It’s monsoon season in Tucson and hence we are in a drought as far as car shows go. So today was a great day – clear blue skies, with thunder storm beginning to pop up over the mountains (yes we have mountains in Az).
My son is a photographer and I’m a want too be. So wanting to de-stress for a day I choose to check in with him and see if he had time to drag the old man around for a photo shoot. He often takes a weekend day and tools around with his camera, which is fun and with no specific agenda, just what the doctor ordered.
I picked him up and we headed to a park, that normally has an abundance of water. Yes we have lakes in Arizona (although many are man-made or at least get a lot of help from managed care). This place normally is home to fish, turtles and various water fowl (YES we have ducks here too!!!).
As we approached the entrance a car turned out of the park and I didn’t immediately recognize and as we entered the park a see a 1920’s 4 door sedan, looking mostly original. I was still not sure the maker. As we entered the park and drove the round to the parking in back I spotted a rare hawk and it’s companion.
Yes that is a Golden Hawk GT… by Studebaker. (Right)
1937 Coup – split rear window.
Just our luck, during the Arizona car show drought season, we ran into the tail-end of a local Studebaker Club breakfast!!!! And just my luck – only two cars were left, out of the 30 that showed up earlier and I missed maybe one of the oldest Studebakers I may every see in person. A 1933 Sedan!!!
I got to speak to one of the members and inquired as to how many were in their club. He believed that there were 30-40 with a total of just under 1oo exampled of the Studebaker legacy. He himself owned these two car plus two more.
We’ll take a closer look at these two cars in the next couple posts.
Stay tuned!!
Thanks for reading.
Tim
My father was a ‘closet’ Studebaker lover. He was always a GM customer favoring Buciks and Chevys, but did own three Studebakers in his life. Dad favored really stripped down, base model cars, and the 1960 Lark VI convertible and 1967 Commander coupe fit that bill. Both cars had small 6 cylinder engines, manual ‘three on the tree’ trans, and AM radio. Dad also briefly owned an Avanti, but for some reason that was traded for a boat tail Buick Rivera with 455.
I still wonder what the automotive world would be like today if Studebaker had made the deal to manufacture by ‘license agreement’ to build ISUZU cars and trucks. Both brands might be alive and well today.