Leonard Shepherd by his '52 Studebaker Commander

The amount of knowledge possessed by people in the Studebaker world always amazes us. We have never met Leonard Shepherd but have been have been in awe his collection of print ads, photos, memorabilia and all-around knowledge of Studebakers. If we ever have a chance ever to meet Leonard in person we think the first thing we would want to ask him is where he keeps all this stuff? And how does he find it so quickly when he needs to refer to it? Follow the link below to see Leonard's web site and see a sample of his collection.

http://leonardshepherd.com/index.html
Photo from the Central Virginia Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club.
http://centralvirginiachapter.org/index.html

Studebaker Pic Of The Moment #1

We thought we would add some new content in the form of a Studebaker picture of the moment. It will usually be of a Studebaker that we know nothing about, including the owner. That said, we will always try to give the website where we located it. If this Studebaker or any others that we post here belongs to you or somebody you know, just let us know and we will give you credit. That being said, let's get started.

Studebaker Special. This was one of the actual Indy 500 race cars in 1932. This is one of GD's dream cars to pull behind his Studebaker truck. We think that he wants it a bit more rustic looking, though.

More info about it can be found at http://www.vaultcars.com/VintageRace05/MontereyHistoricRaces.htm.

Thank You, Scott and Barbara Grainger!

Today, John and the truck went to the November SDC meeting hosted by Scott and Barbara Grainger. Scott was a very good host, including giving John a personal tour of his garage and showing the progress of his truck (Toto). John came home wondering how he could get a lift for our two car, single story garage. Tracy's not sure where that came from, but suspects the visit to the Grainger Garage might have a bit to do with it.

A fun thing that occurred at the meeting was "Slow Drags." Since John had never heard of such a thing, he called his Dad to find out what they were. His Dad had all sorts of explanations from funny cigarettes to really bad cross dressers, so John didn't know what to expect. Luckily, all it was about was seeing who could go the slowest without touching their brakes and/or stalling their car.

Sorry, John gets artsy at times. His site, his right! :)

This car also inspired John to be artsy. Give him a camera and he thinks he can become the Ansel Adams of the Studebaker World.

Oh! My, my! Not one, but two Wagonaires. We have this bug, but not this year (thank you, G.W.B.)

This truck has a 10.5 foot long bed (hot tub, anybody?) and it can be yours for 25k!

Artsy shot again

Tracy's favorite President, only she would rather it have leopard print seats and head liner (That's my girl- a little on the tacky side!)

Under the hood of a beautiful Daytona....the rest will follow.

Artsy pic once again.

Who says four doors can't be cool? We'd take this one any day.

This GT was sitting on the trailer like the queen of the ball.

John's favorite Wagonaire once again.

This truck has a new Corvette engine thanks to the owner's neighbor who crashed the car it was in before.

It's red, it's a convertible..this car could be on the next cover of Turning Wheels! This car was just gorgeous.

Shattered Hopes

After taking the truck out for a spin, John noticed that the tail light lens was broken yet again! We are beginning to think that this truck does not care for the new look we gave it and are considering going back to the plastic one (not so fast). We have to be doing something wrong here. We first thought that we forgot the protective cork gasket (but it was there). Then it came to mind that maybe it was just made poorly, or as Tracy commented, "Maybe John tightened it down too tightly." Well, nevertheless, John got back on eBay and ordered a new lens. After that, Tracy got back on eBay and ordered two spares....."Just in case they were made poorly."

So, do you want to sell it?

Saturday night, John took the truck down to the local cruise night in east Mesa. This is a good place to go because any place you park is a good spot. It's also not as cliquish as maybe some would consider the Pavilions to be. Anyway, John was talking on the phone when a couple approached him and started talking about the truck. After awhile they expressed an interest in buying it. Without thinking about it, John said, "No, it's not for sale. It means too much to my wife and family." They teased John that he didn't even call her and ask her if she would be interested in selling it. After we got home (the kids and Tracy met him there), we laughed about it because we didn't even ask them how much they would be willing to pay! At this point, it would be like selling a member of the family. Since we didn't get much for John's Dad when we sold him to a neighbor a few years back, we just decided that it was BEST WE DIDN'T KNOW!

Well, This Is A Lot Harder Than It Looks

John sat down to try to impose a photo of the truck onto this old Studebaker garage picture, thinking that anybody could do it. Well, yes, anybody can do it with a little patience and two stiff drinks and with the help of Tracy (and give or take two hours of swearing at the computer.) Not bad for our first try. We know the truck doesn't match the time period that the photo was taken, but we like to think it's artistic license. Hmmm....maybe we need to get out more......... (We're starting to wonder what it would look like in the JFK motorcade...The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade....On the track at Daytona....)

Got Ink?

I guess getting pin striping is a little like getting a tattoo. It's mildly addictive! Ever since we had Joel Nelson do the pin striping on the inside roof of the cab and inside our door panels, John's been looking for another "bare spot" for him to tackle. Actually, as awesome as the pin striping has been, it's in a place where people seldom look, so we were looking for a little more detail that would draw everyone's eyes into and around the cab. This new section does the trick!

John has been toying with the idea of adding a logo to the back window, and since Tracy was a little afraid that was going to be added to her list next (the logos on the door were challenging enough), we had Joel work on that, as well.

Although John's initial choice was "You #2 is our #1 business," Tracy was more comfortable with this neutral choice:

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can also see (in the bottom right corner) that this truck is "Unit no. 3." John says this is his tribute to Tracy (since she's his 3rd wife!) That would explain the saying in the lower left corner: "Driver carries no cash."

Joel Nelson has once again done an awesome job for us and we love the new additions to our truck! We can cross another item off of our list. Now, if only Santa reads this blog...

A Clean Slate.

There's nothing that feels better than a clean garage! After countless weekends of being the stage for the truck's re-wiring saga, the garage was in a pretty sad state. Tools, metal filings, and spare wire tidbits found their way into nooks and crannies unimaginable. It was time to take charge! With a little surprise thunderstorm providing some background music as we re-organized (hey, rain is gold in Arizona!), it was hard to get upset about the few leaves and twigs that blew back in.

While we were at it, we updated our "To do" list. Hmm...think Santa will see our subtle hints?