The Antique Studebaker Club

Resurrection from the dust — 1923 Studebaker Coupe

Taken from the article in the ASC So Cal Chapter's Newsletter...The ATALANTA.
by Neil Maken

It started a few months ago when a friend, at a local swap meet, called me aside to tell me that he found a cache of antique cars in his neighborhood. Supposedly about five acres covered with cars, freight containers, and other outbuildings containing cars. The owner had been buying and storing vehicles for almost fifty years and had never sold anything, but now he was about ready to start to part with some of his treasures. I was ready to go look at this treasure-trove the next day, but it took months before we were able to make arrangements with all parties to see what was out there. On the designated day, and at the designated time, my friend Sam Bailey met me at my other friend's home and off we went. It was about a ten mile drive and, although a residential area, there was a lot of acreage. We pulled into the drive of a very neat house with a beautiful Model T and a mid-thirties Ford V-8 sitting in their curved driveway. The side of the house was loaded with cars: from very early automotive skeletons to a very nice, original 1950 Mercury convertible — no, it was not for sale. He's owned it since new, and was willing to part with it, but only for $1,000 per year that he's owned it. A bit dear!
We parked and walked through two large wooden gates, and all at once I was a little kid again, wandering through the toy store. Piles of parts, containers with automobiles in them, surrounded by all kinds of miscellaneous parts. But, like the child in the toy store, I couldn't stop. All those bright, shiny, colorful toys and Mother tugging me along with her. So it went. Past the containers, past the mounds of parts, past the broken cardboard cartons spilling new-old stock Ford pistons, on to see the owner of this complex. We located him in a shed in the back, busily spraying the bed of a Model T truck with green paint. It was only polite to meet him, introduce ourselves and chat a little, but all that time I was watching another green vehicle just behind me: a mid-thirties Studebaker. When he finally suggested that we wander around, Sam and I ran back to the Stude: a 1931 four-door President. It was complete, and just sitting there surrounded by 55 gallon drums, boxes, parts, radiators and other cars. And right next to it was a mid-sixties Gran Turismo, with a smashed front fender. Yes, we dragged ourselves away and spent a couple of hours looking into containers, lean-to's, sheds, and other protection from the weather constructed many years ago and having fallen into terrible disrepair. Nothing was organized: one shed might contain a Dodge Brothers truck and a stack of headlight buckets, as well as a bunch of front ends. The next building might have an early Ford V-8 with mountains of tires. Complete chassis and chassis parts abounded, some recognizable, most not. So it went. Stuff covered with cobwebs, everything layer in coats and coats of dirt. We counted at least 5 little
`Birds sitting in sheds or rusting in the open. There were Fords, Chevy's, at least five fire trucks, one even pre-World War One, one with the bell, light and siren still intact and a piece of hose still remaining where it was when the truck was parked there. There were Cadillac's, there were Hupmobile's, a lovely old Franklin and a great Dodge rumble-seat roadster. We went back to the owner and he told us (in response to a specific question) that yes, he had a Studebaker for sale. It was in a locked garage and we couldn't get into it that day. What was it, we asked? A 1929
President touring car, just missing the top and bows. When could we see it? "Sometime", was his evasive answer. But he did have another building with cars that we hadn't yet seen. This one involved a walk across his fenced-in backyard, lush and green, and then a climb over a six foot cinder-block wall. This is the building that contained four of the five fire-engines. Plus engine blocks, pre-war tractors, a couple of unidentifiable early cars, and, sitting behind a sixties Cadillac and another couple of Fords, a 1923 Studebaker Big Six two-door, five passenger coupe. On blocks, just as it was parked twenty some-odd years ago, complete and not rusted. Everything was there and the mice hadn't even destroyed the interior, which was a rich brown velour or mohair (hard to tell with all the dust and cobwebs and all of our sneezing).

Interested as we were, the '29 President tourer nagged at us. A day or two later, Sam telephoned the owner and set up an appointment to see the '29. On Sunday, Sam, his wife Rhonda and I again drove to see the cars. Now you've got to understand that Rhonda is a certifiable car-nut. Within the past years she's purchased a beautiful 1961 Hawk, and just recently got a 1963 Wagonaire that Sam put into fine mechanical condition and is now in the body shop. The antique Stude, for Sam, was going to be a joint decision. We got out to the man's property and Sam and I were both very anxious to see the '29. But where was Rhonda? She barely got through the wooden gate and she was transfixed by the mess of old cars and parts. Eventually we coaxed her to keep up and over to the locked garage we went. The massive wooden triple garage door without springs was a job to lift, and inside the dusty cavern were five cars; tucked away in a corner was the tourer. Fortunately we had brought flashlights, otherwise we would not have been able to see anything. Suffice it to say that after our high hopes, the '29 touring car was a disappointment. It needed serious wood, and many engine parts were missing: distributor, carburetor, exhaust manifold, and ???? And the owner wanted top-dollar for it.
Back to the '23 Coupe. Again, past the dog, over the wall, a little more time to look at the other stuff in the shed and then we climbed over other cars and junk to the 2-door coupe. As we remembered it, it was complete. It needs extensive TLC, but it was one of the most complete and `cleanest' cars in the collection. All five of the steel disc wheels were there. Tires were new (many years ago) but all five tubes and flaps have to be changed, The engine was complete and so were the gauges on the dash. Even the rear trunk was still there. Getting it out would be a project: several other rusting hulks would have to be moved and it would have to be horsed onto a trailer.
The seller was motivated and the buyer anxious. What a great combination. And although the price paid for the car - yes it was purchased - wasn't a `steal', it made the buyer and his wife happy. And so motivated was the seller that a deposit was left on Sunday and by 2PM Monday the car was out and being washed.