Are the Days of the Classic Car Over?

MSNBC asks if the days of 'the classic car' are over, i.e., are there any cars made today that are worth saving for the future? I wonder if restoration of a modern car will be possible 25 years from now ... considering how much plastic and computer equipment goes into a modern car. Will a NOS Toyota Prius battery pack be available in 25 years? Probably not.

"There are a lot of reasons the classic car culture may fade. While modern versions of muscle cars such as the Camaro and Corvette retain a good deal of their aesthetic appeal, the design concerns of the contemporary carmaker — including government safety regulations regarding crash readiness and a car's aerodynamic profile — can lead to visual similarity across models."

"This is gone," said Beller, 68, sweeping his hand across a parking lot along the cruise's Woodward Avenue route, where 100 other classic cars were lined up. "This is gone forever."

Read the full article on MSNBC.com.

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.

$50 Studebaker Champion Turned into a Collectible

"Pushed against a corner was a Champion Starlight Coupe with a wraparound rear window. “This is the car that Bob Hope made the jokes about, that you couldn’t tell if it was going forward or backward,” he said. “It’s a bullet-nose Starlight Coupe, which is the combination you want. You could only get a car like this in ’50 or ’51."

Mr. Shiller said he found the car on a vacant lot in Amagansett, on the eastern reaches of Long Island, that used to be the Studebaker dealership DiSunno Motors.

“Of course they were no longer in existence,” he said. “And the guy who had it said, ‘Give me 50 bucks.’ So I pulled it out of there for 50 bucks. It wasn’t running but I got it running right away.

“It was a big mistake,” he continued. “When I first started working on it, I would get ticks. I had to actually fumigate the car.”"

Read the full article on the NY Times website.

NY Times Collectible Cars Photo Gallery

There are 30-plus Studebakers on the NY Times Collectible Cars "Share and View" Photo Gallery, including:

1961 Studebaker Hawk
1954 Studebaker Commander
1956 Studebaker President
1962 Studebaker GT Hawk
1953 Studebaker Commander Convertible
1955 Studebaker Speedster

And, of course, our 1950 Studebaker Champion.

Studebaker Commander - New York Times - Collectible Cars Gallery

The New York Times Automobile section online has an amazing collection of reader-supplied photographs of classic cars including the Studebaker Commander.

From the Times: "Through their own words and photos, members share the story of their collectible cars; their intriguing history, the journey of the restoration process and the character that makes each of them one-of-a-kind."

See a convertible Studebaker Commander at NY Times.com.