The JET THRUST News
Fall 2003 Issue #20
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 and the subscription
always applies to the entire year. Advance payment of one or more years is
welcomed. A reminder postcard is sent in January for renewal of expiring
subscriptions.
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: 185
Founding
Editor: Don
Curtis Past Editor: George Krem
Production
Research : George
Krem, Andy Petrass
Major
Financial Contributor: Richard La Torre, Nelson Bove, Bart Ladd, John Metzker
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JT Production
Lists by Serial Number
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.
JT 1963 Production Listing |
$10 |
JT 1964 Production Listing |
$10 |
JT Owner Rosters |
$10 |
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.
************************************************************************************
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.
The Mission of the Jet
Thrust News
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 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.
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 - #19, postpaid. Contact your editor.
Surviving cars
found since the last issue
Owner |
Car |
Owner |
Car |
Bill Solomon |
63V6525 R2 GT Hawk |
Bob Petrillose |
63V33196 R1 package GT Hawk |
Bob Edwards |
64V7410 R1 GT Hawk |
Brian Gleason |
64V13293 R1 Cruiser |
Jim Kranak |
63V14628 R1 GT Hawk |
Chuck Kinney |
63V13031 R2 GT Hawk |
Gary Futer |
63V19693 R1 GT Hawk |
Leroy Andrew |
63V4763 R2 Regal 2 door |
(S) Richard Yeats |
63V17896 R1 GT Hawk |
Rex Gould |
64V12308 R1 Daytona 4 door |
(S) indicates
source of information rather than owner
Cars
determined to be non-surviving |
63V20141 R2 convertible |
Found engines
Owner |
Number |
Barry Hackney |
JTS1477 out of 63V20141 R2
convertible |
Cars sold
Owner |
Car |
Last owner |
Murray Clark |
63V19953 R1 4 door Custom |
Danny Jaquiery |
Paul Freitag |
64V4817 R1 GT Hawk |
Jim Springer |
Christopher Brockwell |
64V18375 R1 Package Daytona
4 door |
Maurice Brockwell |
Brian Scott |
63V28306 R1 GT Hawk |
John Poulos |
Jeff Rice |
63V8295 R1 GT Hawk |
John Poulos |
Steve Doerschlag |
64V10794 R1 Commander 2 dr |
Doug Sunnenberg |
Robert Harvey |
63V30528 R2 package GT Hawk |
Victor Ratliff |
John Poulos |
63V6525 R2 GT hawk |
Bill Solomon |
Jon Finstrom |
63V17809 R1 Regal Wagon |
Alan Grossman |
Peter Morton |
64V4509 R1 GT Hawk |
Henry Pannunzio, Jr. |
Leon Martin |
63V29522 R2 package GT Hawk |
Bo Markham |
Steve Doerschlag |
63V4763 R2 Regal 2 door |
Leroy Andrew |
San
Jose ’64 R2 Daytona The Turning Wheels edition of January 1990 had an ad in it for a ’64
R2 Daytona in excellent shape. JTN believes the car was 64V13341 and may be the
car that Nelson Bove inspected in Sunnyvale about 15 years earlier. The phone #
in the ad is no longer in use by the seller and that phone # was not in the SDC
rosters of that era. The phone # was our best lead and now we have no lead. The
car was Bordeaux Red with Black vinyl interior, 4 speed, and full performance
package. What happened to the car? Any help in tracking the car or in
determining who the seller was will be most welcome. JTN circulated an
“information wanted “ flyer at the Sacramento meet about this car.
Vince
Granatelli Since
Denny Lockmon relocated to Arizona, he has become acquainted with Vince
Granatelli, Andy’s oldest son. Vince operates a racing business in Phoenix and
had been inquiring of the fate of various Studebakers. JTN had previously
contacted Vince in 1999 regarding our R3 and R4 roster effort and Denny’s
contact with Vince afforded a chance to continue the 1999 conversation.
