About Studenorton

Studenorton

If we all went together, we might find Mary Barra a nice electrical corner office in Paris or Brussels, and then re-launch Pontiac and Oldsmobile here.

Studenorton

Somebody's going to say it, and I might as well go first: Is there an upcoming feature on *surprisingly affordable* ex-McQueen finds? You know they just have to be out there somewhere. We could put a team on it.

Studenorton

I've been convinced for years that that is how the "Tucker" movie got made. It worked, too.

Studenorton · ‎19-04-2022

There is no "Studebaker Owners Club."

Studenorton · ‎19-04-2022

A north central thing: that car is rusted, not "rusted out." Rusted out involves holes in the body (which means holes in the frame). Few places in the South, and most of the West, you can achieve that, as "a look." For the rest, it's terminal.

Studenorton · ‎16-04-2022

"Hemis relatively restrained" is a beautiful piece of headline japery. Great writing, for the genre. A restrained hemi has to be a historical first. Pince-nez on nose-tip: "I have never seen this."

Studenorton · ‎15-04-2022

A 'private' Checker cannot be yellow. People keep getting into the back seat at stoplights.

Studenorton · ‎15-04-2022

Margin note: When Newman & Altman set out to save the Avanti, they called on the president of Checker to see if he'd take on the project. He threw them out of the office. He was probably right, and they did all right, but -- that would have been *awesome.* The stuff of dreams.

Studenorton · ‎12-04-2022

For those not motoring to the UK this year, the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum also has an impressive Lalique collection.

Studenorton · ‎11-04-2022

But Dude, those *seats*...

Studenorton · ‎11-04-2022

The 1960 Valiant was designed by Anne MacAdam, who was later Chrysler design VP and a well-known painter, and died in March at age 91. She was under 30 when she headed up the Valiant project, kind of a big deal for a woman in the industry at that time. She also had worked on the Packard Predictor.

Studenorton · ‎06-04-2022

In the 60's and 70's, pickup makers boasted of their low cargo floors, and how easy it was to load (supposed) feed bags and hay bales. I can only conclude that most people can live with those way-high prom queen platforms because they *never* put anything in the bed. Know what I miss? Two-door pickups with an eight-foot bed. Got around a parking lot well, and they made lumber to fit right in there.

Studenorton · ‎02-04-2022

Sorry, did anybody mention it? It wasn't just "room for kids"; in the great age of the station wagon, they had X-member reinforced frames that would put modern small-truck frames to shame. A local garage door maker had a standing deal with a dealership, to buy any DeSoto wagon that came in on trade, to be fitted with racks and used as a commercial truck. They got off-roaded a lot, and the teensy hemi got good mileage.

Studenorton · ‎02-04-2022

There was a rude (and proven-accurate) name for those fully-reclining seats. Studebaker had them, too.

Studenorton · ‎02-04-2022

I'm sure that would have been badged a "Shooting Brake." Until recently, anyway.

Studenorton · ‎31-03-2022

Was it a Graham? Or was it a Cord?

Studenorton · ‎31-03-2022

http://goldenagecomics.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/tec48.jpg

Studenorton · ‎27-03-2022

Yes, "Hurricane." Because "Go-Devil" was already taken.

Studenorton · ‎27-03-2022

You Jeep guys, I swear. The good news? Almost ANY luggage is "fitted" to a Jeep. Couple of steamer trunks, no prob.

Studenorton · ‎04-03-2022

Not that you'd run to the store in it, but -- Lord Montagu of Beaulieu owned one, and complained to Tony Lago that even with straight ethylene glycol, it boiled over whenever driven in town. The response was "Well, if you insist upon abusing the automobile..." It has to be right up there with Bugatti's "I do not build my cars to stop."

Studenorton · ‎03-03-2022

Great concept for an article. If you can swing it, it would be great to hear about nearby events at other festivals of speed -- come on, take one for the team. Hint? There's a solid week of great racing around the Indianapolis 500; you can follow the whole history of motor racing in five days there. The "parade laps" are better too...

Studenorton · ‎28-02-2022

Why ever in the world would we suspect that a lot of CGI will be involved?

Studenorton · ‎25-02-2022

You a career diplomat by any chance? What a nice way to say...what needs to be said. A good car show line: "Not how I'd have done it." Avoids fist fights.

Studenorton · ‎24-02-2022

Except for it being hard to say, every Hispano Suiza car should be called a Birkigt. Forever. They also built a 20mm cannon that could fire through the driveshaft (!). Markets come back for a lot of products...

Studenorton · ‎24-02-2022

"I don't approve, but -- I understand." --Chris Rock It's a perfectly OK joke. Just not one I'd share with, you know, my insurance agent.

Studenorton · ‎24-02-2022

Nobody *runs* USPS. The post office isn't the Titanic -- it's the iceberg.

Studenorton · ‎21-02-2022

The choice is simple when there isn't any choice.

Studenorton · ‎21-02-2022

Those sound systems are getting better all the time...

