Studebaker featured in new Hagerty Newsmagazine

[BobPalma]

The Winter 2011 Hagerty Insurance newsmagazine arrived a couple days ago:



Therein is an article entitled, "It Takes Every Kind; Collectors on the Fringe." It is a respectful article about less-than-traveled roads in collector car circles as to makes and models. (Bob Andrews warning: no Camaros.)

Among the cars and people featured is Michigan SDC Member David King's 1964 Commander Six 2-door. David is quoted in the article. Two pictures of his Commander, aged to look old-timey, are used: one on the magazine's Table of Contents page and one within the article.

Also, for those of you who get the magazine, be sure to read P. J. O'Rourke's Feature Article: Cars of the Counterculture. It's hilarious; 'had me laughing out loud.

For example, in speaking of the three-cylinder, 2-cycle Saab 96, O'Rourke opines, "We [hippies] liked the two-cycle engine because, with fewer cycles, it was saving the earth's circularities, or something...."

A great read; just funny from start to finish. ('Reminds me of something Comatus here on the forum might have written.) BP

[Bob Andrews]

Hey Bob, how about sharing David's exact quote about his Stude??

[BobPalma]

Hey Bob, how about sharing David's exact quote about his Stude??

Uh, well...you asked for it <GGG>. Here's what is said about David and his Commander:

David King's story is common among the guys who get lumped into the "other" category at automotive events: They didn't choose their cars as much as their cars chose them. King learned to drive in his [1964 Commander Six 2-door] after acquiring it from his grandmother, who had purchased it new. His 1976 high school parking permit is still stuck to the windshield, just as the car has stuck with him.

And while the 51-year-old engineer continues to restore a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham he proudly describes as a "'50s Duesenberg,' he likes bringing the Studebaker to car shows.

'It's a Kotex box on wheels,' says David, describing his white 1964 Studebaker Commander 2-door sedan at a recent car show near his home in Milford, Michigan. 'It's not a big attention-getter, but it's a car people smile at.'

Yes, a smile is a good way to hide befuddlement. If a red Ferrari 250 GTO is the sexiest thing on four wheels, this is its foil. The reality is that a car this nondescript could have sold 10 times the 4,374 that Studebaker built and still be forgettable. To heap on further insult, King's Studebaker was built two years before the venerable automaker called it quits and shuttered its Hamilton, Ontario, factory, so the car is as devoid of historical significance as it is aesthetic charm.

Now before we go any further, let's understand two things: The first is that this is a guy who obviously knows his car is not an A-list collectible. The second is that he does not care. This is the key to understanding the appeal of the unappealing, the lure of the marque's unloved illegitimate children, why even astute car collectors develop soft spots for fringe models.

(Yes, I, too, am still trying to analyze the "illegitimate children" remark. ????)

Anyway, it would be fun to acquaint the writer with Nelson Bove's Strato Blue R3 Commander 2-door and see how that washes against the writer's overall suggestion of obscurity! <GGG> Anyway, nicely done overall.

(I don't think we should take offense at remarks suggesting a 1964 Commander Six isn't all that historical...after all, the article is about oddball stuff and if you didn't have a thicker-than-average automotive skin, you probably wouldn't be in the Studebaker hobby in the first place. <GGG>) BP

[Bob Andrews]

Oops, I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to peer pressure you into typing that all out! I just thought the part about the shape was funny got mine yesterday

[BobPalma]

Oops, I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to peer pressure you into typing that all out! I just thought the part about the shape was funny got mine yesterday

That's OK. You owe me 14 minutes of time at hard labor.

Stop by; I have some chassis degreasing for you to undertake as pennance. <GGG> BP

[jclary]

.....(I don't think we should take offense at remarks suggesting a 1964 Commander Six isn't all that historical...after all, the article is about oddball stuff and if you didn't have a thicker-than-average automotive skin, you probably wouldn't be in the Studebaker hobby in the first place. <GGG>) BP[/QUOTE]

Anybody can do what comes easy. Anybody can skip down an unobstructed path. Anybody can follow the crowd. Anybody can pursue the common things.

But, to do the hard work, wade through the briar patch, blaze a lonely new trail, and rescue the forgotten...that sums up THE STUDEBAKER PERSONALITY!

[Jim B PEI]

I think what the writer might have used instead of "illegitimate" was "the marques' unloved red-haired stepchildren". It would have made more sense even if still offensive to those of us with the cheveux rouges (sniff!)

Of course, a phrase like "Aunt Betsy's sensible black orthopedic lace-ups of the motoring world" would have captured the essence of a 64 six cylinder automatic white Lark-type Commander (of which I have one), but I digress....

[comatus]

Surely he meant a "Kotex dispenser," not just a "box."
Some of those dispensers were, like, Streamline Moderne Chromium.

My car doesn't leak. She's just spotting a little.
On the shop cloth. Not on the rag.

[DEEPNHOCK]

Knowing todays 'shock jock' journalism students, there's probably a good chance his quote/segment was chosen specifically because he chose that derogatory description of his Studebaker.
One of Hagerty's better issues....
Jeff

Uh, well...you asked for it <GGG>. Here's what is said about David and his Commander:
<snip>
BP

[FlatheadGeo]

John C said it all!!!!!

[StudeRich]

I guess this one fits into the Catagory of "ANY publicity is Good Publicity!"