Fall 2002 Issue #18

The JTN is intended to provide a link among owners and enthusiasts of the R1, R2, R3 and R4 powered Studebaker Larks and Hawks built for 1963 and 1964. We seek not only information about surviving cars but also parts which exist from ”parted” units. Please submit 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.

This newsletter is available by subscription for $5 a year. JTN is published in March and September. If you are the owner of a previously unreported JT car, the owner of a removed JT engine, the locator of a parted JT car, or if you can refer the JTN to such an owner, you will be sent a one time, gratis issue for your effort. Please write, call or email. Please remit to G.J. (Ron) Ellerbe at the address below.

EDITOR & ROSTER KEEPER..... G.J. (Ron) Ellerbe, P.O. Box 1783, Simi Valley, CA 93062

Phone: (805)-522-4544 Email: ellerbe@pacbell.net

Paid subscribers: 194

Founding Editor: Don Curtis Past Editor: George Krem

Production Research : George Krem, Andy Petrass

Major Contributor: Richard La Torre, Nelson Bove, Bart Ladd, John Metzker

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These listings tabulate all cars built by serial and engine number and a few additional details. They are useful for determining the factory original state of that JT car and/or JT engine origins. The 1964 list has more information on each car than the 1963 list.

JT Owners Rosters: A single package contains the following 3 rosters: 1) owners of 1963 JT cars, 2) owners of 1964 JT cars, and 3) owners of engines pulled from JT cars.

To order any of the above, make checks payable to the editor and remit to same.

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All address corrections should be sent to the editor.

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If you have a JT car to report, please supply the editor with the year, model, body style, VIN (driver’s door post), body # (firewall), engine type, engine # (top of block on driver’s side), transmission, interior and exterior colors. If it’s a ’63, please note if it has front fender badges and 160mph speedometer. Send a photo. For a loose JT or JTS engine, send the engine # and any info on the donor car.

A permanent goal of the JTN is the maintenance of the owner rosters of ‘63 and ‘64 JT cars and loose engines. These 3 rosters are published on the PC. Reports of JT cars that the JTN receives go into the rosters. That includes changes of ownership, engine transplants, survivor discoveries and news of parted and crushed vehicles. “Loose” means the engine is no longer in its original car. The roster trio is available as shown on the title page. The original 1964 production summary listing is available as is a 1963 production listing. The JTN keeps a library of photos and build sheets. Please send JTN your photos and build sheet along with that JT story. JTN is keeping a detailed ledger of sightings and reports of JT cars that have not been identified by VIN. With the aid of the readership, we do our best to track down such sightings and reports. JTN counts on its readers to report such sightings and to aid in identification. This list has several dozen cars on it. Another part of the JTN mission is sharing of technical and historical information about Studebaker high performance from South Bend and Paxton Products during the 1963 and 1964 model years.

The library of photos has been assembled into an album. The photos in the album are in VIN order and were taken from many sources including the Internet, old Stude magazine coverage, TW issues and the US mail. There are nearly 200 cars represented. JTN always wants more. Photo prints in 4 by 6 inch format are ideal for use on the newsletter cover. Good cover photos are sought for those sharp JT gems out there.

Photocopies of back issues are available. $20 for a set of issues #1 - #17, postpaid. Contact your editor.

There are some other Studebaker rosters being kept besides ours. Two such rosters are being kept on particular species of Hawks and JTN has at times contacted their keepers. One of these is for surviving ‘56 Golden Hawks. Frank Ambrogio, the well known editor of 56J Only, keeps the roster. Dave Weichey and Mike Williams are maintaining and updating a roster of surviving ‘58 Packard Hawks. The number of high quality survivors of these two Hawks breeds is amazingly large. Frank has rostered over 200 cars and Mike and Dave have identified over 160. As with JT cars, sales of these cars makes tracking them a challenge to say nothing of original discovery. Frank, Dave and Mike have put enormous effort into their rosters. They both could use lookouts at meets everywhere. Many a time has this editor walked by a sharp 56J or ’58 Packard Hawk at a meet and not taken down name or number. So while we are checking out those JT gems, let’s do the same for 56J and ‘58 Packard Hawk. Take your camera and note pad. Mike indexes his ’58 Packard Hawk roster on body number and VIN. Frank rosters 56J based on VIN. An out reach to Packard Club affiliated owners of these cars is also sought.

