Father's Day ~ It is OK to let someone touch your Studebaker

[okc63avanti]

For Father's Day I drove my 1951 Champion to church. Many of us sometimes are picky about letting others touch our vehicles, especially young children, but sometimes we need to make an exception. Today this precious little girl, named Hailey, who is blind was allowed to touch all over my car. She was completely amazed and kept exclaiming "What in the World is this?" She was amazed by the headlights and the fuselage shape below them, by the bullet nose grill and especially by the airplane shaped hood ornament.

We often don't realize how precious the gift of sight is. She touched my heart and gave this old father and now a grandfather the best gift anyone could have for Father's Day. Happy Father's Day guys.

[Pat Dilling]

Wow, that is very cool! That is an experience to remember.

[LarkTruck]

WAY COOL! Thanks for sharing your ride with Hailey, and the rest of us John. HAPPY FATHERS DAY!
JS

[j.byrd]

John, we also find that's a reall neat thing to do for the young'uns. Last night at our cruise-in, the little people love to look at our old Mini, and some of them stand by it and "measure" themselves. We put an ah-oo-ga horn on it with a very conspicuous chrome button on the steering column, and invite them to set in it and eventually suggest they push the chrome button. The round eyes, mouths, and general expressions are priceless. The parents are usually shocked that someone would let the kids touch their car, much less get in it and "play", and they also have happy expressions and take photo's of the kids in the car. Yep, worth every fingerprint and shoe mark, ha ! Thanks and congrats for doing that. The little lady will have you and your car in her minds eye the rest of her life. John

[sweetolbob]

Superb story John, Well Done


The advantage of home building driver quality vehicles is that at events it's nice to let the kids touch and sit in them. Hard to believe the smiles on a youngster's face when his Dad says be careful and you just open the door and let them crawl inside. Never had a show car that the fingerprints on the paint and nose prints on the windows wouldn't clean off.

Bob

[JimC]

Wow, VERY cool. What a great experience for a kid who doesn't have the gift of sight. Thanks for sharing that!

Our church has for the last couple years held a car show on Fathers Day. I brought the Lark. For me, part of the fun is letting kids touch it, climb in the seat and grab the wheel. And by letting kids touch the car while their parents chatted with me about it, there were times where more people were looking at my car than the costs-as-much-as-a-house Ford GT a couple cars down.

[Studedude]

Well, my heart just melted.

Thanks for sharing.

[candbstudebakers]

Kids should not be blind, it is just not fair for them to miss so much so early in life.

[okc63avanti]

Guys this was nothing special on my part it just happened.

Hailey's aunt brought her to church today as she had her for the weekend. The rest of Hailey's family was participating in a poker run to raise funds for her getting to the National Braile Challenge. Hailey is the State of Oklahoma Champion in her age group.

[dixiana]

That is a lovely story. How true it is that we sometimes take our blessings for granted. Sometimes it's the little things that "just happen" that shine a reflection on who we really are to others.

[rockne10]

Sometimes we need to realize, what we view as precious to us, ie. old cars, are just that...old cars. Eyesight, more precious than our physical possessions; Hailey's joy at exploration, more precious than eyesight.
Some of the best memories I have are when I've taken the old '33 to a retirement home and had still capable drivers get behind the wheel for a little cruise.
These cars are about creating and recalling memories; not about pocketing financial treasure. When the time is nigh, the memory IS the treasure.

[Mr Speed 53]

A blind guy that lost his sight ran his hands over my Avanti years ago. He put money down on one new went thru a divorce so no car. It was very emotional to watch him remember every detail of the car. Ed

[raoul5788]

John, those first two pictures are very powerful. Well done.

[Commander Eddie]

I think she will grow up to be a doctor. She was taking that car's pulse. I would love to know what she was thinking as she gained that tactile experience.
Wonderful.

After going back through and re-reading some of the posts on this thread it suddenly dawned on me that, perhaps a good way to get young people (or older for that matter) interested in Studebakers is to let them have the experience of sitting in them. Let them touch. Perhaps we are too finicky about our rides. They are steel after-all. They aren't likely to hurt them. The little girl in the pictures above probably has a deeper appreciation for this car because she experienced in a way most people don't (except for those of us who wash them now and then).

[raprice]

Kind of puts things into perspective, doesn't it?
Rog