Meeting at the California Automobile Museum

Our club met at the California Automobile Museum. The inclement weather brought out two Studebakers; our 1954 3R pickup and this power-filled GT Hawk.

2017 Calendar Images

Our Club prints an annual calendar for purchase by members, family, and friends. Here are a few shots from the calendar.

Fair Oaks Fiesta Days - 2014

Below are a few photos from the 2014 Fair Oaks Fiesta Days car show. Another great turnout by the Karel Staple Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club. 

Studebaker 3R Seat Cover

The seat cover for our Studebaker 3R pickup truck arrived! Here's a preview, hastily draped over our kitchen chairs. We ordered the seat cover from LaBaron Bonney, http://www.lebaronbonney.com.

Studebaker Meet-Up in Rancho Cordova, CA

The Karel Staple Chapter of the SDC had a great breakfast meet-up at Brookfield's in Rancho Cordova, CA. Here are a few pictures from the event.

1947 Studebaker Pickup - Old Cars Weekly

"Frye has certainly earned the right to enjoy his truck. After buying the battered machine in 2003, he realized he had so many things to fix that he wound up buying a second Studebaker pickup as a donor truck. From that point, he combed the country tracking down parts and networking with Studebaker enthusiasts to figure out how to put an authentic M-5 back together."

Read the full article here.

New Spectacles - "Doc" Studebaker

In the "just for fun" file. I made some new specs for "Doc" this week. Check them out.

Bill Porter, Designer of Pontiac GTO, on Nature-Inspired Automobile Designs

This NYT article notes Roger Ebert's talk about Studebakers. In thinking about Porter's observation, one could say that Studebaker-Packard were ahead of their time (as usual) with the Packard Hawk nose, the Loewy Coupe grille, etc.

"At the 2009 Detroit auto show, I had a sort of epiphany," Mr. Porter said at the introduction of his presentation. "I saw a whole new kind of forms inspiring today’s designers rather than the speed forms that inspired my generation." He argued that designs today were dominated by forms adopted from nature, like marine animals, leaves, flowers, flames and faces."

The Society of Automotive Historians, whose membership numbers about 900, gather every other year to hear the presentation of papers on topics that have included the history of Cadillac advertising and the importance of two-tone paint schemes.

Robert Ebert, a Studebaker buff and professor emeritus of economics at Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio, delivered a talk on Harold Churchill, president of the Studebaker-Packard Corporation. Mira Wilkins, professor of economics at Florida International University, spoke about the history of foreign investment in the American automobile industry.

Read the full article here.

Replica Of Charles And Ray Eames’s Living Room

"Last fall, LACMA carted a whopping 1,864 objects from the house in Pacific Palisades to the exhibition floor in L.A.’s Mid-Wilshire district. The result is a rare window onto the personal tastes of two of the 20th century’s most influential American taste makers."

View the full article here.

Studebaker Record Player Slip Mats

A friend from afar custom printed these one-of-a-kind record player (LP) slip mats. This type of print-on-demand work is tricky - getting the photo to transfer correctly onto the material - whether that be a t-shirt, metal, wood, paper, etc.

To see more of his work, click here to visit RedBubble.com.

Medals and Memories - Studebaker

Studebaker, all-american. A touching story about WWII ...

"Then, a few days later, they heard Russians were marching up the road. He and Lt. Goman went out to meet them, figuring they were allies. But they did not get a warm welcome.

"Their guns were drawn, and we tried to explain we were Americans. I saw a Studebaker truck, and started yelling, Studebaker! American! Roosevelt!" LeSage remembered.

Finally, comprehension dawns, and everyone calmed down."

As always, thanks to our veterans.

Read the full article and see the video here.

Just Plain Cool: Texaco-Branded 1935 Diamond T Doodlebug

The Just a Car Guy blog has a great entry highlighting the Texaco-Branded 1935 Diamond T Doodlebug.

I bought an ERTL Doodlebug toy bank yesterday at the Sacramento Antique Fair. The banks can also be had on eBay for around $25 or less. Each toy box is individually numbered and the toy is well made.

See the Just a Car Guy blog here.

1953 Studebaker Commander Starliner Coupe

Another great "My Ride" story.

"I bought this ride in the fall of 2010 because I wanted to indulge my lifelong passion for everything automotive and because I (and many observers) consider the Studebaker Commander Starliner to be the most beautiful American car of its era. Originally conceived as a concept car by the design studio of Raymond Loewy, the coupe received so much attention that Studebaker decided to make it a production vehicle."

Read more at SFGate.com. Photo copyright SFGate.com.

Everything for Sale - Even the Studebaker

"Seventy-eight-year-old Leonard Hall chuckles as he relates the saga of the 1950 Studebaker. As the oldest inanimate object on the lot, this car merits special mention. The red-rust four-door sedan has been sitting on the lot of Hall’s 2nd Hand Store in Central El Paso for 25 years. Like a loyal dog, it awaits its owner’s return ..."

Doesn't look like a '50 to me!

Read the full article here.

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.

Father of industrial design?

An interesting article on the SF Examiner website about Raymond Loewy. The article contains pictures of Loewy automobiles that I'd not seen before.

"Raymond Loewy coined the term "industrial designer" in the 1930s. His first car design was an aerodynamic re-style of the fading Hupmobile brand. This brought him to the attention of Studebaker who hired him to redesign their line for the 1939 model year. Loewy's designs had a light, trim, airy look that was years ahead of the thick and doughy style of most contemporary cars."

Read the full article about Raymond Loewy and Studebaker.

CAMBER Cruise 2009 Photographs

The California Automobile Museum's Big Event on the Road (CAMBER) Cruise took place yesterday in Sacramento, CA's, Midtown/Downtown area. I spotted a '55 Studebaker Commander from the Karel Staple Chapter and a Studebaker Hawk that's been hanging around the John Ellis garage on 19th Street. There were many other amazing cars on display - more than 150 in total.

A few pictures are below.

Studebaker Meet: Cedar Rapids, IA

There are Studebakers in the Heartland this week as members of the Studebaker Drivers Club descend on Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Here are a few press mentions about the event:

"It's taken a lot of work," says Chairman Alan Meeker. "We started planning for this four years ago."

"More than 500 Studebakers of every model year and style are registered for the event. And it's not just drawing interest from Iowans. People from across the U.S and six countries are planning to attend. "More of them are going to come out of the woodwork that you didn't know were here. I'm hearing more and more just here locally that are just coming out, just for this purpose," says Studebaker owner Kevin Roberts."

Nice video clip from CGRG TV

Iowa Radio article

The Gazette Online article

Other articles found through Google News.

1927 Studebaker Big Six Custom Brougham

Produced from 1918 - 1927, the Studebaker Big Six Custom Brougham of 1927 had a total of 75 horsepower coming from an inline 6 cylinder engine.

Here's an unrestored Studebaker Big Six Custom Brougham now on display at the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento, CA. More information about the Big Six can be read here.

1963 Studebaker Avanti #9

"In October 1963, Granatelli took several Studebakers to the Bonneville Salt Flats, including an R-3 Avanti (#9) in which he reached a record speed of 170.78 mph (274.84 km/h)." Source: Wikipedia

Here is the car noted above; shown at the California Automobile Museum.