My dad's first car was a 1939 Studebaker Commander sedan he bought brand new for $1,000 CASH from the Ansel Schloss Studebaker dealership in San Francisco, where he lived at the time, as a bright and upcoming young IBM engineer.
He told me the salesman took him out to Ocean Beach in SF in the car and taught him how to drive it.
He was dating my mother at the time, taking the bus. train and ferryboat across the SF bay to Marin County for their dates.
My mom told me she was absolutely floored when he came over to Mill Valley across the (then) new 2 year old Golden Gate bridge
http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2013/05/28/photos-the-golden-gate-bridge/6142/
to pick her up in this "big beautiful new car".
He got special gas ration stickers for it during WWII because they would not let him serve, as the war effort needed his skills at home, he was a customer engineer for IBM on call 24/7 to fix these big new things called "computers" when they broke down anywhere in the SF bay area such as the Army Presidio....
He kept it for many years, as the family car, finally using it only to take to the bus stop to commute to SF from Marin County
Finally it died, in 1959. He was going to sell it for $25 to a 16 year old kid but got mad when he discovered the kid did not have permission from his parents to buy the car. And revoked the sale to the kid.
So he got it running again, but after some time it conked out again.
He gave it away for free to the tow truck driver that came to get it.
Sadly I was only 11 and not quite old enough to drive it or it could have been mine.
It only had 55,000 miles on it!
It had mohair seats and wood on the dashboard.
My mom used to drive it to the beach with my brother, me, and our dog Brownie, a cocker spaniel/irish setter mix..
******
What memories your project evokes, Tom,
All the best with this project. If I ever can get out your way, I would love to get a ride in it. (Her? He? Does it have a name?).