Sacramento
SDC International Meet The JT turnout at this year’s
SDC international meet was 7 cars. Those cars and their owners were:
Name |
VIN |
Color |
Ben
Starr |
63V33378
R2 package GT Hawk |
Super
Red |
John
Cornfoot |
63V15470
R1 GT Hawk |
Champagne
Gold |
Dennis
Wingert |
63V14416
R2 Custom 2 door |
Blue
Mist |
Paul
Freitag |
64V4817
R1 GT Hawk |
White |
Tom
Crosswhite |
63V30647
R2 GT Hawk |
Champagne
Gold |
Lee
Gitchel |
64V5525
R2 package Daytona hardtop |
White |
Fred
Damsen |
64V17546
R1 Daytona hardtop |
Bordeaux
Red |
Several
of these have been covered by JTN. Tom Crosswhite’s Hawk is a freshly restored,
outstanding example of an R2 Hawk. Thanks go to all 7 owners for bringing their
cars to Sacramento. Only the first 3 cars had been seen previously by this
editor. Other JT involved people at the meet included David Engle, Denny
Lockmon, Dale Derbidge, John Kroulik, Tony Berbig, Bob Mikulic, Bob Kabchef,
Malcolm Berry, Malcolm Stinson, Jr., Steve Doerschlag, Gary Firce, Bill Hollman
, Bob Peterson, and John Metzker. Hollman of nearby Woodland, CA posted a for
sale ad for his original ‘63 R2 4 speed convertible but the car was not at the
meet. Tony reported seeing a Rose Mist ’63 convertible in San Francisco. The
car had R2 fender badges on it and column shift A/T. Unconfirmed reports of the post-meet sale of 63V30647 and
64V17546 were received.
Steve
Doerschlag is the proud owner of a very noteworthy all Studebaker custom. The
vehicle is a ’37 Coupe Express with an R2 engine under the hood. Using all
Studebaker wares, the JTS style top mounted blower snugly fits under the hood.
The truck is finished in a stunning silver with custom wheels and floor shift
automatic transmission. The considerable foot traffic around the Coupe at the
meet was a testament to Steve’s handicraft. The Coupe must be seen to be fully
appreciated.
2003 Edition of the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags
(PSMCDR) As for several years running now, Studebakers
were well represented at this Michigan event. With Ted Harbit at the wheel,
George Krem’s R3 Challenger, Plain Brown Wrapper (PBW) , broke the 13 second
barrier for the first time. In an unofficial shootout, the car ran a new best
ET of 12.92 seconds in a losing effort against Rob Clary’s 427 S/C Yenko
Camaro. In the official shootout, PBW was paired with an Olds W31 F-85 owned by
Casey Marks. The Olds won the first round and red lighted the second. In the
third round, PBW was ahead by 3 car lengths and pulling away when the blower
belts let go. PBW was caught right at the line.
Ted’s ’63 R2 Custom, Stude Tomato, was paired
with a 440 Plymouth in its shootout. Qualifying ET was 13.8 seconds. Tomato won
the shootout as the 440 had launch problems.
Richard Poe’s ’63 R1 Custom won its shootout
against a 1971 Z28 Camaro. The Camaro did not return for the second round after losing the first. Richard’s goals were
not to break anything and make a good showing for a non-supercharged Lark. The
best qualifying ET was 15.404. Richard does indeed have a strong R1 and the
goals were clearly met. Richard will be using new tires next year.
Doug Tjapkes brought the full package Powershift R2 GT, Red Tailed Hawk. Doug has fashioned a very nice logo for the Red Tailed Hawk Racing Team and had T-shirts made of the logo. The car ran great but Doug struggled with bumping the shift lever past second gear when making the first shift. Best ET was 15.24 seconds and just a hair under 93 mph. The car weighed in at 3768 lbs with driver. Doug won his shooutout against a grey ‘63 R2 Avanti. The Avanti was disqualified for running nearly a second faster than its best qualifying time.
Mark
Riley, Bill Solomon and 63V6525 Mark took the JTN mission to heart as he documented
this genuine R2 GT Hawk in Southwestern Missouri. Mark knew for some time of a
Regal Red GT in a nearby town that belonged to SDC member Bill Solomon. The car
was originally HD Flightomatic and had been converted to 4 speed. The car is in
fine condition and is getting a refresh of paint and carpet. A very nice R2 GT
fitting this description appeared at a October 2002 Kansas City Good Guys meet.
JTN is working to determine if 6525 is that car. Mark is also helping with the
JT parts listing.
