Welcome to my shed. Hopefully over the next few days I can build some sort of virtual tour of my shed aka "The National Studebaker Museum of Australia" (a name concocted to stir up the Americans).
Like any shed it isn't quite big enough although that's largely my fault for continuing to buy old cars.
We are headed in. These pictures were taken when it was tidy - which it isn't now because I have bought more cars, we are working on some, and I have some 13,000 78 rpm records in there which I need to sort through. Anyone want some 78's?
Here we are inside. Sorry about the ugly fellow on the left (Me BTW). You can kind of tell what a bad boy I am and what a loving, tolerant and generous wife I have - although I should add that some of the cars are Hers!
In case you were wondering the plastic tiles on the floor spell out "STUDEBAKER" which took a lot of planning as I didn't want to reach the far end and find I could only have "STUDEBAKE".
OK now lets turn around and check out the other side of the shed. More old cars - surprise, surprise!
You can just see a little bit of the area where I have other antique items on display. I am trying to put the cars into somewhat of an historical perspective and make a visit more interesting for partners and children who may not be quite so content to just look at a line up of historic vehicles.
Here is a picture of the cars lined up on our horse arena which is now more a parking area for the museum when a car club comes to visit.
The car nearest the camera isn't ours (it belongs to a very good friend) but the rest are. Vivian, of course, owns the bright red (=goes faster) Avanti. Told you I was a bad boy!
Here's the same line up pictured from the other end.
Hopefully I won't need the car nearest the camera to be operational for many years! Actually these pictures come courtesy of the Studebaker Car Club of NSW when they visited the museum, It was the first time on one of their runs that the veteran and vintage cars outnumber the (relatively) moderns.
My neighbour from just down the road brought his Studebaker Rockne to add to the display.
A pretty rare car and beautifully restored.
But old cars shouldn't be confined to museums. They should be out and about on the road (present circumstances excepted). So in my next post we'll look at some of them "out and about".
Stay safe and stay in touch
Doug
Doug
True dedication to the cause very impressed
Geoff Yeomans
Great collection and presentation, needs just one more car. A Packard of course. How about this one
Vivian- How do you manage all these cars and Doug as well?
Congratulations on the Studebaker shed, Our only experience with Studebakers was a 1948 truck we used to cart cattle with. It was always overheating(boiling} and had terrible steering and brakes. Keith used it to take his 1908 Albion Lorry to some early veteran rallies on the 1950's
Rod Holmes
Geese Vivian and Doug (Ladies always first), what an excellent display and format for a Corvid 19 homestay tour. We may have to do a day tour one day after this Corvid crisis.
Thanks for your time and Thanks to Abby also.....N.
Hi Graeme. It's nice to know that someone enjoyed it. This forum Abbey has added to our web site is great (thanks Abbey!) and hopefully members will gradually start to realise it. I guess it's still quite new and I guess that a lot of people are shy about posting and / or are not quite certain how to use it.
Doug
Awesome job Doug, with both the shed and the post. Sorry I hadn't commented earlier but I had to get some technical advice.
This thread is getting rather long and I definitely need a break. When I get a chance I might start a new thread for the rest of this virtual tour.
I hope you found my posts interesting or amusing or, better still, both.
Please stay happy, stay safe, stay healthy and stay connected.
Regards
Doug
Albert R Erskine, President of Studebaker, wanted to have straight eight models. His chief engineer reckoned that their Big Six motor was all that they needed. So Erskine fired his chief engineer and promoted Barney Roos into the position. He got his wished for straight eight engine - in fact he got two. The big one went into the President 8 line. Originally released in 1928 with a swept volume of 313 cubic inches, it was shortly after bored out to 331 cubic inches and in its 1929 guise was producing 115 bhp net horsepower. So this roadster version was christened "Barney". The car was previously owned by Toby Bent and some of you may remember it from back then. He and his wife toured all round NSW in this car towing a Chesney caravan. When I first got the car it still had driving lights, a tow bar and air brakes for the caravan all fitted - all long ago removed.
The colour scheme is original (apart from the fact that when I had the wire wheels powder coated I refused to do them bright orange). I don't really go on the colour scheme but most of the other original colour schemes were worse. You can see the door for your golf clubs just forward of the rear wheel. I have acquired some wooden shaft golf clubs, an antique tennis racquet and some antique croquet mallets to go with the car. It, of course, has a dickey seat. I have been in it on one short trip and I can confirm that it is extraordinarily windy back there.
Before I tell you how this car was given its name I have to remind you of an Australian tradition. Otherwise I might just get into trouble. Aussies often name things by their opposite. So redheads are often called "Bluey", men of large stature called "Tiny" etc. So when I brought home a 1934 Studebaker Model 1 Dictator, naturally I named it "Vivian". In general I am more into cars with the earlier styles but when I saw this car I fell in love with it. For its style I think it was particularly artistically done. But opening and closing that bonnet is quite an operation.
This was a bold new design developed during Studebaker's period in receivership. I am not aware of any other automobile manufacturer having gone into receivership and successfully traded out of it. It certainly isn't common.
This is "Josephine", so named because we bought it from our friends Joe and Joan de Vries. Joe is known as Studebaker Joe or Packard Joe depending upon what car he is out in. Josephine was one of 6 of my cars used in the filming of "The Great Gatsby". We had to get it out on a beach at Brighton Le Sands. They had some rubber mats for us to use to traverse the sand. I said to Kevin, who was with me, you drive and I'll handle the mats. Big mistake. The crew had obviously seen how difficult it was to move the car so when it came time to film that scene (mid afternoon mind you despite the fact that they had required us to be there by 6:00 am) they decided that it would be quicker and easier to move the camera and leave the car where it was.
