1951 Studebaker Commander Advertisement - Sacramento

"Come In and See this Eight." Here's another amazing Studebaker ad from our friends at Eichlerific.

Entry Level Collectibles - Studebaker Lark

An interesting article about the automobile collectors market. Great to see the Studebaker Lark noted among the group of desired vehicles.

"What of the Pabst Blue Ribbon end of the market, the domain of younger and less liquid collectors? The auctions taking place this week in the Phoenix area may provide clues to the health of this vital part of the vintage-car hobby.

Of the major auction houses holding sales, Silver Auctions of Spokane, Wash., is the most firmly identified with the entry-level market. Held in Fort McDowell, about a half hour northeast of Phoenix, it’s the North African souk of auctions, where one can find cars like a clean Corvair or an obscure British roadster like a Jensen-Healey.

“At the height of the market, the entry point for a car you’d be proud to take to a local show was about $15,000,” said Mitch Silver, the founder of Silver Auctions. “Now, you can find quality cars in the $7,000 to $8,000 range. Prices haven’t been much lower in the last 10 years.”

Smithsonian Exhibit - Studebaker

"The Smithsonian Museum of of American History's exhibit of "America on the Move" features methods of transportation in America through the years. A 1942 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a 1939 Ford street roadster, followed by a 1941 Indian motorscyle and a 1950 Studebaker Champion Starlight Coupe are featured."

Read the full article and see pics at the Salisbury Post website.

Photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post

1950 Studebaker Champion at the California Automobile Museum

Our club (by membership), the Karel Staple Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club, asked us to exhibit our 1950 Studebaker Champion at the California Automobile Museum through February 3rd. What an honor!

Here's a link to our car on the SDC Forum.

Learn more about the California Automobile Museum.

Photo by Jon Stalnaker.

Quick Digression: 1948 Jaguar Mark V

This beauty was parked outside of an athletic facility near my home. I was amazed to see a mint Jaguar Mark V in such a tight and unfriendly parking area.

"The car was launched at the 1948 London Motor Show at the same time as the XK120 with which it shared the stand. However, the Mark V vastly outsold the XK120 by roughly 5,000 cars per year as compared to 2,000 cars per year for the XK120."

Read more about the 1948 Jaguar Mark V at Wikipedia.

1953 Studebaker “Kart Hauler” - $65,500

This custom Studebaker made quite the splash in late 2009 and early 2010, winning many car show titles. It's a beautifully treated open-bed resto-mod by Dick Steinkamp - now owned by another Studebaker Drivers Club forum member - and available to you for $65,500.

View the 1953 Studebaker Kart Hauler on Hemmings.com.

Read the thread about this car on the SDC Forum.

A Poem for the Studebaker Avanti

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

Quick digression: 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce

A former professor of mine just finished a full rotisserie restoration of a 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce. The car is beautiful and currently rides the roads of the Italian countryside. Photo below.

Read more about the 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce here.

Studebaker - The Complete History

I received a great birthday present: Patrick Foster's "Studebaker: The Complete History." I'm enjoying the approachable writing style, great photos, quality paper stock, and hardback presentation.

From the author's website:

"Rife with triumph and tragedy, brilliant moves and boneheaded decisions, Studebaker's decades of building cars makes for a tempestuous saga featuring some of the more interesting characters in the twentieth-century business world. But, above all, the story features cars that, for countless Americans, truly defined driving: not just the Champion, which rocketed the company back to the top in 1939, or the 1950s Raymond Lowey-designed Starliner, deemed a "work of art" by the Museum of Modern Art, but also the Hawks and Larks that so many drivers loved."

See "Inside the Book" at Amazon.com.

View the author's website.