Fall 1999 Issue #12

The JTN is intended to provide a link among owners and enthusiasts of the high performance Studebakers (Larks & Hawks) built for 1963 and 1964. We seek not only information about surviving cars but also parts which exist from ”parted” units. Please be sure we have all the data of which you are aware on any of the nearly 2000 such cars built. Feel free to make copies of this notice to share with others who may be interested. Your contributions both financial and material will help to ensure its survival.

EDITOR & ROSTER KEEPER..... Ron Ellerbe, P.O.Box 940483, Simi Valley, CA 93094 Email: ellerbe@pacbell.net

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A major goal of the JTN remains the maintenance of the owner rosters of 63 and 64 JT cars and loose engines. These 3 rosters are now published on the PC. Reported JT car status the JTN receives goes into the rosters. That includes changes of ownership, engine transplants, survivor discoveries and news of parted and crushed vehicles. Of the 60 odd engines on the loose engine list, we have 20 from 63 JT cars for which we have not a scrap of other information. “Loose” means the engine is no longer in its original car. JT engines sold in the crate go on this roster as well. The roster trio is available from Dave Ridge as shown on the inside front cover. The original 1964 production summary listing is also still available as is a reborn 1963 production listing which now has engine serial numbers on it. Thanks to Andy Petrass for the fantastic job of collecting the 1400 numbers plus all the research. The JTN keeps a library of photos and build sheets. Send us yours along with your JT story.

The JTN rosters “only” have 1600 cars to go and unaccounted. Approximately 195 of 1420 ‘63 JT cars and 134 of 545 ‘64 JT cars are on these rosters. Not bad after nearly 40 years. The roster work treats all JT cars as equals. One car, one line.

Don Curtis’ ambition of assembling an R3/R4 roster for the JTN is also being fulfilled. In a listing that tries to make order out of a wide variety of data sources, there is a four page roster of the owners of Paxton built engines, engines of unknown origin and do-it-yourself R3 and R4 engines. The emphasis is on obtaining Paxton B numbers and understanding Paxton and South Bend serialization practices. Please write your editor if you have a contribution to make, even as a past owner. JTN will send you the roster, which has no addresses, for your trouble. Contributions have been made by George Krem, Jon Myer, Shannon Bruffet, Eric DeRosa, Bob Mikulic, Karl Kamphefner and many others. Thanks to all of you. There are many of these engines in steel bodied cars and there‘s no shortage of terrific histories on these engines.

JTN archives have an interesting photo of a sharp, unidentified black ‘64 GT with white sport roof, JT fender and grille badges. Interior may be blue or black. This photo may have been taken by Jack Merrill at an Olympia, WA Pacific CanAm meet many years ago. We’re not so sure about that part. The car is not accounted for on the JT roster. Any help in identifying this GT will be appreciated. The only production car that matches the description is 64V9721.

JTN placed an ad in Avanti Magazine in the hope of finding more of these engines.

News of the fate of these vehicles is welcome in your editor’s mailbox.

Made Surviving Known Made Surviving Known

Parted Parted

107 20 1 Totals 56 5 3 Totals

Made Surviving Known Made Surviving Known

Parted Parted

46 8 1 Totals 24 12 0 Totals

2 of the R2 package cars were R3 Bonneville

#1 and #2, both accounted for.

1 of the R1 package cars was R4 Bonneville #3,

not accounted for.

Made Surviving Known Made Surviving Known

Parted Parted

240 56 3 Totals 15 4 0 Totals

Ted of Atkinson, NH writes:

This Hawk, 63V35155, was originally ordered (special!) by my father in the summer of 1963. As originally equipped, it was Midnite Black with a Maroon interior. It also had the “Avanti Powered” fender badges (below the vent doors?) installed. Also A/C! Ed note:{non-package, 4 speed, TT, Discs}

My father sold it in 1968 as the factory had then folded and he had no interest in trying to maintain an orphan. It was starting to break down in places and he didn’t want to keep fixing it. He sold it to a shop in S. Boston, MA which still repaired Studes. The name of the place was Universal Auto Repair. In 1974, I tried to locate it by calling the shop. The owner told me that the car had been wrecked and crushed. So was I after hearing this because it was (and still is!) my favorite car.

End of story? No. Ted writes further:

The years went by and I became employed by Western Electric (now Lucent). One of my supervisors was a Stude man, with a 1957 Silver Hawk and a 1963 R1 GT Hawk. After riding an orphan motorcycle, I decided to try to buy a classic car. I wasn’t interested in Fords or Chevys, I wanted a STUDEBAKER! My supervisor informed me that his ’63 GT was for sale, so I agreed to look at it.

