The Studebaker on the slab. - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #1 01-01-2014, 06:06 AM

About 20 years ago, near my house in Lafayette Indiana I spotted the unmistakable form of a 53/54 Studebaker Loewy coupe sitting on a slab behind a local business with a tattered windblown tarp over it, secured with clothes line. The first 50 or a hundred times I drove by it I said "I should try to buy that car", but did nothing.

I had been born in South Bend Memorial the last month in 1948. My dad worked at Studeys along with my maternal grandfather and one of my mom's brothers. I remembered fondly the 53 starliner v8 that dad drove when I was in grade school. I always regarded it as the best looking car ever built in the US and wanted one for myself.

One sunny early spring day I made inquiries about it and found that It belonged to an older local gentleman who was a very successful business man. He had bought the building as an investment and was storing the car behind it.

I contacted him and talked to him about the car.

No he was not interested in selling it.

It had been his car as a young man in Walkerton Indiana. It had about 135,000 miles on it and was a champion but he had replaced the thrifty flathead six with a big six from the 50 and earlier Commander cars. It had a three speed with overdrive, a floor shifter and still wore its original roll and tuck white vinyl interior. It was complete and pretty rust free despite a decade and more sitting outside. The exterior was off white. The tires were flat so it looked like a Bonneville record car sitting hunkered down near the ground.

For the next three years I courted the gentleman, sending him notes, Christmas cards etc. a few times a year always gently asking him if he wouldn't like to see his old car up and driving again. One day he called and said he decided he would never get around to restoring it so I could buy it. We agreed on a price and I bought it.

I was much younger then and had small children and much more car ambition than I had ability to follow through.

I put the car in the unfinished basement garage at my house. I know, you are asking yourself what the heck a basement garage is. At my house I built a semi detached carriage house with living quarters above the main garage. When we began construction, once we cleared the scrub trees and underbrush we found the hill where it needed to sit fell off dramatically and would require a full story of fill under the main garage. I knew from my work that a story of fill was equal to building a reinforced concrete floor and creating another level of garage under the main one, so that is what we did. But at the time I did not have the money to finish it off so it had no garage doors and no floor.

So I put the lovely Loewy inside the basement garage and began assessing its condition. The motor was stuck. I removed the spark plugs and filled each cylinder to the top with MMO and put a battery in it. Every few days I would go out and bump the starter a few times until one day it turned over.

Life intervened but the Studebaker filled my spare moment daydreams. I wanted to put in a (little Dodge) Red Ram hemi and build a nice driver from it. My long time friend Rick Moon cursed me for thinking of putting in anything except a Studebaker engine in it but I wanted the Hemi. I bought Dana 44 limited slip From Tom Karkewicz and a convertible x member to take the torque of the Hemi, but still had not found a Hemi. Finally I located one nearby in a small town which was owned by an older gentleman who had it in his shed... but before I could pry it from his loving hands it got stolen.

One day I went down to look at the low slung coupe and realized the storage conditions were damp enough that mold was growing in the car. Not really being in a position to finish my garage at that point I decided to sell the coupe instead of allowing it to become dilapidated. I advertised it and by and by a local fireman who was a gearhead bought it with the intention of making a Bonneville racer of it.

A year or so later I was talking to my buddy Rick Moon and discovered his teenage son Jesse had bought it from the fireman and was fettling it to drive. He did so and still owns the car, it having been his daily driver in high school and for some years when he was in the Navy. He now has a modern car which he drives daily but he still keeps the lovely Loewy coupe in driving condition. It still wears its original paint and interior.

The attached pictures are of a different car same year same model. The left picture is of a car the same color, but with the wrong hubcaps. The right picture has the correct 53 wheelcovers which are my favorite wheelcover of all time too.

Oh yes, the left coupe? That is ivory, the color Raymond Loewy painted his personal 53 Starliner driver.

suginami · #2 01-01-2014, 01:21 PM

Thanks for sharing.

