M.B.F. Car Show

Saturday was sunny and hot...just the weather we seem destined to encounter on the car show circuit! Sam and Juli watched the kids for us so we didn't have to drag them out in the heat, and even though the show was dog-friendly (M.B.F. stood for Man's Best Friend...the show was to raise money for a Mesa dog park) we left the pups at home where it was nice and cool.

The show was at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, which happens to be across from a cemetery. While those attending the funeral directly across the street might not have appreciated the show's live band and frequent raffle drawings (we won coffee beans from Starbucks...twice!), we held on to some hope that maybe deceased had been a car or dog enthusiast and would have appreciated our show.

Our truck was looking pretty special until this beauty slipped into the spot next to us. This 50's Cadillac was, in our eyes, easily the best car in the show (yes, we even voted for it!). It helped that the couple who owned the vehicle was so much fun to hang out with. We really enjoyed getting to know them and hearing about the vehicles they have worked on. We felt pretty good about our truck when they told us how much they liked our truck and that they wouldn't change it at all. And we could tell that they meant it! We're starting to learn what this whole car show thing is about. You get to meet some great people, hear some great stories, and come home enjoying your vehicle more than ever before. We also learned that you shouldn't expect to win any prizes at these shows unless you belong to a large car club or have bribed a lot of people to come and vote for you! So many truly awesome cars were overlooked in the awards...including our neighbors'.

This Barracuda was owned by two fun ladies from Flagstaff who made the trip with their two pit bull puppies, Kobe and Kahlua.

This old Ford has a great story. The owner, Judy Smith, was fun to visit with. She has a pottery business and was selling dog bowls.

They literally built this car from the ground up!

The old pictures were great fun to look at!

Proof that people do gather around our truck! Of course, we were in the shade...

This old '53 truck is still used daily as a work truck! Everything on it is original except the seat, which has been re-upholstered.

Today, tomorrow, and yesterday? The "yesterday" is easy...the Cadillac speaks of a more elegant and refined time. The yellow car is "today's" Smart Car. Its owner apparently has a limo company and has shuttled around the King of Nigeria and his suitcase of one hundred dollar bills. Hmm...not sure about that one. As far as "tomorrow" goes...well, that seems to be our motto. You know, as in, "We'll (fix, paint, sand, wash, bug bomb, etc.) that part tomorrow..."

This is the ancestor of John's Chrysler 300. The owner of this classic was very informative. John can now tell you how the car got its name, how subsequent cars in the series were named, what the only two hood ornaments of this vehicle look like, and why there was controversy over the naming of the latest 300C. And all this time he thought it was just a pretty car!

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All in all, it was a great day at the car show! We especially had a blast talking with our neighbors, Sue and Jack White. We're hoping to see them again at some other shows in the fall. The link above will take you to an article about one of their other cars. And we thought THIS one was pretty special...WOW!

Plastic Bottle thing-y checked off the list..among other things

One of our least favorite items under the hood was what appeared to have once been a plastic soda bottle being used as an overflow vessel for the radiator. Sure, it captured the overflow, but anytime we went over a bump or up the driveway, the excess antifreeze would slosh over the edge of the bottle and go everywhere. It always appeared that we had a radiator leak (which, coincidently, we did...) and was not very attractive. Actually, it was downright ugly. John decided to replace the receptacle with an actual radiator overflow tank (the chrome cylinder in the left of the photo). It is now a sealed system that works more efficiently and no longer leaks.

In the process of putting in the new overflow tank, John went to hook up the new lines and snap! The little connector serving to attach the line to the radiator broke off. Not a good thing. (Anyone else feel that there was a little more to the story than we're hearing here?) Another day back in the shop, and the radiator was once again functional (fortunately for John, at no charge!).

This is the place under the hood where the heater box once sat. Since we have removed the heater, we were faced with an empty space and a very large hole. After trying several other methods of covering up the hole, we found the ultimate solution: use a spare Studebaker part, of course! Thanks to GD's hard work in removing the radio delete plate from one of his babies (we were initially going to delete our radio), we had this extra piece that we were still able to put to good use. For the amateurs...it's the square-ish piece with lines on the bottom.

Between the semi-vertical black wire and the little black box (something to do with voltage?) there used to be a 6 inch round hole where the blower motor for the heater once sat. It has been stressing John out for weeks. Literally. How were we going to eliminate the hole on a slanted surface? It took Tracy all of 10 minutes to fabricate a piece of sheet metal for him to attach and paint....Look, Dad, no holes!

Tunes, Trivia, Trophy and Tracy's First Ride!

