Studebaker meet friday and saturday - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #1 05-05-2013, 10:10 PM

I went up to South Bend Friday to attend a big swap meet, car show and so forth Friday, spent the night at my sisters place and went back Saturday. Good fun. Got some good stuff including a 1939 license plate and a lovely large book on Industrial design by Raymond Loewy.

There was a fellow in the flea market portion who had a nice big vise for sale for $75. I asked him if he would take $50 and he said he'd flip with me, if he won I paid $100 and if I won I'd pay $50. I said no thanks on that. Then he got very animated and said if I wanted to (ethnic slur) him down it was fair for him to (ethnic slur) me up. Then he started going on some more and I just started backing away. (WTF)....its a flea market man!

His vise was very nice. I would have paid the $75.

The next time I walked by that area I thought about offering him $55 but decided not to aggravate him any more.

Nobody else got offended at offers.

One other person did decline to budge on their price but did so politely.

And I did have one fellow, who must have needed a sale for the day, lower his price before I even asked him to. I had asked him how much for these gauges and was thinking of an offer when he offered them to me at much less than I would have thought to offer.

It was a great time and although it threatened both days to rain in the end it sprinkled just a little.

Oh yes, I think the highlight was a seminar on Friday night of about eight guys involved in collecting and caring for significant Avanti's talk about running 224 mph with Studebaker powered Avanti's. they also talked about the Granatelli assault on Bonneville back in 1962 or 3 with a collection of Avantis and various other Studebakers. I believe they set 29 new records.

There was a film shown of the 200 MPH pass in an AVanti in 1985 or so. The salt was very slippery and the driver was all over the course near the end of his run when the back end of the car got light and it started fishtailing. The courageous fellow just kept his foot down and corrected with steering as if he were driving on snow...only letting up after he passed the timed mile.

Great stuff!

TheDon · #2 05-05-2013, 11:26 PM

We're a visual bunch, we like pictures.

What was the make of the vise?

Air&Road · #3 05-05-2013, 11:50 PM

Probably a Wilton if it was that nice.

What was the ethnic slur? That term used to be as common as anything with no harm meant. Today's PC gets a little too sensitive sometimes. I don't use that term any more, but I don't usually hear any malicious intent by most of the old timers that still use it.

I remember reading quite a lot about the a avanti bonneville runs in the early sixties. The a anti was a well respected performance effort at the time.

t walgamuth · #4 05-06-2013, 06:44 AM

Yeah, I remember back in the day reading about them in real time....what I remember was Granatelli ran an Avanti 177 mph at Bonneville. They were represented as sort of stock but the films show that the cars were fairly extensively modified, though still pretty stock overall.

t walgamuth · #5 05-06-2013, 06:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Air&Road

Probably a Wilton if it was that nice.

What was the ethnic slur? That term used to be as common as anything with no harm meant. Today's PC gets a little too sensitive sometimes. I don't use that term any more, but I don't usually hear any malicious intent by most of the old timers that still use it.

I remember reading quite a lot about the a anti bonneville runs in the early sixties. The a anti was a well respected performance effort at the time.

I grew up five miles from the site of the meet and everybody I knew used the ethnic slur for the expression of negotiating. I learned it long before I ever met anybody of that ethnicity. I used it too until one day I was in the airport in Brussels waiting for a plane to come home in 1970 and was telling a story to a fellow from New York and used it. He gave me a funny look and I asked him if he was of that ethnicity and he said yes. I said Sorry it was only a phrase and he said ok. It really put a damper on a great conversation though and I have never used the term since.

Air&Road · #6 05-06-2013, 07:51 AM

I had a similar experience, but it was in the late eighties when I did a lot of systems work all over. It was a customer that gave me a similar response. He was not Jewish, but it stood out that he was very surprised to here the term.

Since there were very few Jewish people in Texas when I was a kid, we used the term without meaning anything by it, but also no one, at least seemingly, to be offended by it, so it was just a term.

There were many terms when I was a kid that meant no harm, but would absolutely shock people today. It was just what we called certain things with no thought of it being offensive. Things like slingshots, a certain type of fireworks, a certain popular candy and certain snack nut.

sloride · #7 05-06-2013, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Air&Road

Probably a Wilton if it was that nice.

What was the ethnic slur? That term used to be as common as anything with no harm meant. Today's PC gets a little too sensitive sometimes. I don't use that term any more, but I don't usually hear any malicious intent by most of the old timers that still use it.

I remember reading quite a lot about the a avanti bonneville runs in the early sixties. The a anti was a well respected performance effort at the time.

It can't even sound close or your in trouble. A while back I was discussing a negotiating session for some storage space and I said I got a better price by having "chewed them down" and was called insensitive, which I am by the way but not that time in particular.

TheDon · #8 05-06-2013, 08:07 AM

So the vise brans was apparently not remembered...

t walgamuth · #9 05-06-2013, 08:14 AM

Didn't see a bran....nor a brand.

Air&Road · #10 05-06-2013, 08:22 AM

If it was a Wilton, it would have been hard to miss the brand cast into the side of it.

If it WAS a Wilton and a large one, in good shape, $100 might have been a bargain.

t walgamuth · #11 05-06-2013, 09:39 AM

It looked like a good one, but this fellow was so nasty I just forgot about it.

It was red with a swivel base. My reluctance was based partly on the task of carrying it to my car. It must have weighed 50#.

Air&Road · #12 05-06-2013, 09:49 AM

I went many years without going to a gunshow, but for various reasons have been to a few of them recently. I have been carrying guns for sale or trade when I go.

Once they learn that it is for sale, more of them than not, are total jerks when they start trying to get it away from you for nothing.

Mölyapina · #13 05-06-2013, 09:49 AM

I like the recent change to the end of your signature... that Studebaker thread is one have to read through.

I've always loved the Land Cruiser:

I once saw one of these in person -- it was at a large meet in our area. Asking price: $8000.

t walgamuth · #14 05-06-2013, 10:15 AM

We had a 51 two door sedan, very similar to the black land cruiser above. The land cruiser has a longer wheelbase and nicer trim but is very similar to ours. Ours was a v8 with stick and overdrive. Dad added a dual exhaust to it and he reported to me that it increased the top speed by 3 mph.

Mölyapina · #15 05-06-2013, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

We had a 51 two door sedan, very similar to the black land cruiser above. The land cruiser has a longer wheelbase and nicer trim but is very similar to ours. Ours was a v8 with stick and overdrive. Dad added a dual exhaust to it and he reported to me that it increased the top speed by 3 mph.

That sounds nice... what did your dad bump the speed up to?