Stude/Pac/Avanti Meet - OT

Finishing-up today are the combined International Meets of the
Studebaker Drivers Club, Antique Studebaker Club, Packard Club and
Avanti Owner's Association in South Bend. I couldn't get away for the
entire week - just ran-up yesterday to see the assembled multitudes at
the county fairgrounds.

(The only Chrysler connection he put about 600 miles on my '95
LHS.....set the cruise and air.....performed flawlessly.....with all the
around-town stop-and-go driving and congestion, my combined mileage for
the trip was "only" 24.6 mpg - I won't complain. Pleasant surprise:
gas was just $2.93 on the Indiana toll road)

So....I'm a Stude-Packard-Avanti nut and enjoyed looking at (I'm
guessing) 500+ Studes, at least a hundred Avantis and another 100
Packards. Of course, you always make a bee-line to the Speedsters,
Golden Hawks, Packard Patricians and Caribbeans.

But I guess what amused me the most was spending a little more time
looking at the "last gasp" '64 Stude sedans (the last time they could
afford to restyle their cars). For '64 the poor, struggling little
company offered the Avanti and G T Hawk, and a line of sedans (2 and 4
door sedans, 4 door stationwagon, 2 door hardtop and convertible).
Pretty good looking cars, even today. You could get the 170 ci six
engine, "regular" 259 & 289 ci V8s, then the R1, R2, R3 and R4 Avanti
engines: 112 to 335 horsepower range. You could get 3 speeds, 3 speeds
with overdrive, 4 speeds, automatic or "Power Shift" automatic with
manual override.

The sedans came in 4 trim levels: Challenger, Commander, Daytona and
Cruiser (not including HD fleet versions). Then, within each trim line
you could have bench seats, individual seats or bucket seats. These
came with your choice of cloth or all vinyl trim, and each combination
came in blue, brown, red, green, blue or black. Oh, you could also get
blue, red or green broadcloth in the Cruiser.

Anyway, had to leave and went back to the parking lot and tried to find
my gray Chrysler with the gray leather in a sea of gray cars with gray
interiors.

BTW: also made my first visit to the new Studebaker museum (opened in
October, replacing the old one) WOW.....very well done. Many of the
same cars as in the old location plus new ones and they have enough to
rotate displays several times a year. Extremely well presented, new
dioramas & displays.......well worth a special trip when you're looking
for something to do.....allow about 2 hours for a visit, and you can
also tour other parts of the historical complex, the Oliver Mansion, and
have lunch at Tippecanoe (Studebaker Mansion).