The factory original JT cars tabulated below made appearances at either the swap meet or concourse.

Myles Walker’s R2 Hawk has been previously presented in JTN. The car must be seen in person. It remains a fine example of a beautifully restored GT Hawk. An electrical problem prevented the car from getting first place. There was much foot traffic around Nelson Bove’s R3 Commander, which was the only R3 at the meet. The car has Halibrands on it now.

The JT clones tabulated below made appearances at the concourse.

Larry Golub drove his white ’64 Wagonaire from Florida. Sporting a pristine green vinyl interior , the car is in fine condition and has been thoroughly outfitted with JT equipment. The R1 engine was salvaged from an early ’63 GT Hawk. Gary Hildebrandt owns a sharp Blue Mist Regal 2 door sedan that your editor first saw at the SDC L.A. Chapter meet in 1997. The car was for sale then and wandered off. Alan Songer restored the car and upgraded it to R1. Malcolm Berry’s white Wagonaire is a fabulous machine that is well known in he Midwest. As R2 ‘s go Malcolm’s wagon has the neatest engine compartment around. Also well known for a very long time in the Midwest is Denny Leroy’s stunning Laguna Blue Daytona.

Richard writes:

I decided to fly at the last minute to South Bend on Delta Airlines Wed. June 26, at 7:00AM PDT, after a layover of a little over 1 1/2hrs. in Atlanta, GA, I took a Canadair Regional Jet to South Bend & arrived at 5:01PM local time. I picked up my Budget rental car and drove to the Century Center where the swap meet was going on & was (1) block from the Marriott Hotel SDC headquarters. I could not resist buying a few small (suitcase sized) parts off of the big International Harvester School bus of Tom Karkiewicz Stude. Parts (S/B, IN). Got a Carter (real V-8 fuel pump, NOS T-98 4 speed shift knob, etc. and tried to register for the meet, but they had closed for the night so I drove out Lincolnway West (SR20) through town to across the street from the South Bend Regional Airport where my ORBITZ on line reservation I had used for everything had found me a reasonable room at a very nice Days Inn Hotel & I checked in for the night. I was very tired after having gotten up at 2:00AM that morning to catch a Shuttle Express van to Sea Tac Airport, so I went to bed about 11:00PM & slept in till about 9:30AM Thurs. then off to the Car Show at Notre Dame which is way out North of town where I was to meet my son Dave Gahlbeck from Atlantic Beach, FL (near Jacksonville) he drove his '57 Commander 2dr. Sedan to the meet. We met at his car, which was registered as "Display Only" because it is a "driver" for now. The display of so many models of Studes. was more than amazing I heard 700! don't know the exact count. I saw Dave Lester's "Stude. under construction" from web fame, a beautiful '54 Custom Starlight coupe. I checked out all the "Super Larks" including Nelson Bove's Great '64 Strato Blue Comm.2dr. with a documented factory R-3, 4 speed, full package super Lark which was sent to Engineering Dept. & then delivered to the Stude. Corp. Parts Depot & Zone Office on 44th St. in Los Angeles, CA I recognized the address on the build slip! Dave met his friends from Montecello, IN who he had stayed with the night before he showed them some of the cars & they returned home. Then Dave joined the caravan from Notre Dame to Century Center with St. Joseph County Sheriff & South Bend Police escort, he said it was great, with large crowds along the way waving. I had taken a faster route & parked in the non-Stude part of the City Parking Garage and was watching the parade right next to the local TV cameraman as every Stude. turned into the parking lot and waved at the camera. Dave had to return back to his friend's in Montecello so he could get some new custom wheels he had sent there because the 6" wide ones he was running had too much outside offset & were rubbing on the rear fender openings on turns. The next morning Fri. Dave & I met at the "Unofficial" Stude. drag race at a "test & tune" day at Osceola Dragway in Elkhart County. I said hi to old friends Jon, Betty, Michelle, & Mike Myer; who I knew in Orange Empire Chapter in Southern Calif. Mike was racing "Spooky S" his '60 Lark 2dr. with "327" Chev. power & (2) Paxton Superchargers, it went about 125 MPH in low 10 sec. but usually runs in the high 9's. Ted Harbit was having trouble with a sticking waste-gate on his Turbos & couldn't run as fast as a stock 259 Auto. It just would not run. Many other fast "super" Studes. ran very well especially a '60 Lark with a fully "built" 259 that had a custom made Ram log manifold with tuned length runners & exhaust headers & sounded like it had a turbo 400 style racing Trans. that thru a mean shift and pulled the front end off the ground with just a big 4brl. & no blower, it really ran! We enjoyed watching until Dave had to leave to drive to Indianapolis Airport to meet a lady friend from San Diego area who flew out to meet him to ride to the San Diego area with him to store his car for his move later this year to Diego Garcia Island in the Indian Ocean where he will be stationed at the Navy base. So after we said good-bye I stayed for a while, and then drove back to my hotel.

