To round out this Stude-themed week on the blog (yeah, I totally planned that), let’s go digging for one of South Bend’s finest for the Hemmings Find of the Day. Of the 35 Studebakers on Hemmings.com right now, perhaps the most eye-catching one is this creamsicle 1956 Pelham station wagon, offered out of Houston, Texas, for $49,900. Continue reading at Hemmings

While cleaning out the ol’ hard drive, I came across some photos from a Studebaker Drivers Club regional meeting in Rutland earlier this year and recalled that I spent most of that show going around and shooting Studebaker (and Packard) gauge clusters. Man, they really knew how to put a good dashboard together. More pics at Hemmings

It’s long been known that Harvey Firestone, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were camping enthusiasts, motoring out into the wilderness for a good ol’ time (and, likely, leaving the wives at home). But did they build RVs to serve that purpose?

Allegedly, Firestone did, and one of them recently turned up in South Carolina on a 1929 Studebaker chassis, and H.A.M.B.er mottsrods shared some pics of the behemoth with us. The only real clues as to its origin – beside the apocryphal Firestone story – are the “Dulce Domum – San Marino” painted on its flanks and the Advance Auto Body Works plate screwed to the body. Continue reading at Hemmings

Another one from the Steve Williams collection out in Napa, California. It seems somebody decided they needed a bed cap for their 1963 Studebaker Champ, couldn’t find one in the aftermarket, and simply decided to make one themselves. I’d hazard a guess that the cap was built from a domestic 1960s van, but that window glass seems awfully big. From the seller’s description:

Has an odd custom camper on top, straight 6 we drove it to where it was parked for a couple of years so all is probably well with engine and drivetrain

A grand takes it. Your thoughts?

For the past 26 years, Labor Day weekend has meant thousands of hot rods, customs, muscle cars, and street machines congregating at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa for the Orange County Cruisin’ Association’s annual Great Labor Day Cruise. This year’s 27th annual event did not disappoint with a show-n-shine, autocross, cackle fest, model car contest, live music, and more. BangShift.com’s man on the street was forum member Scott “Rebeldryver” Liggett in his 1965 Impala SS. Scott shot photos, took notes, and got us all the dirt while on the scene, and for his efforts earned our undying gratitude and some BangShift.com apparel.

The coolest thing about the Great Labor Day show is that it really is a weekend long family event with plenty of cruising, show cars, and music to keep you and your family entertained. And thanks to the fantastic facilities at the Orange County Fairgrounds, the event includes a huge campground area filled with tailgating barbecueing fools. Even with all the RVs, the fairgrounds offer great cruising, manufacturers midway, and even an autocross. This years event had more than 3,000 show cars in attendance for the three days, and all who attended enjoyed the always perfect southern California weather. Combine that with the OCCA’s well oiled car show running machine, sponsors like Barry’s Speed Shop, Global West, Magnaflow, Port-a-cool, Bendpack, and QA1, and you are almost guaranteed a successful show. If you didn’t make it out to this year’s show, put it on your calendar for 2010.

In the meantime, check out our gallery here.

Welcome to another installment of the CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot, a regular feature which aims to expand the definition of what a muscle car is, and to expand your mind while doing so. Avanti is an Italian word for forward, and was probably the perfect name for the newest Studebaker coupe that was introduced in the fall of 1962. The design had many design firsts that later became inspirational factors in future cars during the next two decades. Key features include a long hood and short deck, popularized by the Ford Mustang: grill-less front end, which was popularized a decade later with other performance oriented cars, a glass fastback rear, picked up for the Plymouth Barracuda, and other vehicles, as well as other styling touches, too numerous to mention here. Lets just say that when the Avanti was introduced, it looked like nothing else on the market. But is it a muscle car, and does it deserve a place in the parking lot?

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot: The 1963 – 64 Studebaker Avanti" »

For those of you not in the Studebaker cult, this is the mother of all Studebaker performance engines. It’s the Hemi, ZL1, and SOHC Ford of the Studebaker world and because they are as rare as hen’s teeth, when one comes up for sale, it demands big numbers. This one went for $25,000.

The engines were built by Paxton Products for Studebaker back when Andy Granatelli was being hired out to make horsepower and publicity for Studebaker. As is stated in the ad, engines identical to this one powered two Studes to international speed and endurance records with Andy himself behind the wheel.

It’s not the romper, stomper flashy piece that a Hemi is, but put in a light car with the right gearing, this sucker could terrorize the streets with the best of them. There was lots of super tuning done to these motors with respect to balancing and precision machining, but the coolest parts in our book are the dual quad intake manifold and the special Granatelli-only (not repopped) cylinder heads.

