Were Going on a Studebaker Vacation to the USA!

[studebaker-R2-4-me]

Well we got kicked out of Dodge, urh... Ocracoke Island after a really good Breakfast. The weather was so nice we had to stay another day. We wound up in Washington D.C. tonight and are planning on hanging out here for a couple of days and take a tour of the City.

The Lark experienced vapor lock twice today. It seems that after stopping the engine is so hot the fuel boils out of the line filter and carburetor. After dinner tonight just outside of Washington DC. I got the Lark started then it stalled and would not start again. I took off the carburetor cleaner and checked to see if it was spraying fuel. Not a drop was coming out of the venturies.

Just then a Highway patrol pulled up to grab a bite to eat out of the same Mexican Restaurant called "Chipolti" I still have not got the Lark running and he comes out and says to me " is it the FLUX CAPACITOR that is giving you trouble?"

By that time I already had my spare gas can out and was priming the carburetor. I fired the Lark up, got enough gas to flow into the fuel bowl and we were off again. Until we had the concierge at Downtown DC Hampton Inn try to park the Lark.

That was real funny. He was trying to put the key in the steering column! I had to show him where to start the Lark. He missed fired the lark and drained all the gas again. I finally had to prime her again and drive the lark down to the underground for him.

I got up the to our room and received a text from my son.... I could not miss this opportunity to get him back so I told him that when we " drove into to Washington we were spotted in the Lark by the CIA and directed to the Hampton Inn. We then got invited for lunch at the White House with Barack Obama and Michelle... My son's reply was "that's RIDICULOUS, really?"

I said "of course it true, It turns out Barack drove a Studebaker in High School and invited us to Lunch!" It was all in fun and had to admit that is was all a lie.

I want to scope out a spot tomorrow to get a picture of the Washington Memorial with the Stude for DYSD I hope to get a shot of the Lark somewhere here in DC.

Allen

[barnlark]

Thanks for the update, Allen. Sounds like a full trip of memories and stories, with more to come. What's next after D.C.? Gettysburg?

[Rerun]

So, where are you now?

[53k]

Here's a couple of pictures of the Lark at some prime locations. ...

Atlantic Ocean on the Outer Banks

GREAT shots! It's a good thing you didn't go any further on the beach in this shot. That's strictly four-wheel drive country. I won't even try that beach with my Acura MDX all wheel drive (not enough ground clearance once you get in the deep ruts). The beach up by the Hatteras Ferry Landing is the only one I'll take the MDX on.

[studebaker-R2-4-me]

So, where are you now?

Unfortunately it's back to reality with kids going to school too early in the morning. What a nightmare....


Wright Bros. Memorial which was real neat.


Here's a picture of our quest to do the Lighthouse tour before we got evacuated from Ocracoke Island


Here's a picture of our change of plans due to hurricane Earl. Washington was fantastic.





We spent 4 days in Washington DC mostly on foot. We walked through too many Smithsonian Museums and saw too many unbelievable collections. Drove the Lark around Washington on Drive your Studebaker Day. The Lark was getting hot even with the new radiator with all the stop and go traffic and over 90 degree temps.

We had to start heading home so we drove some long days and managed to do some tax free shopping in Pennsylvannia and make it back home to tell some stories to the Kids last night.

It was a wonderful 2 week vacation driving around the eastern States. The Lark made it back home without an additional hitch. One thing I do know is that car is getting a major drive train overhaul this winter. She lacks the power to sucessfully merge into highway traffic or make it up an incline of the small mountains of Pennsylvannia without being nearly being rearended by a Semi trailer carrying a heavy load, safely. This fact became very apparent to me after getting home and taking my Hawk out to the grocery store to stock up the fridge for the kids lunch stuff.

I have a feeling that the a lot of our troubles were a fault of the transmission not be able to downshift or to shift in "no where land" of second gear. The Lark had trouble in 2nd gear where it would just struggle to get any speed in that 30-40 MPH range.

It sure was a wake up call for me, as I have really not driven this car since owning it. After spending so many days driving this car I have to do something to be able to take this car on another vacation. It sure was fun with all the fantastic weather that we had. I don't think we had the top up while driving for more than 4 hours during our entire trip. I used the wipers for no more than 20 minutes during the entire 2 weeks that we were away. I can't say enough about the weather that we had, besides that Damn Hurricane!

I can't think of a better way to get to know your car than doing something like we did.

Would I do it again? You bet! It just would not be with this drive train.

Thanks for all the help on the road. This club is fantastic. and we had a wonderful time.

Allen and Caroline.

[Milaca]

Fix your fuel delivery issues and maybe it will have plenty power? If it has good compression and good oil pressure and doesnt burn oil, then it doesnt need a rebuild. Perhaps it just needs some fine tuning. I recently spoke to a fella with a 1962 Hawk and he recently replaced his old Stromberg with a new Edelbrock 4-barrel carb and he was extremely happy with it. Much improved performance and the engine starts more quickly now. Glad you had a good vacation and that you took many photographs and shared with us!