Then came the last day there; Sat. June 29, I drove out to Main St.& Chippewa Ave. a block from the Chippewa truck plant & followed all the Studes. to the parking lot of a sports stadium I think, where they were lining the Studes up for the proving grounds tour. I parked the rental car and got offered a ride with Steve from the Chicago Chapter whom I had spoken with at length at the car show & seen racing at the strip in his very nice & fast White with Red '61 Hawk 4 speed with a single 4brl. 304 cu. in. Stude. V-8. We had a great parade to the proving grounds with all the people from most of the businesses & houses in town & along SR20 bypass expressway waving at us from lawn chairs in front of their places. The proving grounds were well kept with the original Studebaker engineering garages still in use by the current owner, Bosch Corp. The ride around the track was great with what seemed like hundreds of Studes. pouring in, in an "endless line” as we came around to the entrance again. It was a nice, medium speed cruise because there were so many cars going around the high banked turns we could only go maybe 40-50 MPH or so. Then we went to the parking lot in front where some parked & others said goodbye. It was a very impressive flock of Studes. because some people had to leave before the run, but still others, I guess locals mostly joined in for a great parade with the World's only known active Stude. Police unit leading: a '64 Commander Wagonaire ambulet still in service with the St. Joseph County Sheriff's Dept. There were (2) 4dr.'64 Police cars & a '63 Lark Police car also at the show. We had the best support from the Sheriff's Dept. with units blocking all onramps to the expressway & all streets on the parade route. Steve had to leave direct from there for Chicago so another member of their Chapter "Chris" graciously offered to take me back to Chippewa St. to my car, so I got to ride with he & his son in his 1st.place winning Turquoise '64 Avanti R1 which was not only beautiful but very strong running. When we got back to Chippewa St. he drove down the Street to the Chippewa Truck plant so I could see for the 1st. time, the great factory where my '62 Transtar 1 ton Duelly was built. Then he returned me to my car at the start point of the tour. I then drove back to downtown South Bend and cruised around the dozens of former factory buildings just sitting there for 40 years unused and crumbling, really a crying shame that all those millions of square feet of factory space are going to waste. I then went into SASCO & saw Dennis & Denise and checked out his new store in the former Stude. Engineering building, bought a few small items and went down the Street to the Studebaker National Museum. They had a great open house in the Museum and sale in their store, I saw that and got hot dogs & Pepsi in the parking lot and saw the car show in their lot. I then took the rental car back, rode their shuttle to the airport, flew home, caught the Shuttle Express to Everett Holiday Inn where I left my car and came home. This was a very enjoyable trip, although I don't recommend doing last minute trips to the International meet unless you have to as I did. In my case there was no way I could plan 4 months ahead & know I could leave my job without jeopardizing it. When I got my layoff notice from Boeing, then I knew it couldn't hurt so I "went for it". The host chapter spends several years planning and arranging a great event with dinners, tours meetings, fun night dance and many great events. They need our support for the Hotel rooms and registrations etc. so I highly recommend doing all of them that you can, but I still was able to have a great time with only 5 days in advance to prepare for my trip with the help of the on-line booking services on the Internet it all came together just fine.

Bill writes:

I got a second in the '62-63 Lark class...350 out of 400. That's worse than I did in '97 even though I think I've made several improvements since then, but on the other hand, I did 25 pts. better in '97 South Bend

than in '95 Dearborn and had I made five points' worth of improvements in that time it would have been something! All depends on who's doing the judging!