This is the ultimate “factory” Studebaker motor. Thanks for the tip Joe Roberts! Here’s the ad

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to cross an El Camino with a Studebaker? Well according to this ad on eBay you wind up with a Studnimo. The unfortunate thing about this add is that it does not really show the true potential of this car. Check out the pictures after the jump and you will see that given the right wheels and paint you can wind up with a sensational car. I first spotted this completed Studnimo at Euroa a couple of years ago, and have seen it at various shows since then. Do you think this is a worthwhile project?

Continue reading "Anyone for a Studnimo?" »

Fast & Furious is opening this week–woohoo, you heard it here first!–and to help whip moviegoers into a car-crazy frenzy, Screen Junkies has put together this encyclopedic post covering (in detail) what they consider to be the top 40 movie cars of all time. Expect the usual suspects: Christine, Bullitt’s Mustang, and Doc Brown’s DeLorean all made the top ten. But there’s also a few rides that you probably haven’t thought about in awhile. Cameron’s dad’s ‘61 Ferrari 250 GT, which met such a violent and terrible end (beaten up by an angst-ridden rich kid, then run through a plate glass window into a ravine? Ugh). Louise’s ‘66 T-Bird convertible: hells yeah, “the best car for an Arkansas waitress and housewife to conspicuously flee the authorities after shooting a rapist.” And does anyone remember this crazy-painted bulletnose Stude from The Muppet Movie? Check out the full article here, and let us know if any of your faves didn’t make the list.

Welcome to the CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot, a regular feature which aims to expand the notion of what a muscle car is, and maybe to drop the hint that the muscle car’s roots can be traced back a lot further than the range of years that we generally think of these cars as coming from. It has been over 50 years since the Studebaker Golden Hawk graced America’s highways. Since Studebaker is no longer in business, can we now ask if the Golden Hawk is or is not a muscle car? I think it’s worth taking a look. Introducing the Studebaker Golden Hawk.

Continue reading "CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot – The 1956 – 58 Studebaker Golden Hawk" »

Welcome to the CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot, a regular feature which aims to expand the notion of what a muscle car is. Today’s featured car is that last of the once great Packard line of cars, but by this time they were nothing but glorified Studebakers. Let me introduce you to the 1958 Packard Hawk.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot: The 1958 Packard Hawk" »

To any student of the world’s best GT cars, the Studebaker Avanti is a coveted classic. Studebaker was an early producer of automobiles, making the jump from creating horse-drawn carriages. It developed a reputation for being well-built, yet slightly stodgy cars. Seeking to find a niche after World War II, the company danced between conservative sedans and quirky coupes. In 1954, just as the company fell out of the top ten auto producers, they purchased Packard. Not only did the move kill the company financially, it also furthered the stodgy image.

Continue reading after the jump.

Continue reading "Studebaker Avanti Exhibits the Power of Creativity" »

By John Coyle

Editor

Gorgeous cars are one thing—but I’m a sucker for a good story. And fortunately, I didn’t have compromise on either of those elements when it came time to write up this week’s Amoco Ultimate Favorite. I mean, this Starliner Coupe is an absolute knockout, and the story? Well, you can read that for yourself:

"In 2005 the US Post Office issued a series of stamps of American SportsCars of the 1950s. In the series was a 1953 Studebaker StarlinerCoupe—the same car that my parents had when I was a kid (we had the ‘54 model). I had not even seen one in decades and just seeing it onthe stamp made me smile. To my amazement, when I did an internetsearch, many popped up—everything from rust buckets to show cars.Having recently lost both of my parents, the nostalgic tug was toogreat. I searched until I found this beauty and have spent the lastyear restoring it."

If you haven’t already checked out the Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It Photo Contest, you definitely should! Who knows? You might even win something!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

A lot of cars don’t end up looking as good as their rendering. This one looks better! More pics after the jump.

Continue reading "SEMA 2008: Awesome ‘31 Studebaker in the Toyo Booth" »

Racing can be and is dangerous and running in La Carrera Panamericana is no exception. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have read comments on various message boards saying things like, "It’s not really a race" or "It’s a race where CEO types compete in cars that really don’t go all that fast." The best reply I have to those types of comments is to invite them down to watch, and then afterwards I’ll ask them if they still feel that way. Then there are those who make the argument, "They stopped that race back in 1954 and now it’s just a rally format." This time I would ask them if they knew what in the hell they are talking about. The fact is, the cars today are a much faster than they were back then, not to mention in those days they couldn’t corner worth a damn, had very poor tires, and the roads were mostly unpaved. And back in the 50s the race continued at high speed right through the villages and towns, whereas today the only city we race at speed trough is Mexico City, with thousands of police on hand.

Continue reading, with tons of pics from the race after the jump!

Continue reading "La Carrera Panamericana 2008" »