Paul
Freitag and 64V4817 Paul is the current owner of this San Francisco Bay area white R1 GT
Hawk, having bought it from Jim Springer in 2000. The car is a beauty but does
use oil a lot of oil without smoking. The car was on the cover of May 2003
Turning Wheels.
Ray
Lillie and 64V13636 The May 2002 edition of
Turning Wheels in an article by John Cosby made mention of an R2 ’64 Daytona
that was once owned by Ray’s late father. JTN followed up on that article to
learn that dad’s car was a red convertible. This car is the package R2 convertible
that belongs to Ohio’s Jack Eidemiller. We know that because Jack had retained
papers on the car identifying the Lillie family. Ray’s dad was a long time
Stude man who bought the car used in Mt. Sterling, KY in 1966 and kept it for
14 years. Ray’s uncle Dennis sold the car to an Ohio restorer. Ray did the
Fordomatic replacement and rebuild of the Powershift. Any information on the
Mt. Sterling dealer or other travels of the car is solicited. Ray is also a
Stude man and is looking for a ’51 Starlight Commander 3 spd O/D, as that was
his first car. Ray is not a fan of Studebaker automatics.
Tony
Berbig and 63V33120 Tony reports that the restoration of this R2 package wagon is
proceeding nicely. Tony, who is from Minnesota, has nearly acquired all the
body parts and supplies and the engine is being prepped for reassembly. Bob
Peterson from Castro Valley, CA has been a prime source of exterior parts.
Bob Petrillose and 63V33196 Bob‘s
name appeared in the 2003 SDC roster for the first time as owner of a R1 GT
Hawk. JTN contacted Bob to learn that
he has this Super Red R1 package (option 46) GT Hawk with black interior and 4
speed. It's been in the family since 1975 and is currently awaiting
restoration. Bob’s dad was a Studebaker dealer from 1954 to 1961 and has all
NOS sheet metal to restore car including very rare rear inner wheelhouse panels
he bought in 1968. The car is in Elmira, NY.
Bob
Edwards and 64V7410 West Virginia’s Bob Edwards
has located and acquired this loaded R1 GT Hawk.. Ordered with the non-package
R1 option 27, the car has 4 speed, HD suspension, TT, disc brakes, black sport
roof, white exterior, black vinyl interior, 160 mph speedo, oval fender badges,
tachometer, and A/C. The car is in poor condition.
Bob
Macleod and 63V9696 Bob owns this Rose Mist R1 Daytona that was delivered new to San Luis
Obispo. Bob got it from Ron Leung of Palo Alto (maybe) just before it was to be
stripped as a parts car. All the glass except the right vent were broken, body
panels dented with a rock or club of some sort, roof walked on, dash hammered
with a rock. The speedo was on the floor in pieces, gauge cluster smashed in,
somehow they only managed to break the glass in the tach. Restoration proceeds
slowly, but the car does have the two most important features of a used car:
running and paid for.
Jim
Kranak and 63V14628 Jim has owned this Champagne Gold R1 GT since 1985. Equipped with 4
speed, disc brakes and Twin Traction, the West Virginia car’s tan vinyl and
white insert interior has been replaced with a red interior. The original
interior was saved and is intact. The
car is being “body off” restored with traction bars and rear stabilizer bar
added. As of writing, the car’s front sheet metal, engine and brakes remained
to be done.
Freddie
Freeman and 63V6206 Freedie of MS has completed the restoration if this black Daytona
hardtop 4speed. The restoration came out splendidly according to Freddie and
the car is the toast of the town. JTN was thrilled to supply Freedie production
and survival information on the marque for exhibition purposes.
Robert
Harvey and 63V20528 JTN has rostered this 4 speed Super Red R2 package GT as a parts car
belonging to Victor Ratliff. Robert Harvey now has the car and has declared it
restorable but in sad shape. The original engine is in the car and runs. The
original red vinyl and cloth insert interior is far gone. The odometer show 96K
miles. The car apparently sat in a shed for a man years.
Leroy
Andrew and 63V4637 Leroy discovered this Regal Red R2 Regal 2 door in Colorado. Except
for the missing seats, the 4 speed car is intact. The body has suffered
considerably and may need replacement.