Personally, I just loved this year's South Bend. We made it our family vacation and stayed the whole week. Going out on the Proving Ground was absolutely terrific and the 15-mile drive out there, with people in folding chairs waving from the sidelines and being escorted through intersections and while merging onto a divided highway, by the SB and Indiana State Police was so neat. I even wrote a brief letter to the South Bend Tribune to say everyone we met was not only friendly but even enthusiastic. They printed it. I put in a pitch to support the Museum too and they printed that too.

Doug Tjapkes and 63V31102 at Osceola Doug took this well prepared Powershift R2 package GT Hawk to Osceola, IN. In his first drag strip experience, Doug won all 7 matchups, including two against an R2 Avanti with the same rear end, three against an R1 GT Hawk; and two against an R2 GT Hawk. The car had a rebuilt carb, a 3.73 rear end, R3 headers, and 2 1/4 inch exhaust, and was burning 110 octane racing fuel. Best ET was a little over 16 seconds and best speed a little over 86 mph.

Doug ran two fine races against John Raab’s R1 Lark clone. The Hawk ran the first shootout in 16.246 sec and 87.16 mph, losing by 0.05 sec. The second race was 16.254 sec for the Lark to 16.353 sec for Doug. The trap speeds for the Lark were both in the 84s. Doug’s Hawk snapped its crankshaft on the way home. Repairs are underway. Doug plans to change the rear end to 4.09 from 3.73. Please see the want ad below if you can help.

Plain Brown Wrapper (PBW) and Stude Tomato at the Muscle Car Drags Ted Harbit and George Krem set four goals for the event and achieved one. That goal was to get in the 13.40's with the R2 Tomato. Ted wanted 107 speed but didn't get that (106.24). George wanted a 12.999 sec ET and 111 mph with the R3 PBW and didn't make either of those. PBW best speed was 110.37.

PBW ran 10 times and won all 10. Among the cars that PBW defeated in trials were two ’70 Dodge Challenger 440 Six Packs, a ’67 Chevelle 396, ’67 GTO, and a ’68 Ford Fairlane 428 CJ. PBW paired up in the shootout with a Pontiac Ram Air IV 455 Judge. The Judge red lighted the first round. In the second round, the Pontiac ran a 13.068 sec ET at 107.36 mph and PBW had a 13.035 sec ET at 106.82 mph for a win. The 13.035 ET was the best ever for PBW.

Tomato ran 11 times and won 10 of them. Tomato was paired in the shootout against a Ram Air III 400 Judge. In the first round, the Judge had a .516 light and an unbelievable 1.875 sec 60' time. Tomato just barely caught the Judge at the finish line with a 13.412 sec ET at 105.42 mph to Judge’s 13.458 sec ET at 99.66 mph. Margin of victory was only .0272 seconds or about 3 to 4 feet. In the second round, Judge had a .517 reaction time but spun to only a 2.272 sec 60' time to the Tomato's 2.271 sec 60'. Judge ran 14.126 sec ET @ 99.42 and the Tomato ran away at 13.933 sec ET at 99.11 mph. Not only did George and Ted put in long hours in preparing the cars, Nelson Bove was instrumental in getting both of these cars ready for the strip.

Two other R2 Hawks appeared at the Muscle Car Drags. Bob Shapton brought his sharp R2 GT Hawk, 64V8983, to the event and did very well. Bob ran unopposed in the shootout. Bob’s Hawk appeared on Ebay Canada right afterwards. Mike Shaffer of Toledo, OH brought a Gold R2 4 speed GT Hawk, 63V8219. The car experienced blower problems and skipped the shootout. The car was originally Rose Mist with HD Flightomatic.

Well aged owner roster entries are shown below. Updates on the status of these cars are welcomed.

Replacement R1 Air Cleaner Element Ford Applications of the R1 air cleaner include:

Parts List Project For some years now, JTN has been assembling a table of part numbers. Any part that is not found on a standard V-8 but is found on a JT equipped car of the same model is eligible for the table, which is several pages long. Knowledgeable readers who can contribute or validate the work are sought. Contact your editor for a copy of the list. Plans will soon be set for general availability. JTN may publish the table in the future after it’s been completed and validated. It’s amazing how many unique parts are involved!

