My first car was a 1953 Studebaker Commander coupe. 232 cubic inch V-8 that
put out a whopping 120 hp. When I put a Chev engine in it in 1960 we had to
lower the front end because the Chev was much lighter.
I had a mission companion who used to tease me about my passion for that car
... said that Studebaker screwed up when they took the tongue off. Two of
the most memorable shapes came from the car's designer, Raymond Lowey ...
the Studebaker coupe and the Coke bottle.
The cars were well built too. And ... to quote Ab Jenkins;
"The following year -1931- I was fortunate enough to capture every official
hill climbing record in America that I went after. There were about 65
'hills' from the eastern seaboard to California. I touched about 35 states
in making these records with a stock Studebaker car selected by the AAA.
Some of the mountains I ascended were Mount Mansfield in Vermont, Shades
Mountain in Alabama, Giant's Despair in Pennsylvania and the toughest one of
them all, Mount Mitchell, in North Carolina."
Not bad for a contractor from Utah and a stock Studebaker pulled off the
assembly line at South Bend!
In 1925 Jenkins raced a train from Salt Lake City to Wendover on the "new"
Victory Highway that included a stretch across the salt flats. He drove a
new Studebaker touring car (borrowed for the event from the local dealer)
equipped with the first balloon tires to be seen in Utah. He beat the train
but used up the $250 he won repairing the damage to car. He said the car
had 12" clearance under the pan but still scraped. Not like I-80 today.
They crossed the railroad tracks 15 times along the 125 miles.
That, racing fans, was the man who put the Bonneville Salt Flats on the
world racing map ... Ab Jenkins. And he was driving a STUDEBAKER for both
of those attempts as well as for several cross country races that he won.
Wes
on 11/14/02 8:35 PM, Want1937hd@aol.com at Want1937hd@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 11/14/02 3:45:28 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> FastmetalBDF@aol.com writes:
>>
>> Hey Gary, Down Under ........ I can tell you this much .........
>> Studebaker is absolutely the Winner for title of America's Oldest
>> Manufacturer of Automobiles, as the Studebaker brothers got their start
>> building wagons ( possibly Conestoga type ) that were used to move the
>> Pioneers westward across America ........
>
> Don't forget the Indy 500! Studebaker finished 3rd in 1932 and took 6-12 in
> 1933,. both factory and private teams. Two of these restored cars still race
> in VSCCA events on the East Coast.Bob in connecticut
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive/land-speed
/// what is needed. It isn't that difficult, folks.
|