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.

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

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.

Quick Digression - Marquis DeSoto - Custom Cars

The story of a custom car and a one-of-a-kind guy. Not a Studebaker, but full of that same spirit and love of classic cars.

“I’ve never taken an art class,” Mr. Heller said. “I have a B.A. in psychology. I never realized this is what I wanted to do.”

He had held down an office job in San Francisco and “wore a suit and tie” before being laid off. In 1971 he moved to Woodstock, where his family had a house. Two years later, he opened Fabulous Furniture in nearby Boiceville."

Read the full article on the NY Times website.

Packard - When the Cars Go Away

There's an interesting article in The New York Times about the demise of Packard and its barren headquarters in Michigan.

"In its day, when Detroit was the Silicon Valley of the early 20th century, the Packard complex was a center for innovation. In 1905, the architect Albert Kahn designed Building No. 10 with reinforced steel concrete, creating an airy, spacious workspace. Such construction revolutionized the building of factories around the world.

The demise of Packard took place as the city’s industrial base was beginning to unravel. Other notable firms that folded or merged in that era included the Hudson Motor Car Company, Murray Body, Motor Products and Detroit Stove Works. By the end of the 1950s, unemployment had soared, white flight was under way and Detroit’s downward spiral had begun.

Misery has rarely been mentioned as a reason to pass an auto industry bailout. But walk through the Packard plant on a December day and you will know that once a car company disappears, in southeast Michigan at least, nothing comes along to take its place."

See the full article on NY Times.com.

Studebaker for the Postwar Generation

"Auto design in the immediate postwar era was strongly influenced by the streamlined shapes of fighter planes and bombers. Studebaker pointed the way with design cues like bullet-nose front ends (a shape meant to suggest aircraft engine housings), gun-sight hood ornaments and the wraparound rear windows of the 1947-52 Starlight coupe. The windows, along with other details, make the car’s front and rear ends look so similar that it was often called the “coming or going Studebaker.”

See the full article on the NY Times website.

Studebaker Brochures

"Mr. Hayes, a retired travel agent, says his collection of automobile pamphlets now numbers 13,000. They fill six cabinets in his apartment, and a few boxes under his bed. He says his collection is worth thousands of dollars, but that is not why he is a collector."

See Steve Hayes' Studebaker car brochure collection.

Read the NY Times article about Steve Hayes and his amazing car brochure and advertisement collection. (log-in required; free)

1958 Packard Hawk - Studebaker Hawk - $74,000

From the NY Times Automobile section:

"The Packards of 1958 were simply Studebakers dolled up with some horribly contrived styling touches. In the case of the Hawk, the pretty Studebaker grille was replaced by a low, wide fiberglass intake that made the front end look like a catfish. The rear deck had an embossed fake spare tire, and the pièce de résistance was a padded leather armrest on the outside of the door, exposed to the elements."

And I ask, "Isn't being a Studebaker remarkable enough?" ;)

See the full article about the 1958 Packard Hawk at NY Times.com.

New York Times Collectible Cars

We made it big time. Doc was accepted into the Collectible Cars section of the New York Times website. Perhaps everyone's car gets accepted, we don't know, but the fact is that our famed Studebaker Champion lives on NYTimes.com.

See our Studebaker Champion on the New York Times website.

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.