V is Vince Granatelli J is Joe Granatelli P is Paula Murphy

As mentioned in issue #16, this car was acquired in 1964 by Dick Passwater with R2 power. The car was raced by Dick for two seasons before it was sold with Pontiac power. The car was then raced at Brooklyn, MI where it is believed to have been wrecked. The R3 engine number remains unknown.

GT Hawk in Puerto Rico Arecibo, Puerto Rico is well known as the site of a radio telescope. Let it now also be known as the shipping destination of 64V3053, a white R1 package GT Hawk equipped with Powershift, black vinyl interior and Sportroof and engine JTH324.

Malcolm Stinson and the Arizona Fires Malcolm is a subscriber and owner of a Studebaker restoration business in Show Low, AZ. Fires in the Show Low area were major summer news. Malcolm reports that he and his property have survived the fires.

Lanny Bertram and 63V29447 Lanny has been previously reported as the owner of a drive train from a ’64 R2 Commander, 64V6771. Now Lanny has acquired 63V29447, a long time engineless R2 package Regal from California. Lanny plans to unite the Regal and the Commander engine.

Lanny’s friend and co-worker Bob Michaelree purchased 64V6771 new in 1964 from the Indianapolis Stude dealer on N Meridian St. He looked at other performance cars but liked the Studebaker Warranty. He told me how the Service Manager there took him for a ride to show him "How to drive this car". They laid rubber half way to 38th St. The warranty paid off when the fan got into the radiator in the infield at the "500" when the dealer towed the car back to the shop and made all repairs at no charge. Bob took the emblems off because he did a fair amount of street racing. Bob lost the car in a divorce a few years later. His wife kept it until Bob bought it back. By this time the car was pretty well rusted out. Some time in the early or mid 70's he offered the car for sale to Mr. Easterday on South St. Easterday wasn't interested so Bob pulled the radiator, motor, trans, driveshaft, clutch linkage and a few odds and ends then left the body in an abandoned lot on the near east side. The drivetrain sat in Bob's garage where Lanny found it.

Smokey Greenhalgh and the ’42 Stude coupe Bob Coolidge did the research on this track racer from the ‘64-’65 era. Smokey raced this open wheel, modified coupe on New York tracks with an R4 engine in it.

Diane & Pat Grey and 63V21303 The Greys of Connecticut have acquired this R2 convertible with 4 speed, white exterior, blue vinyl interior, standard suspension and 3.31 Twin Traction. 21303 is one of the Prestolite racing team cars mentioned in JTN #16. The twin blue stripes are very evident on this first Prestolite team survivor to be found, which has been in CT since 1964. Richard Yeats, Nelson Bove and Andy Petrass were instrumental in discovering and identifying the car. The car is intact but rough and the Greys are gathering parts for restoration. Leads to body parts are welcomed. Contact your editor.

Gary Olson and the Travels of 64V18537 This Golden Sand R2 package Daytona Hardtop was rostered as long ago as 1989 by third owner Keven Isgar. JTN was recently contacted by Keven about the fate of the car, which fifth owner North Dakota’s Gary Olson now has.

The car was first licensed on 12/24/63 by Joseph C. Ardourl for his and his wife's use. It was delivered on a rush order. Ardourl owned Joe Ardourl Motors, a Studebaker dealer, in Boulder, Colorado. Second owner Daniel Cooper of Boulder bought it from Joe 2/25/69 while he was a junior in high school. The story he got was that Mrs. Ardourl never quite got the hang of the 4 speed so the car had low mileage. Dan drove it for a few years and then parked it on land he owned in Black Hawk, Colorado about 1977 or 78 where it sat, unprotected. Dan ran an ad in the Denver Post in January 1982. Keven called in response and drove to Black Hawk from his home near Grand Junction to see the car. It was a sad sight to see; all tires flat, supercharger in trunk with missing parts, etc. Keven primed the carb, put in a battery and started the car. Mice nests blew out the tail pipes and it soon started sounding pretty good. Keven jacked up the car and took the 4 wheels into Denver to buy and mount 4 used tires on them. Next morning, put them on, he filled up with gas and drove it 200 miles home with no problems. Keven spent some years refurbishing, rebuilding and restoring the car. When fourth owner Jim Ryan and Keven traded vehicles in 1989, the Daytona was very close to a 100 point car. The car’s padded dash had cracks at the radio speaker area. Keven also struggled with the transmission.