Today we won our first car show trophy! We won second place in our class at today's show, which was put on by Impala Bob's and the Basha High School Band Boosters. We took this as quite a compliment considering the votes were placed by our fellow car show participants. Since many of these people have shown their cars together in previous shows, they can develop some pretty tight groups that often stick together when it comes to things like this. Considering that about 95% of the vehicles entered in the show have been fully restored, we were expecting mixed feelings about our truck. Instead, we received very positive feedback from everybody and met some really nice people. It seems like everyone out there has had some kind of a run-in (either good or bad!) with a Studebaker.

John receiving the trophy from THE Impala Bob (who knew?).

Here, Tracy tries to decide whether it's unethical to vote for your own car. Any guesses what John told her? ("Come over to the dark side...you're a Smith now...")

Chelsie snapped this picture of us as we left for our car show date day. She and Ramon helped us out by watching the kids. THANK YOU!!!!

Tracy finally gets to go for a ride in the truck!



Here's the Chevy truck that won 1st place. So it's a little shiny...what's the big deal?


After the show, we stopped at Joe's Farm Cafe and had a hot fudge sundae to celebrate!

The ultimate in laziness...driveable coolers! Yes, this is actually a product they had for sale and you had to be at least 18 years old in order to test drive them!

Some of the other cars at the show.

A beautiful green Impala parked behind us.

The kids (and many adults) in the crowd really enjoyed John's shrunken head. One man was excited to share with us that he had one of these growing up and had only just remembered it when he saw ours!

Some of the beautiful Chevys.

An old Indian Scout. This was really cool!

It was nice to have a conversation with and the support from a fellow Studebaker Club member, Dale Saxton. He owns this 25th Anniversary Edition 1988 Avanti. We were fascinated to hear that this vehicle sold for $55,000 in 1988 and was offered with such options as a T.V. and a telephone. It also has a factory-installed 10-disk CD player in the trunk, so it was quite the model of luxury at the time. Awesome car!

This Chevy won Best in Show at another car show last week. It was by far the shiniest vehicle that Tracy has ever seen.

Our neighbor at the show was a gentleman and his 60's Corvette. He was the original owner of the car and we enjoyed hearing him talk about his adventures with his vehicle and the restoration he had done. He also won an award in his class.

This '58 Chevy won Best of Show. It was a beauty!

John trying to keep his feet from getting sunburned (or trying to avoid a bad sandal tan). In retrospect, he should have stayed under there longer. In spite of multiple applications of sunscreen, half of his body is a tad crispy.

These vehicles were owned by a father and son who were also just marvelous to talk to. The father drove his blue car down from Payson and invited us up to a car show there in a few weeks. He shared a "before" picture of his car that made us smile...he's done a lot of work! The red truck was awesome, too, and won an award in its class.

First one to identify this car wins a prize!


The car show was a fundraiser for the Basha High School Band. Here, the jazz band treats us to a performance. The kids were great and very supportive. They even lined the drive and cheered for us as we left the show. What a great feeling!

Proud John shows off all of his hard work! He also looks extra proud after winning the 50's-60's trivia four different times. Who knew the boy possessed such a wealth of knowledge?

MMMM..Maybe Auto Shop Could Have Come In Handy!

Most of the work we've done on the truck lately has been under the hood. While there's still some cleaning left to do (hey, this baby IS 53 years old), things are starting to come together. John installed this new HEI distributor (for those who follow Tracy's way of thinking, it's the red thing) and also added some new plugs ( the gray things) and plug wires (the blue things). The result: something most likely very complex, but in a nutshell, it makes the car sound and run a lot better.

Wow! No more broomstick holding up the hood! Rumor has it John sent it to (insert name of current "favorite" relative here) for their new ride. Instead, we have an actual rod fashioned for this very purpose. We also had to deal with the more emotional side of our truck this week (like all Smiths, it has multiple personalities) when we came out to the garage and discovered a whole pool of Studebaker tears, weeping (more like pouring) out of the radiator. At the point, we had no choice other than to have the radiator repaired (and cry a few tears of our own).

After fighting the losing battle of keeping the old battery charged, we finally bit the bullet and replaced that, as well. Besides, this one's prettier. In a manly way, that is....

What has Tracy been up to while the guys tinker on the engine? Why, she's also been under the hood! Painting, that is. Just about all that black in the background was originally either green, rust, or a combination of the two. It's still a work in progress, and the flash does not do it justice, but we're prepared to open the hood at the next car show!

Sneak Preview

We haven't had much time to post lately, but we've been asked several times to show what's "under the hood." Needless to say, we weren't really proud of what it looked like under there. Now that we're starting to slowly piece things together, we decided to release this unauthorized, unrehearsed, poorly lit photo of what lies beneath....