Showing posts with label car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label car. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Hot Chili And Cool Cars Come To Rocklin, CA - Packard Hawk

"Hot Chili And Cool Cars Come To Rocklin" takes place on Saturday, September 17th. L.C. of the Karel Staple Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club will be showing a rare 1958 Packard Hawk - only one of 100 still in existence - at the event.

See the video at KCRA.com.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Too Cool - Pontiac - Transparent Display Car

Truly a one (or three) of a kind. "RM Auctions will offer a most unusual Pontiac – the transparent display car that GM built for the 1940s World’s Fair."

"After Pontiac showed the Plexiglas-bodied car both in New York City and around the country, it ended up in the Smithsonian, where it remained through the duration of World War II. From there, it went to a couple of Pontiac dealers in Pennsylvania before another Pennsylvanian, Don Barlup, bought it in 1973."

Read the full article.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

A Poem for the Studebaker Avanti

This Studebaker Avanti sales film (video) reads like Shakespeare for the automobile. Love the overhead "jet air controls."

Saturday, October 23, 2010

1934 Bendix - Studebaker National Museum

A one-of-a-kind automobile by the Bendix Corporation. Bendix Woods, home of the orchard of trees that spells "STUDEBAKER" when viewed from the air, was once the Studebaker automobile company car testing ground.






































Monday, June 7, 2010

1969 Avanti II - New York, NY

The NY Times has an excellent audio and pictorial slide show of this 1969 Studebaker Avanti II.

"The car was a 1969 Avanti II. It looked both retro and futuristic, something that might have been driven by Serge Gainsbourg in 1960s Paris, or perhaps by Neo from “The Matrix.”

"It was just love. That's all it was."

See the full article here.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Amphicar?

"... Amphicar, the only civilian amphibious passenger automobile ever mass-produced. There were 3,878 Amphicars built in Germany from 1961 to 1968, and 90 percent of them were exported to the United States."

See the Sacramento Bee article about the Amphicar here.

Photo: LEZLIE STERLING / lsterling@sacbee.com

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Quick Digression - Tucker

From the NY Times:

What’s a Tucker Cost? "Last month Tucker No. 1041 brought $765,000 at an estate sale by the Clars Auction Gallery in Oakland, Calif. It had been owned by Bev Ferreira, who bought it in 1970 for $5,000."

Read the full article and watch the slide show.

Image from BusinessWeek.com.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Studebaker Suicide Knob - Brody Knob - Brodie Knob

I'm not sure that I'll ever use a Brody Knob, also known as a "Suicide Knob" and alternately spelled "Brodie," but they look so damn cool.

A bit of history on Brodie Knobs:

"Brodie Knobs were widely popularized, especially on the West Coast of the U.S., during the 1950s. The knob was used to spin the steering wheel, rapidly in one direction or the other, while accelerating, to cause the tire(s) to spin. Hence, come the terms "lay a brodie" and "Slob the knob". In the 1950s and '60s a person could choose from a large variety of "Brodie Knobs", with every conceivable theme, from "Candy Apple colored", "Product Logos", to "nude women," and everything in between, some automobile dealerships even used them for advertisements. They were very useful during a period of auto manufacturing, when power steering was truly a luxury." Source: Wikipedia

See a selection of Studebaker Brody Suicide Knobs here.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

An Airplane Without Wings

This morning, Jack's Towing stopped by to pick up our 1950 Studebaker Champion, "Doc," and bring him to the shop. A wiring short has Doc out of commission for a few days.

I needed to move Doc from the driveway into the street in order to position him for the tow truck. I unhinged the emergency brake, and with one push from within the driver's seat Doc glided into the street without effort. The manual steering wheel eased with the car's movement. All was silent save the wind and Doc's aching joints.

Doc is an example of all that's right about cars of his day; he is a marvel of engineering and design. He is the manifestation of Loewy's and Exner's imagination. Pop the hood, and he's exposed. Every part is evident.

While parenthood and work are complex, Doc is simple and beautiful and real. Yes, he's a car, but he's our car - and there's only one of him.


Sunday, April 20, 2008

Studebaker Commander - Car













My daughter and I had a great time perusing the classic car collection at the Towe Auto Museum in Sacramento, California.

One mandatory "hit" was the Studebaker Commander.

2200 Front Street
Sacramento, CA 95818-1106
Phone (916) 442-6802
Fax (916) 442-2646

Click here for more information about the Towe Auto Museum.


Monday, March 31, 2008

Studebaker Door Panels and Kick Pads













"Doc" will return from the shop this week with a reconditioned carb and ready to drive. Also, we ordered four door panels and two kick pads from Loga Enterprises. The interior parts should arrive in two to three weeks.

Visit Loga Enterprises for Studebaker parts.


Thursday, February 21, 2008

Replica Radio for the 1950 Studebaker Champion

Quick request: I've located a lot of non-working speaker/radio combos for the 1950 Studebaker Champion, but what I'm looking for is a replica or model radio that is close in appearance to the original Champion radio.

If you have any references, I would appreciate an email at jason [at] jasonmichaels [dot] com.


Bleeding the Brakes

The first "to-do" on the Studebaker Champion was to bleed the brakes. My neighbor recommended the Vacula VAC180051 vacuum brake bleeder and clutch bleeder. The Vacula uses compressed air to create a powerful vacuum brake bleeder that can be used to bleed and flush hydraulic brakes and clutches.

Note: If your brake system is using synthetic/silicon brake fluid, you must continue to use silicon brake fluid. If you use a different type of brake fluid in the lines with the synthetic brake fluid, you'll need to replace the lines and start over; it's one or the other.

See the Vacula brake bleeding tool here.


1950 Studebaker Champion Photographs

Below are a few photographs of our 1950 Studebaker Champion. Additional high-res pictures are located here.

My Dad and I, two car lovers with zero car repair experience, took on "Doc" in December 2007. Named "Doc" by my four year-old daughter [in honor of the Fabulous Hudson Hornet in the Pixar movie, Cars] this '50 Studebaker Champion is a true labor of love. More than just metal and grease, Doc is a place where my Dad and I can talk about his childhood, parenting, and the complexities of life in the '00s.

If you have a Studebaker story, send it to me at jason [at] jasonmichaels [dot] com and I'll publish it on this blog.

"Thank you" to Heidi for sharing this project with 101Cookbooks.com readers.








































































1950 Studebaker Champion









My Dad and I were independently fond of the Studebaker Champion. In December 2007, we bought a 1950 Studebaker Champion from a father/son restorer team in Chico, California.

We started this project with the original Shop Manual and a Studebaker International catalog.

View the Studebaker International website here.