Jim Ryan took the solid, rust free car to Liberty, Indiana and proceeded to do more mechanical work on the car. Jim offered to sell it at '97 South Bend SDC Nat'l meet. The car's engine had been torn down, rebuilt but not assembled. Gary Olson bought the car in 1997 from Ryan, put it's engine back together and installed a Hurst shifter. Gary has done a host of other restoration tasks on the car. Photos of the car at Rapid City in 1999 show an outstanding example of the '64 R2 Daytona. Keven, Jim and Gary are each due credit for the car being on the road and surviving today. Dan is happy and amazed that somebody brought it back to glory.

The Camdens and the Discovery of 64V16593 Thanks go to Joe Fay for chatting with John Camden at the May South Bend swap meet. The Camdens of Indiana reported to Joe their ownership of a JT car. They are the original owners of a ’64 Horizon Green R1 package Daytona hardtop. The car is 64V16593 and has 55K miles, green vinyl interior and Powershift. The car was garaged in 1968 with a blown head gasket and has just recently been put back on the road. John has rebuilt the engine and replaced the green vinyl seat material. The car has neither A/C nor power steering. As John put it, “All the power goes to the wheels.” This beauty is a scarce example of a one owner JT car. The car appeared at the June South Bend SDC meet. The connection between John and Joe is how this newsletter works. Readers, keep it up!

John Stiving provided a detailed description of a car he bought new in Moline, OH. This Blue Mist Daytona hardtop had 4 speed, 4.09 rear end, split bench seat, Twin Traction, disc brakes and blue interior. With the aid of George Krem, JTN has determined the car’s VIN to be 63V22129 and engine JTS1509. John traded in the Daytona in the Toledo, OH area. That was 1965. John and JTN are looking for the car and/or engine.

The car that Don reported in JTN #15 has been identified as 63V11269. The car ‘s shipping destination was the Manufacturing Division.

The last issue offered a best guess of the identity of Childers’ car based on assumptions and gathered data. These assumptions have been shown to be invalid and the best guess VIN is also invalid. John Metzker discovered that the Gordon Williams prepared and highly successful ’63 Standard and the car that Rich Childers has owned for 30 years are the same car. Williams dragged the factory original R1 Flightomatic Standard in California out of the Warren & Day dealership in San Bernardino. JTN archives have a photo of the car on the strip in full regalia. It’s clearly an R1 automatic in Standard trim (no moldings anywhere). This unique car must be 63V33243, which the factory tagged as a “Test Car.” This non-package car was Super Red and had drum brakes. Gordon modified the engine to R3 specs. Transmission work was done by Rossi Racing Transmissions. The car and its performance were extensively reported in Dick Datson’s Total Performance newsletter series.

Tom Null and the R1 GT Hawk Convertible 63V27892 About 4 years ago, Tom acquired this R1 original non-package Hawk convertible and brought it to Southern California. This sharp, solid car was modified by Stan Pridachek (phonetic spelling at best) much earlier in its life. The car is 4 speed painted ’67 Camaro blue. The interior is solid black vinyl, The top fits the car well and has both a soft tonneau and a T’bird style hard tonneau. The frame has been reinforced.

Eric Derosa and 63V15256 Eric reports making progress in the restoration of his ’63 R2 Custom 2 doors. Eric had the frame cracks repaired and the front end rebuilt. The car still needs a replacement R2 engine.

Progress on Restoration of 64V16849 This Golden Sand ’64 R2 GT Hawk was offered for sale in JTN many issues ago by Art Lowry of Thermal, CA. The car was acquired by Leo Logsdon and taken to Bryan Packard Repair in Oceanside, CA. Bryan started a top quality restoration on the car and made significant progress in body repair, engine rebuilding and parts stock piling. This is the car offered for sale in the “Flocks” section of August Turning Wheels. The car seems never to have left California. 16849 is Golden Sand with Powershift and green cloth interior.