Someone had changed the color and the grille, but it was a GT Hawk and worthy of consideration. We went out to look at it and my supervisor pulled the N&A build sheet out to show it to me. There was my father’s VIN staring me in the face. All original, all together, and waiting for me! Needless to say, it (she!) is back in the family, never to leave again. It will be undergoing restoration and should be ready for South Bend 2002.

Ben Starr of Modesto, CA is owner of 63V33378, a Super Red GT Hawk. This one of the 5 survivors of the 30 Super Red R2 Hawks built for 1963.

I had hoped to restore the car immediately but I have two sons, and they both wanted Studebakers. Mark, who is now 25 and a Ranger in the US Army, was, at the time, a student at Cal State University, Turlock, and a part-time police officer. He wanted a Studebaker restored as a police car. We located a 1962 Lark (though not originally a police car), and I did a complete restoration on it. It’s a daily driver, but in about 15 minutes can be made into a police car (lights, siren, magnetic decals, appropriate license plates, etc.) When I finished that car, David who is now 21 and works as a camera technician for a local newspaper, found a 1956 Power Hawk which needed a complete restoration. He rebuilt the engine to R2+ specifications, and I did everything else. It’s red with a black top - very nice looking and very fast.

With those two cars finished, I finally got to do my GT! I came close to completing it for the Austin meet last summer, but I didn’t have time to put it through the tests I wanted before driving it Texas in the summer. Instead, we drove our 1959 Lark. It took me just about 1 ½ years to complete the Hawk but it’s done and is it fun to drive! As you know, it was one of the few truly high-performance package cars, so I did feel that it should be restored to original. However, we do drive our Studebakers daily, (they are drivers), so I did make some changes. All the changes were done so that either the car could be easily returned to absolutely original or the changes would not be seen. Specifically, I have always felt that the one design mistake made on the ’63 (and ’62) was the trunk with the aluminum panel. I like the emblems and trim on the ’63 better than the ’64, but I did re-finish the original trunk, and I can put it on the car in about 20 minutes. Also, I did want to run newer type tires, wider radials, so I had new 5 ½” wide rims made. That allowed me to put 235/70R15 tires on the car, and the ride and cornering are phenomenal. Those are the only cosmetic changes. Under the hood, I did warm up the R-2 (bigger valves, some port work, Ross forged racing pistons, and an electronic computer controlled ignition system - a Holley Pro-Eliminator system, discreetly hidden under the dash). I found a firm in Riverside, CA that knew about R-2 cars, and they did a beautiful job of rebuilding all the original gauges. If your ever need any work done, let me know and I’ll send you their address. Their workmanship is outstanding. They installed a new electronic tach, but you can’t tell by looking at the face, and a new quartz sweep-second hand clock, and any gauge faces that needed refinishing were refinished to original. A friend of mine used to do wood-grain finishing and he did the dash. And, if you’re at all familiar with central California heat, you’ll understand why I installed an air conditioner - original under-dash unit, but a custom-made bracket for the compressor. That was quite a task, making the bracket. You know that there isn’t much room under the hood, what with the supercharger, brake booster, air cleaner, etc. But I made a bracket out of cardboard, cut, pasted, re-cut, etc., until everything fit, then welded up steel to the same shape and bolted it into place. The air conditioner compressor fits just to the driver’s side of the supercharger - not much room to spare, but it does fit.

A few weeks ago, we drove down to Delhi and saw Fred and Linda Fox. Fred brought out the ’63 paint chart he had, and we compared it to the color I painted the car. I had tried to get as close a match as I could, and even bought a quart of the color John Begian recommended - Chrysler Claret. My wife, Judy, and I ended up having a color mixed that matched a section of original color I found when I took the car apart, and Fred and Linda agreed that the color we chose was about as close as one could get to the original Super Red on the color chart. The only thing different is that ours is a pearl/metallic, not just a metallic. The pearl does add depth to the paint appearance. We’ve had the car on a number of short trips (about 200 miles each) in addition top driving it around town. And, no matter, where we go we get compliments. It’s really fun when people roll their windows down and shout, “Nice Studebaker,” or “That’s the best looking Studebaker I’ve ever seen.” I have to agree with them - I think the GT was one of the most attractive cars made. Certainly nicer looking than all the ‘potatoes’ on the road now! {Ed.: Jelly beans]

Dennis of Atkinson, NH, is owner of 64V8209, a Bordeaux Red R2 GT undergoing restoration.