Studenorton · ‎19-02-2022

WHY Mary Barra, why? "It must be so." There are details in there: GM, unable to build a manual transmission, could not find another firm willing to do it cheaply enough. And, could not figure out how to make a transaxle shift linkage. They're just not up to the job of building cars. Best to quit now.

Studenorton · ‎19-02-2022

The people who brought this about are exactly my age. I'm not going to blame "generations" for this.

Studenorton · ‎19-02-2022

You'll be in good company, and in heaven there is no EPA. Something to look forward to: Ralph Nader will be driving a Corvair in hell.

Studenorton · ‎19-02-2022

I regret every dollar I saved for later during those years. Now I have a lot of money. Look what there will be to spend it on.

Studenorton · ‎18-02-2022

I'm sure you more than most realize how hard it is to find a good lawyer, but I've found "access to counsel" comes in handy for all kinds of small business dealings. Probably because we have this great semi-retired guy who's really only still in it because it's interesting, the retainer does not amount to much and it's always earned back by one little contract document, deed detail or word of advice. Not even counting actual legal actions, for anybody who does a lot of buying and selling, knowing a good lawyer (or sending your kid through law school) is a smart investment. We'll be lost (legally) when ours retires.

Studenorton · ‎14-02-2022

Mad Ave types, inside their bubble, often make ads for "Things" they don't know they're advertising. In the hours of run-up coverage, all sorts of media and celebrity types tooled around southern Cal in classic Southern Cal cars -- Cadillacs, Corvettes, a whole fleet of low riders, what have you -- while the whole narrative screeches on about how we must make those illegal. They're missing the real message, and getting paid for it, too.

Studenorton · ‎10-02-2022

Oh, well, then. [speaking in British] Not bad. Not bad at all.

Studenorton · ‎10-02-2022

See this guy? When he was born, he rode home from the hospital in the same car. See this guy? When he was born, he rode home from the hospital in the same car.

Studenorton · ‎09-02-2022

43,000 HARD miles. Juan Fangio miles.

Studenorton · ‎07-02-2022

Gurney flaps/Bobby Unser wickerbills, same way. "It's on there so you don't hurt your hand pushing the car" is Motor Racing writ large!

Studenorton · ‎05-02-2022

Wir sind jetzt alle Opel Olympias.

Studenorton · ‎25-01-2022

1953 Jeep MB38, with wide Chrysler wheels swapped off a police car, never had to drive through snow because it would hop up and go on top of it. Heater really put out, but with a canvas top and doors you were never tempted to get in without full winter gear already on. It was the ideal ride for the 55 MPH days, because 56 would un-babbitt the bearings.

Studenorton · ‎21-01-2022

I have often suspected that there is some kind of white powder in there, too.

Studenorton · ‎20-01-2022

And so far it has not. There are about half as many horses in the US now as there were when Studebaker converted their wagonworks. The real estate crash of 2008 had a bigger impact on horse ownership than the automobile did. They'd better get moving.

Studenorton · ‎18-01-2022

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jC6yg0p8-_Y/UEty_exgL2I/AAAAAAAAMIA/baENqjuV9zw/s1600/1972-Subaru-Sambar-Microvan.+-+01.jpg I test-drove one of these in 1968.

Studenorton · ‎17-01-2022

I predict you'll be hearing from a lot of Model T owners, because they are shockingly good off-roaders. A 90-degree twist from front to back axles without anything breaking? You try it.

Studenorton · ‎08-01-2022

Interesting history to them: until recently, they were standard practice for working in confined industrial spaces. It just came up the other day, as I was swapping "how bad was it" stories with my sister, a retired refinery maintainer. They use 6-packs of compressed air to feed the tubes now, but her older buddies remembered using rotary hand pumps, and you didn't dare slow down! Those were still in use in the 1970's.

Studenorton · ‎03-01-2022

Fire extinguishers in and around the car (and the shop) are worth several other articles. There are lots of variables in choosing them, and no one type covers all the possibilities.

Studenorton · ‎31-12-2021

I thought the F-14 issue was well known. Iran operated them, and the US had to make sure that parts would *not* be available. Strong men wept. When Danny Thomas was still with us ("Holy Toledo!"), and the Shriners was still a movement a lot of men would wait on a list to join, you'd have had a constant stream of guys wearing fezzes asking to buy that Jeepster. It was rite of passage in the Grotto, goofy guys doing wondrous things.

Studenorton · ‎30-12-2021

Obviously one whole faction of the insured is unrepresented, or someone would have mentioned how unruly caviar can be at the wheel. Those pesky devils just roll *everywhere.* And what about that Grey Poupon?

Studenorton · ‎30-12-2021

You're going to get rabbits in there! And if you think mice and squirrels are bad...

Studenorton · ‎30-12-2021

This is why genuine old Fords have all those crumb-drain holes in the floor. Self-respecting rodents jump right out of them. (Both the '50 I came home from the hospital in, and the '48 F6 I later learned to drive on, featured an intimate view of the road without even looking through the windshield).