by Walt Barnes
Studebaker haven't always been a large part of my life. My pre-teen years were spent riding and even driving in about every Brand-X you can imagine, mostly a 1939 Buick and a 1948 Kaiser.
Even though I grew up in the forties and fifties I don't even remember anything about the "coming or going" syndrome or the advent of the bullet nose.
I guess I was born a car guy. I can't remember when I couldn't drive. I drove my mother crazy! and I wore grooves in the top of the front seat from hanging over the seat so I could better supervise my Dad's driving. At age five I knew every move he made and by age six I knew why. Mom swore I was not going to ruin the seat in the new Kaiser which we got when I was seven.
The Buick's front seat wasn't the only thing worn to a frazzle by the end of World War II. The floor was actually worn shiny and thin. I have no idea how many miles it must have gone but rest assured it was plenty. That was the only time in my life that we truly needed a new car, hence the Kaiser.
Why the Kaiser some of you may be asking about now… it was readily available and the dealer allowed a 500 dollar trade in for the Buick. Plain and simple up-front economics. The Kaiser was actually a pretty nice car. It rode well and got pretty good gas mileage with the overdrive transmission. It would even go 100 miles per hour (as I sit here remembering as I write I guess we really needed a new car after the Kaiser as well). More monetary affluence and the advent of Studebaker into our lives did a lot to control the actual need for new cars.
The Kaiser meant we could take a vacation to Maine to visit an uncle who had moved there. Two parents, two grandparents and two kids in two days, actually three since the Kaiser had to have a new fuel pump. Does anyone else have memories of guest homes?
Through most of the Kaiser years we lived in Townville, PA which is about 15 miles east of Meadville. At that time the old timer test of a car was would it lug State Road Hill and Green Hill in high gear. Dad would just laugh at them and say "Why would anyone want to lug up those hills in high at 10 to 15 miles per hour when you can clean them both at 65 miles per hour in second over?"
And now comes the first Studebaker impression… Dad worked in Meadville and shared rides with other guys, one of whom bought in the fall of 1951 a new 1952 Commander hardtop, yellow with a brown or maroon top. I was impressed! And when I overheard my Dad tell my Mom that he was pretty sure the Studebaker had power enough to rip the bricks out of State Road Hill, I was really impressed! He later bought a 1951 Landcruiser.
My life hasn't been the same since!
Walt and his wife Michal have been active in the Studebaker Drivers Club for many years in both the Ohio Region Chapter and the Kinzua Region Chapter and own several Studebaker including the 1964 Challenger seen here.
