The Ohio Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club gets together in Talmadge in late August every year for what is touted, quite accurately, as the largest one-day Studebaker meet on the planet.
I attended the 2015 edition last Saturday, and there was a lot to see. Too much to fit in just one post, so we'll have to spread it out over the whole week. Here's the first installment.
Summit Racing, which hosts the meet, got into the spirit of the occasion by displaying this gorgeous Lark on a turntable by the store entrance.
I didn't get the official number, but there had to be at least 150 vehicles there.
The usual flock of Hawks was in attendance, and the two-toned ones really caught your eye in the bright sunlight.
Speaking of Hawks, at lunchtime I ended up sharing a picnic table with a street rodder from Pennsylvania and a very pleasant couple who'd driven down from Ontario in their 1962 Gran Turismo Hawk. The folks from Ontario own four Studes and do all their own restoration work, including sandblasting, welding, and machining. They also drive their Studebakers to and from every SDC event they attend--even ones as far from home as Arizona and Massachusetts!
Their '62 Hawk is a lovely car...
...and it even has a four-on-the-floor.
Definitely my kind of people!
As you might expect, there were quite a few Avantis.
Paint one in stunning pastel turquoise, and you end up with the Avantiest of all possible Avantis.
The case for Studebaker, succinctly stated in adjacent parking spaces: an Avanti next to a Loewy coupe.
The Loewy delegation also included this very tastefully street-rodded '53, seen here next to a '55 Conestoga with a Cadillac 500 V-8.
Here's another tasteful street rod. I'm not really a fan of the 1955 front end, but this one looked good.
A couple more nice ones. I particularly liked the three-color scheme on the "Wild Weekend."
This one's home-built from parts obtained at swap meets.
There's a certain rightness to the design, and the craftsmanship is nothing short of exquisite.
Here's one more street rod, and it's a really rare bird: a 1932 Rockne.
The Rockne was a Studebaker brand created in 1931, named after the company's new manager of sales promotions, recently retired Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. Only 12 days after signing on with Studebaker, Coach Rockne died in the crash of a TWA Ford Trimotor. The Rockne was sold for two years, and wasn't all that successful thanks to the ongoing Great Depression--but the 6-cylinder engine developed for it powered most of Studebaker's lineup during the 1930s, and remained in production all the way into the 1950 model year.
Tomorrow, we'll continue our look at the show with the Larks, the Packards, several nice convertibles, and some trucks.
--Cookie the Dog's Owner
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