Dennis writes:

Way back when I was a senior in high school in 1962, a kid who graduated the year ahead of me, whose name I cannot remember, purchased new what I thought was a plain Jane 2 door Lark. As I can remember it had an R2 engine, 4 speed, Twin Traction, rear axle rods, rear stabilizer, and, I believe, disc brakes. I think it was green and I know it had no identification on it to say it was a V8,. It also had no side or grille badges on it. Almost as soon as the car landed in Braintree, MA, it acquired a reputation as the fastest thing on wheels and no one could believe it was a Studebaker! At an illegal drag strip the kids in town had marked out on a back country road in a rural part of town, this Stude blew the doors off the fastest car in town, which as I recall was a Pontiac with dual quads. I am not sure what model Pontiac it was, but I do know the Pontiac was the fastest thing around until that fateful day. The Pontiac and it’s owner were never able to live down being beaten by a factory built Studebaker! I don’t know what happened to the Stude. I know that the kid raced it all over New England on sponsored strips.

Can anybody help Dennis and the JTN with the identity and fate of his buddy’s car? George Krem was unable to pin down the VIN. Radius rods indicate it was built circa March 1963 or later but the car should have had fender badges. Owner added radius rods and rear stabilizer bar? Blue or Silver? Sorry, Dennis. Was this 63V24166, the Blue R2 Standard, early in 1963?

The 1964 JTN owners roster shows all of 6 original, surviving R2 Daytona Hardtops. Two of these very noteworthy Studes belong to people who have rescued them from oblivion. Lee Gitchel has 64V5525, an Arctic White, full R2 package Daytona Hardtop with 4 speed and black vinyl interior. Lee found out about Don Curtis and the JTN at a meet in Lake Tahoe many years ago. Stude people there gave Lee info on Don and the JTN.

Lee is only the 2^{nd owner of the car. It was bought new in San Francisco at Waters Studebaker on Van Ness Ave. That was March of ’64. The buyers were a couple that used it to commute to and from SF and Redding, CA. The car went 63K miles in 10 years and was left with a damaged right front behind a Redding gas station. After sitting for 8 years, weeds buried the car. The owner asked Lee to work on it and Lee eventually bought it. The car’s overall shape was poor but the blower worked.}

Cam and cam bearings were corroded and the engine, JTSJ305, had low oil pressure but ran. Lee overhauled the engine and repaired body damage, bought bumpers, interior panels, windshield, et al. from Newman & Altman and completed restoration in 1982. The car remains white and has original license plates, Hurst shifter, radial blackwall tires and wheel covers. It was factory equipped with reclining seats, power steering and FM radio. The car is in fine shape and well preserved. It appeared in the Muscle Cars Legend Series of Cars&Parts Magazine in the Winter of 1989. The dash pad is being replaced and the car has 67K miles today. The family intends to keep the car. The R2 grille badge that should be on this car seems to have never been installed! Lee needs one..

Lee deserves our thanks for saving this interesting car. Lee also has a rare Indy pace car edition of the ‘54 Dodge convertible and was a principal in the Santee Sports car of the early 60’s.

Our other 1964 Daytona Hardtop is well known to many Midwest Stude folks. It’s Barry Holley’s Silver 64V5772. Barry drove the Moonlight Silver, Powershift, JTSJ311 equipped beauty at the Stanton, Michigan Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags last year. The car performed well, shutting down a 1971 Ford Torino 429, with a best ET of 15.34 seconds. The car was mentioned in the same May, 1999 Muscle Car Review that featured George Krem’s R3 Challenger. The Daytona has red cloth interior, aftermarket wheels and a sharp Moonlight Silver paint job. Barry hails from Battle Creek, Michigan and the production build sheet shows only a radio and WW Firestones as the options of note. No power steering. Final assembly date was 9/12/63, one day after 64V5525 went out the door.

Barry bought the car two years ago from Jim Twaites. Originally delivered to Springfield, Ohio, the car was used in the Columbus area by a handicapped person who had it rigged for hand controls. Many winters left the car rusty and tired but it spent many years blowing the doors off the street competition or so the JTN has been told. Now 64V5772 is the beauty with the nicely detailed engine compartment that Stude fans can see in the Andy Beckman video tape of the Drags. Thanks are due to Barry for taking the car to Stanton, for restoring and saving another Stude gem and for raising the public’s visibility of Jet Thrust.

Thanks to both Lee and Barry for giving us a tale of two Daytonas. I’m sure Gary Olson, Phil Lewallen & Eric Lavine , Bart Ladd and Milt Larsen have equally interesting tales to tell of their R2 Daytona survivors. These gents also have 1964 R2 package Daytonas in or through restoration.