I was nine years old when my father gave me a rusty old 1962 Lark to drive around in the field beside our house. Until then I had never heard the name Studebaker, but I was hooked.
Looking back now it wasn’t too pretty… it was a four door sedan that was originally blue but later painted a deep chocolate brown. There was another shade of brown delicately applied around the various holes in the body ( I suppose most people would call this rust). The upholstery, which was still blue, was full of rips and holes, obviously an ingenious attempt at air conditioned seats, (Studebaker was far ahead of their time after all). Even though it only a six cylinder engine and an automatic tranny it was apparently built for performance as it came with racing slicks, Or they could have just been bald… The views of a nine year old with his first car can be interpreted in different ways.
I spent a lot of time going around in circles. The Lark lasted me two years then we transplanted the engine into another rusty (though slightly more solid) Lark which I drove for another two years. See the story of my Studebaker origins here
I was hooked on Studebakers and read everything I could find about the cars and the company. Over the years I received many good Studebaker books as Christmas or birthday gifts, including many of the now hard to find volumes which I’ve had since new.
Most people think I’m a little strange because of my affection for an out of business car company, but I come by it honestly.
My mother has told me about the Studebaker dealer’s son she dated before she was married. I still think she should have gotten a few "gifts" to put away to save for me before this guy was out of the picture. After my parents were married they had a Studebaker, though my mother cannot recall the year or model, just that it was black with red leather interior. For her description I guess it was a late 1940s model. They really liked the car but my mother did mention that it didn’t like to go uphill in the winter without trying to turn around backwards, and they could never get rid of the foul odor after the interior burnt due to an electrical short.
My father told the story of how he took his driver’s test in a mid 1930s Studebaker coupe and when he was supposed to do the mandatory three point turn the testing officer just said "turn around". At that point my father turned the wheels to the left and hit the gas, spinning the car around. It was then the officer told him to go back and do it again the right way. He also has a few Studebaker trucks, one of which I remember sitting buried up to it’s axles in dirt behind the house. We used to play in this truck when I was young. It was finally hauled away for scrap when I was a teenager. By then there wasn’t enough left to save.
My paternal grandfather was also a Studebaker fan and I have several photos showing his cars. There was a late 1940s sedan, a 1956 Champion and the one shown where he is leaning against the fender of his 1952 Commander. I also remember he collected cast iron banks and sitting among them was dealer promo model of a 1953 hardtop in cream and red. Unfortunately this model disappeared after his death though I’ve been able to replace it and now have one in my Studebaker toy collection.
So as you can see, it’s not that my mind snapped when given a rusty old car to drive at age nine. It’s not that I inhaled too many exhaust fumes (well, that may be part of it). It’s not that I wanted people to snicker when I did my senior term paper on the History of Studebaker, ( I got an A). Nor is it that I was possessed by the spirit of the Studebaker brothers at a young age. It was heredity.
I came by it Honestly!
Contents copyright Madd Doodler Publishing 2010
