
I had the opportunity to examine and watch the sale of what might be the nicest, most original 1953 Commander Starliner on the planet


(The hood is intentionally ajar in the above photo.)


As most of you know, I've been at this a long time and have examined thousands of cars for resale, etc., in my lifetime; Studebakers and just about any make you can imagine...well, OK; I never looked at a Yugo with the intention of buying it or verifying its odometer...

It seems to me that this car has been discussed here before, so I asked our #1 FRS (Forum Research Sleuth) Craig Parslow to try to find it. He was unable to locate any previous threads on this car, so I will proceed as if this is new news.
The story that went with the car, per the auctioneer, was that it was donated to the AACA National Museum about a year ago. They were rotating it out of their collection and brought it to Auburn to sell and raise money. I watched the car sell for $32,000, plus 10% Buyers Premium = $35,200 total.
More photos:


Ah, the correct battery hold-down! And, yes, for frosting on the cake; the car is factory stick overdrive:


It appeared to have its original tires on it; weather-checked, to be sure, but the spare was NOS and identical. The spare did not appear to have been down, but I did not remove the hold-down bolt and washer to examine the lug nut holes in the spare wheel to see if the paint was chipped, indicating the spare might have been down for a couple miles.
Quite frankly, the fit and finish on this car was excellent for a 1953 K-body Studebaker. That might be explained by its high body production number:

Body Numbers began with 1 in 1953, so the above indicates it was the 17,938th 1953 K body welded up. That's within the last 10% of the total 19,236 1953 Commander Starliner production, so they were doing much better toward the end. I was as pleased as I was surprised by the car's fit and finish. They said it had not received any touch-up paint work and I can believe that; there were enough blemishes to establish a nice, "proper" level of patina. Ditto all the die-cast and the bumpers; they looked like they were 62 years old, not brand new...nor should they, of course.
I did not follow the new owner after bidding, so do not know who bought it. If they aren't an SDC member, here's hoping they find us here!




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