third were on loan from owners across the region (various Montana cities, Boise, Spokane, etc).

About the White motor coaches at the park...Yellowstone has eight doing daily tours... a mix of 1937-39. According to the park, they were all reecntly bought back from subsequent owners after initial use in national parks. Some came from collections or even movie rental fleets. They were all rebuilt by Ford with modern powertrains...truck 5.4 L V-8s. I saw under the hood of one and it looked like an stock F-150. (I'd think with a 5.4 powering a big unit like that it's not overpowered...but then they don't have to go fast).
The drivers position is fairly stock but with a late model Ford steering wheel. I don't know if the airbag is deployable.
The passenger area is neat but a bit updated, the seat and sidewalls are leather/vinyl covered. A friend has two former National Park 37 White busses (one restored to perfection)and they have wooden sidewalls. As I recall, his are hardtops and the roofs...or at least the top bows are wood too.
The Yellowstone busses all have a full length rollback canvas roof.

63 Avanti R1 2788
1914 Stutz Bearcat
(George Barris replica)

Washington State

[Avantidon]

John, the Avanti has to be from the years of 1973 - 1977 as those were the "Cow-Catcher" years. Like many others, mine has been completely removed. [8D]


[img][/img]

[lstude]

quote:The early Stude is no longer there...and I stand corrected on the 41, that's the one I saw. Unfortunatly, it's been moved to a "head on" position at the end of a row so all I could really see was the front. I would have like to have seen the interior.

I met the man who owns the 41 President at the ASC tent at Hershey. I am sure Richard Quinn knows his name.

Here is the interior of the 41, but not a very good shot.



Leonard Shepherd
http://leonardshepherd.com/

[Steve T]

Cool stuff. Reminds me of the old Pate Museum in Cresson, TX.

The row of cocooned White buses make me think instantly of a gent named Walter Soplata. (JBoyle and probably a number of others on this forum will have heard of him). He's an Ohioan who, for some fifty years beginning about 1950, collected old aircraft, mainly military types, the way some of us rescue stray Studebakers. Some of Walter's planes were eye-popping rarities, but that is outside the scope of this forum; the White bus connection, though, is with one of his recovery vehicles...a 40s White schoolbus Walter converted to a flatbed and used to haul most of a Lockheed Neptune naval patrol bomber home from a surplus sale. That move was as much as the old bus could handle, and (as of last year, at least) the old White was still parked in a corner of Walter's yard with half the fuselage of a Neptune piled on top of its floor...I've long thought it would be neat to restore that bus as an RV, complete with a small display about Walter inside, and use it to attend airshows!

Walter did have a few other cars and trucks, but no Studes as far as I know...most of his recoveries were made using two Chevs, a 57 truck and a 66 station wagon.

Thanks for sharing these shots from the collection in Montana...

S.

[mbstude]

quote: John, the Avanti has to be from the years of 1973 - 1977 as those were the "Cow-Catcher" years.

FWIW, my grandparents' '81 has it.

Matthew Burnette
Hazlehurst, GA

[8E45E]

quote:Originally posted by glen

The buses were for the tourist season till the mid 60's (?) The
following is a link, for further info on the 1936 White motor
coaches, not just at Yellowstone, but Glacier and Yosemite, as
well.

http://www.nps.gov/yell/historyculture/1936bus.htm

Those busses are now rolling museum pieces, after an exhuastive restoration of them, including modern Ford powerplants. IIRC, Ford donated the engines, etc. for the project, and other groups donated some time and now have 'historic monument' certification.

Craig

[Studebaker Wheel]

The 1941 Studebaker President Skyway Sedan Coupe shown in the Montana museum photo belongs to Richard Babcock who resides in Grantsdale, MT. This model and body style is quite rare with only 477 being produced. Of this number only six are accounted for. Mine (directly above) is presently on loan to the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend. The professional model shown in the image is available to pose with your car but his rates are not cheap!

Richard Quinn
editor: Antique Studebaker Review

[HAWK64]

quote:Originally posted by Studebaker Wheel


[navy]
The 1941 Studebaker President Skyway Sedan Coupe shown in the Montana museum photo belongs to Richard Babcock who resides in Grantsdale, MT. This model and body style is quite rare with only 477 being produced. Of this number only six are accounted for. Mine (directly above) is presently on loan to the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend. The professional model shown in the image is available to pose with your car but his rates are not cheap.

Richard Quinn
editor: Antique Studebaker Review

Dick,why not fly to Melbourne & pose with my Hawk. I will buy you a beer & throw a shrimp on the barbie & you can check out my memorabilia collection !!!


"QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER"
MELBOURNE.

[Studebaker Wheel]

I'm not into flying, anyway I would rather drive the '41. Did they ever get that bridge done?

Richard Quinn
editor: Antique Studebaker Review

[mbstude]

How about a '42 President Skyway Sedan Coupe?



Matthew Burnette
Hazlehurst, GA

[barnlark]

That's a really nice color for that year, Matthew. Gorgeous. Pony up the fee for that serious faced model and you could have a post card.