Richard
Yeats and 63V17896 Richard reported on this very rough Blue Mist R1 GT Hawk from eBay.
The car was damaged some 20 years ago and sat outside in OK since. The car has
a running, serviceable engine but the trunk and floorboards are rusted and the
interior is shot. The car’s mileage was reported to be only 30K.
John
Poulos and 63V5151 John of MD has completed the restoration of this Regal Red R2 Daytona
4 speed hardtop. The car looks very sharp and is quite a head turner.
Denny
Lockmon’s ’64 R1 Convertible The included build sheet is a reproduction of the
original for Denny’s 64V17459. Bob Shapton’s Corel Draw template was used to
prepare the sheet. The car now has a black top. AM/FM radio and air
conditioning have been added by Denny to make this already well equipped
Daytona even more loaded. The car remains stored in Nebraska while Denny
searches for a storage situation for the car in Arizona. JTN learned that Denny
was the owner of 63V10942, the Stude Tomato, prior to George Krem.
Richard
Yeats and 63V26929 Richard sold his prize winning black ’63 289 GT Hawk so that he could
concentrate on this Regal Red R2 GT
Hawk. Using valuable experience gained from restoring the black GT, Richard
worked throughout the summer to prepare the car for display at the Denton, TX
SDC regional meet. Richard acquired a new headliner, wind lace made out of the
original red vinyl form Chuck Kinney and sun visors that Frank Collins
covered with padding. All the running
gear is rebuilt including the front end. The front end was aligned, headliner
and a new windshield installed. The vent window rubber was replaced, drivers
door adjusted with new strikes and the tach and speedometer repaired.
The car was painted and fresh interior installed after painting.
Jon
Finstrom and 63V17809 Jon of Ft. Wyers, FL bought this R1 Wagonaire from Alan Grossman. Jon
has plans to restore this unusual 3 speed Regal.
Henry Pannunzio and 64V4509 First discovered in
very rough shape and reported to JTN many years ago, this R1 GT Hawk has been
restored and resold to Floridian Peter Morton. To quote Henry’s ad: “Everything
on this car has been rebuilt or replaced with NOS or repro parts. Engine has
been rebuilt and balanced as well as the transmission. Brakes completely
rebuilt including booster. The
interior was replaced with NOS material even NOS door panels were located. New
Horizon Green paint. new black vinyl sport roof, factory traction bars, Twin
Traction rear end, seat belts, PS, exhaust deflectors, too much to list. I have
all receipts. This car is ready to be driven and shown.”
Leon
Martin and 63V29522 This is Super Red R2 GT Hawk that Bo Markham recently acquired from
Californian Larry Walter. Australian Leon Martin now owns the car and has
shipped it home. Leon plans to fully restore this onetime Cincinnati car. Another JT car goes down under. That makes
13.
Steve
Doerschlag’s Newest Projects Steve has acquired two JT project cars in recent
months. 63V4763 is a Regal Red Regal 2
door R2 4 speed that was found in Longmont, CO. This longtime CO car is in very
poor shape. Steve has set about restoring the car and has acquired a much
needed body for it. 64V10794 is a Horizon Green R1 Commander that Steve got
from Ohio’s Doug Sunnenberg. The Commander was originally a CO car with 4 speed
that had been converted to Automatic. Steve is restoring this car with the aid
of a California donor body and conversion back to 4 speed.
Survival
Table -The ’63 R1 Regal 2 door is the topic or
this issues’ production and survival table.
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Paxton supercharger cores,
Lionel Stone, 4476 Matilija Ave., Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 call 818-990-8916
www.studebakervendors.com is the place where customers and vendors meet. Forget the phone, the mail and SASE. All the major vendors are listed on Studebaker Vendors. Just point, click and view. Most vendors have Email, and many have on-line shopping carts. Studebaker Vendors, your one-stop shopping mall.
Editor’s. Note: Photo and
word ads are free as long as the subject is Jet Thrust related. Contact the
editor. The ad deadline for JTN #21 is March 1, 2004. Car for sale ads must
include VIN. Engine for sale ads must include serial number.
Build sheet for 64V17459
Denny Lockmon’s 1964 R1
Daytona Convertible
Ron
Dewinter’s 1964 R2 GT Hawk
’63 Regal R1 2 door Survivor
Table