Sunday, February 22, 2009

Put A Lid On It!

John was talking to a Studebaker friend of ours last week and something he said stuck with him a little. The friend said, "The easiest way to make a car not look like a piece of junk is to put the headlights back on it and put a set of hubcaps on it." Now, first of all, our truck was not the topic of conversation at the time, nor do we consider it a piece of junk. Neverthless, after a few days of thinking about this (who are we kidding, he talked about it in his sleep) John made the call to see how much these new pieces of the truck puzzle would cost him. Well, that started a whole other set of converstions with the pit crew in his head before he decided to purchase them (Why so much mental discussion? Let's just say that if we need to make next month's house payment, we could sell the hubcaps and get close! Well, maybe they weren't QUITE that bad, but they certainly were more than the used ones at the flea market). As seen here, the new polished stainless steel hubcaps give a little more dignified look to our beautiful truck. Now if we could only get John to stop checking them to see if they are loose when he wakes up, at lunch and before bed!



Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Who is this person and what has she done with my wife?

As we searched the internet looking for Tracy's new Studebaker love connection, I pointed out this pretty little '65 to Tracy, who responded with, "Um, that's not a '65....that would be a '56." This by itself would be pretty funny if she didn't already know more about years and trim levels than I would ever care to know. You'd think the car lot would do a little more research prior to selling the car.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Based on these photos, which car would you choose?

We are taking an informal poll...please take a minute to answer the poll on the side bar. We also welcome comments at the bottom of the post. We'll be posting more details on these cars after the poll closes. (P.S. We did not purchase any of these cars, but can provide information for each.)

'63 Lark hardtop, $2800

'56 Champion 2-door sedanet, $3500

'57 Commander Provincial Wagon, $4000


How Long Do You Think I Have?


With the departure of Tracy's 1960 Lark (Karl) there seems to be a large amount of space left in the garage. It's wonderful...but it seems that just as fast as we could clean it up, a certain Space Filler Monster seems to find a use for it. I think it is part of the human nature that if there is an empty space that something needs to go there (and one does not rest until that "something" is found!). Do you think it would be too much to ask if we could find another location for the kids' bikes? The answer to that question was answered by Thayer (my son) when he said, "Look at the space! Daddy, now my bike can be parked next to your Studebaker!" How can you say no to that?

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Who Say you Can't Get Anything For Free?

Today, John needed a "Pickle Fork," aka a tie rod removal device (for those who are still lost, it helps take off the rods that turn the tires as you turn your steering wheel). We needed this tool so John could keep rolling on the Lark oil pan removal project (we're going on the fourth day here, but don't bring it up...very bad subject!). Of course, John originally asked dear old Dad what to use to take off the tie rods. His answer was, "You need a pickle fork of course!" Now, John's dad has sent John on many bogus adventure in his day. Take, for example, the job in Salt Lake that he travelled to on his dad's advice, only to discover when he arrived that there was no job. Then there was that lunch he made for him to take to work....only later did John discover an octopus sandwich in his lunch pail! So, John has reasons to doubt the wise chap. Last thing he wanted to do was to roll into Sears asking for a pickle fork and have the sales person lead him to the kitchen department. Fortunately for John, Chuck Collins from our local Studebaker Chapter called to help John get over his fear of the task of removing the oil pan and happened to use the same magic term! Well, John's friend Sammy told him that Checker had a program where he could rent a tool kit for free. All you have to do is leave them a deposit of $27.00 and return the kit when you are done to get your money back. Now, we will not get into Sammy's history of misleading John, but let's just say that there was reason to be cautious about this whole scenario, too. Sure enough, though, when John went to Checker that was exactly the deal that they offer. The moral of this story is: if you are in a pickle and need a fork, just go to Checker. (That and dear old Dad might actually know what he's talking about...but, shh! Don't spread that one around...)

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Move Over Plum Crazy -Meet Moby Grape!

As some of you know Tracy and John try to participate in "Crazy" Monday Night Studebaker Chat. If you're interested in joining in, you can visit the following link after 6:00 PM Pacific time on Monday nights: http://1962gthawk.homestead.com/chat.html . With a few different beverages under our belts, we usually can talk about most anything.

Somehow...don't ask us how...we ended up on the subject of purple Studebakers. Craig Parslow shared some pictures of his '66 Cruiser, "Moby Grape," with us. This picture shows just how purple a purple Studebaker can be.

In case you are wondering whether the purple was a custom color, it was not! This is the touch-up kit from Studebaker that Craig found for this color.

Here is the original build sheet for the car, showing that it originally came in plum with gold cloth interior. No need to pimp this ride! It's great to know that our Monday night hobby can be educational as well as entertaining. Thanks for sharing, Craig! Can't wait to see those matching purple Converse!