Studebaker Showroom

I found this amazing Studebaker showroom picture on Shorpy.com. Check out the picture below and visit Shorpy for the 8" x 10". It looks like there are a few '51s on the showroom floor.

Stunning: 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air Vs. 2009 Chevrolet Malibu

The video speaks for itself.

SASCO Era Ends - Studebaker Auto Parts Treasure Trove

"More than one million Studebaker parts hit the auction block Tuesday as the assets of Studebaker Autoparts Sales Corporation, or SASCO, were bought out by South Bend based Teacher's Credit Union."

"Tuesday's sale marked the end of an era in South Bend, as TCU became the sole bidder on what South Bend city leaders described as more than a million dollars in SASCO assets. SASCO moved into the former Studebaker Engineering Building 92 nearly a decade ago, after many years of sales on the other side of Sample Street."

Read the full story here.

6 Rare Packard Design Concept Cars on Display

"Six rare Packard design studies from the private collection of Ralph Marano here are headed for the Fairfield County Concours d’Élégance in Westport, Conn., on Sunday. There they will be joined by another car from the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Ind., and for the first time, examples of all seven postwar concept cars commissioned by Packard will be together in one place."

Read the full article on the New York Times website.

Photo © New York Times

Studebaker Champion Overheating

You've got to have a passion for cars in order to own a 59 year-old automobile, because when things break, and they will ...

you might as well rip out your heart, stomp on it a few times, and stick it back in your chest haphazardly. Then, withdraw thousands of dollars from the bank and flush them down the toilet. But ...

when your classic car is repaired - and purrs - you suddenly forget about the heartache, the money, and the frustration. Your heart beats back to life and your brain falls in love all over again with the hulking mishmash of parts and toxic fluids.

Today, my heart is still on the floor. My Stude is a pint low and in need of a fluorescent green transfusion. There's a wound on the radiator that needs cauterizing and a quadruple bypass in the repair plan. I can tell you what's not the cause of the escalating heat issue:

- Thermostat (replaced)
- Rust in the engine block
- Water pump impeller (pump OK)
- Radiator cap (right size)
- Gas in the crankcase (I pray not)

Yes, it's just a car, but it's my Studebaker. Until next drive.

1963 – 64 Studebaker Avanti

Here's a fun feature on CarDomain.com re: whether or not the Avanti belongs in the "muscle car parking lot."

"Key features include a long hood and short deck, popularized by the Ford Mustang: grill-less front end, which was popularized a decade later with other performance oriented cars, a glass fastback rear, picked up for the Plymouth Barracuda, and other vehicles, as well as other styling touches, too numerous to mention here. Let's just say that when the Avanti was introduced, it looked like nothing else on the market. But is it a muscle car, and does it deserve a place in the parking lot?"

Read the full article here.