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This is the third car that I had restored. The story behind this one is that my Dad got tired of driving the 1934 Plymouth that our family rode in due to the hassle of driving the thing. Some of you might remember that you kicked the tires back in the forties and fifties to insure the car would make it 25 miles to the next destination.
Well the family (6 of us) piled in that Plymouth and went to Greensboro, N.C., which was 24 miles away from Burlington, N.C. We didn't make it back home. The Old Plymouth broke down on U.S. 70, fourteen miles from home, so we hitched a ride on a Trailways bus back to Burlington. We all walked from the bus station to our home, which was 2 miles away. The next day Dad had a brand new 1950 Champion Studebaker sitting in the driveway.
It had all of the bells and whistles I thought. It had that passing gear (overdrive kickdown) and it had those air condition bellows on the side of the car where you opened the flaps and outside air came into the car. The family had never gone over 25 miles before and when Dad said to get our ducks in a row, 'cause we were going to the beach.
To travel 200 miles to Carolina Beach was unheard of for us younguns. But that was my first trip away from home, and the excitement is something that I will never forget. I was 9 years old. So as I age, I look back and decided to put my memories into action by getting another Champion Studebaker and the one I got came from Craig's list in Denver, Colorado. The glove box revealed registration certificates from Laramie, Wyoming. I had the car restored with a frame off restoration and every nut and bolt in the car was removed and the car was completely gone through. It comes in handy now that gas seems to be on the way up again. The other two cars, the 67 Charger and 59 Impala Convertible burn that high price gas, but this Studebaker gets 27 miles to the gallon with regular gas. It comes in handy now to pull up to a gas pump and purchase regular gasoline. I restored the car to the color that Dad had, and that color was Aqua Green. I hope yawl enjoy going back in time as you look at my Studebaker. Oh, the 8-track player has a 12-volt lawn mower battery in the trunk to provide power to the tape player. The last picture is the one that was taken at the High Point Kagan's Furniture market by Harry of HotRodHotline.com and Harry left a card in my car when he took the pic. Thanks! Harry. And that pic is shown for June 26 2009 at the event in question.
~ Don R. Dodson ~
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