P.C. · #3 01-01-2014, 01:29 PM

Such a graceful vehicle. That it came from an era in which the average sedan looked like a chrome-festooned breadbox is almost amazing.

w123fanman · #4 01-01-2014, 11:24 PM

In my opinion, the Studebaker Starliner was one of the best looking cars ever produced. A man at my church owns one with a "homemade hemi" as he calls it. He bought it out of a field then cleaned it up but did not repaint it so it it has a beautiful patina. The car is a street legal hot rod. He took it to a mile event, not sure which one, may have been the Texas Mile, and posted a speed in excess of 200mph

Skid Row Joe · #5 01-02-2014, 12:52 AM

When my Dad was shopping for his first Mercedes-Benz diesel, in the mid-1960s I was with him when he stopped at Morton Motors in downtown Omaha, NE to enquire about the machines from old man Morton. He was the only Studebaker dealer I recall as a child in Omaha. He was the only MB dealer for decades as well. The Studebaker for whatever reasons were not very plentiful on the streets, about the same as the Mercedes-Benz sightings in the 1950s - 1960s in Omaha. Very few people owned new Mercedes-Benz' at the time. There were perhaps more Porsches in our very old subdivision section of Omaha dating back to homes built on acreage in the 1930s- 1940s. The Porsches and Jaguars were a special sight for me to see.

cmac2012 · #6 01-02-2014, 03:03 AM

One of my buddies in New Mexico had one of these when he was 17 - this in '67. Not as sexy as the Loewy coupes but cool in a funky way.

t walgamuth · #7 01-02-2014, 07:03 AM

The bulletnoses are gaining popularity. Studebakers are interesting and very lightweight as they were always built with economy in mind so with a modern motor they are rocketships! The one in your picture is hampered by running the wrong wheels and tires making it resemble a skateboard. Nice body though!

Txjake · #8 01-02-2014, 08:53 AM

Tom, here's your second chance: 53 studebaker project coupe

'53 model. If you want to buy it, I can keep it at my place until you come and get it. Asking $1600.00

"this a pretty good old car. 53 champion coupe aka Bonneville salt flat preferred car. build it as a look alike salt flat car, hot rod street rod cruiser it is original except for a 283 chevy eng and three speed. it has been sitting in it for years. rolls good, needs floors repaired and trunk floor, but rockers are solid most of the glass is in it and the interior is in it. needs one grille surround. has the front valance inside of it. 405 two five 0-5947"

t walgamuth · #9 01-02-2014, 09:36 AM

Ha ha! That one looks pretty much just like the one in the story did but a lot further gone!

Txjake · #10 01-02-2014, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

Ha ha! That one looks pretty much just like the one in the story did but a lot further gone!

it's def gonna need a lot of work. I thought about buying it, as I have always loved these cars, had a 1/24 scale model of one wiith a dual blown engine when I was a teen. I am going to put the MB 180 on the road this year, and I have to focus on one car at a time. Offer seriously stands, if anyone wants it, I will hold it at my house until they can come get it.

elchivito · #11 01-02-2014, 11:44 AM

This one's a little ghetto for my taste, but still nicely done.

1953 Studebaker Champion A CLASSIC CAR!

t walgamuth · #12 01-02-2014, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elchivito

This one's a little ghetto for my taste, but still nicely done.

1953 Studebaker Champion A CLASSIC CAR!

That's not too bad, I'd lose the wire wheels and the big backup lights though....and the velour interior.

barry12345 · #13 11-26-2015, 11:06 AM

On Tom's posting of the two coupes. Nicest paint combination I have ever seen on one of those coupes.

This early fall there were a couple of either totally restored or very pristine Studebaker lark originals passing through town. I had stopped at a mall to get something for the wife no doubt when they also pulled in.

Other than an unrestored 39 sedan out every summer we seldom see any Studebaker products locally. The two larks where a surprise.

Unfortunatly I did not look at their license plates to see where they where from.

My best childhood friend at the time had a 54 in their family. The factory had raised the hood line a little I believe. Still I also liked it.

t walgamuth · #14 11-26-2015, 11:56 AM

The 53s and 54s were identical except for minor details. There was in addition to the low coupes I prefer there was a more upright sedan version which has very similar trim details.

kerry · #15 11-26-2015, 12:26 PM

I often drive the back roads of Colorado's Eastern Plains. Somewhere out there, in one of the previously living towns, is a fenced yard behind an abandoned building filled with old Studebakers. I think of you every time I drive by it.