When they had finished shooting we had a great idea, or so it seemed at the time. The tide was going out so there was firm sand at the water's edge. We figured if we headed there we could drive along the firm sand. Well we got to the firm sand but the car didn't want to turn and for a few moments it looked like we were headed for New Zealand! We did manage to turn it and luckily a guy turned up in a beach buggy and towed us over the final soft bit to the car park. There was still more drama as there was only one way in and out of the car park so I had to turn the tow vehicle and car trailer around. We figured that there was enough room to do that without unhitching the trailer (Josephine was already loaded). Well I guess there was - just! Half way through my 19 point U-turn I was having my doubts. If you were wondering this is a late production (1924) Studebaker EL Special Six tourer with the fancy shaped radiator and bonnet. I do have to admit that I also have an example of an early production model which is a project and I need a few bits to complete it - basically hood irons and the steering column.
This is "Boris", a 1915 Studebaker EC 6 cylinder hearse. My understanding is that it started life as a tourer, was converted into a mail delivery van and later on to a hearse. It then fell into disrepair and was restored as a hearse. It was then purchased by a funeral parlour in Newcastle but I gather only as a show piece. It does need a bit of work to be operational and road worthy.
Vivian was driving Her Studebaker - the Avanti (which we just call the Avanti). You can tell from the smile on the dial that she was really enjoying the car. So much so that on the way there, when we pulled over for a snack she was known to sit in the car revving up and down. We had to reach in through the window and switch the motor off before she would join the rest of us. She did seem to be driving a little differently. Eventually we discovered why. The car was slowly running out of brakes but she didn't want to let on at first because she figured that we would put the car on the trailer and she wanted to keep driving. It's wonderful to have an enthusiastic partner.
This is "Marmalade", a Series 18 Studebaker SF four tourer. It was purchased on the basis of one tiny colour photograph via a telephone bid. I got the car so I had to drive to Adelaide to bring it home on our car trailer. When I arrived home with it I apologised about how bright it was and said that if we ever re-sprayed it we could change the colour. The kids promptly christened it Marmalade and made me promise that if it was ever re-sprayed it would be the same bright yellow. It does seem to attract lots of attention. At a rally in Tasmania the local school children declared it to be "Bumblebee" which apparently is a "character" in Transformers.
Marmalade has done several tours in Tasmania, the first with Steve Fleming driving as I broke my foot shortly prior to the event. That's my mate Kevin Boardman driving in the picture - I was driving Marmaduke instead. Where was Vivian at the time? You'll find out shortly.
This is "Big Ted" a series 19 Studebaker EG Big Six. Production began in the US in mid 1918. This car was US production and was imported into Australia as a second hand vehicle in 1923 by, I believe, an ice works company. Most Studebakers imported into Australia came from the Canadian plant as there was a preferential tariff for Commonwealth countries at the time. It has a very low serial number and chassis number so I believe that it is veteran although this model did continue well into the vintage period. It does have a few parts off later models fitted. Its an original body with the early two piece windscreen fittings - they've been bolted together to enable a one piece windscreen to be fitted. It was named "Big Ted" as I purchased it off Ted Beeston. The "Big" part of both its model name and the name we use is pretty much justified as the 6 cylinder motor has a displacement of 353 cubic inches - that is just a touch under 6 litres. One of Corinne's girlfriends used it as her wedding car.
In the meantime do stay happy and amused like my lovely wife in this picture, I think I must have said something humorous!
There are plenty more cars to see on this virtual tour but I do have some jobs to go and do so they will have to wait a day or two. But there are a lot of other interesting things as well, both car related and not car related such as phonographs.
So I do look forward to the next part of our tour.
This is "Erica" our 1925 6 cylinder Studebaker ER. ER hence Erica. Its a lovely car to drive, nice and light. It has what is usually called a "California Hardtop" out here but in America they call it a "duplex phaeton". Then again they call bonnets as hoods, hoods as tops and boots as trunks,
Seeing the full registration plates on Erica just reminds me how good the log book system is for us old car enthusiasts.
This is "Mabel", a 1913 SA 4 cylinder Studebaker, so named because we purchased it from Dave Pink. (Dave and Mabel - get it?) Anyhow it had come from a museum and had been fitted with a rough town car body that was too big for the chassis and had nothing to do with Studebaker. So when the company making the mini series "Anzac Girls" for ABC TV approached me to provide a replica WW1 ambulance that was the chassis I chose. I got p[hotos from the War Memorial so we could make a fair replica and chased up all the material and odd bits we needed while Kevin Boardman made the body. It was shipped to Adelaide painted white for desert scenes and then painted green so as to be a different ambulance in France.
This is Marmaduke's big sister "Eleanor". It's a 1915 EC 6 cylinder Studebaker tourer and a fairly original car. Some of the older members may remember Bill and Rita East taking this car on rallies. I hear they were often stopped at the side of the road for a "cuppa". I have just had the radiator re-cored which should stop it's tendency to overheat. This car is beautifully smooth to drive given the natural balance of the 6 cylinder design. Whenever I drive it and then go back to driving one of the fours I tend to think that there must be something amiss as the fours vibrate so much more.
This is a picture of Eleanor parked outside Barenz in Camden, I think it looks truly elegant. In November 1915 a group headed by Hugh Fraser drove such a vehicle from Fremantle to Sydney in a touch under 9 days - a truly amazing feat and set the first record for such a trip. (Note for Brush owners - Francis Birtles had done the trip previously, in about 28 days from memory, but didn't set a record as I understand it because he didn't do the entire trip using only his own car's system of propulsion.) I am looking at the possibility of doing a partial re-enactment after the Bussellton Rally in 2022 but will be taking considerably longer and bypassing Adelaide and Melbourne. And I will have petrol stations, maps, bridges and sealed roads rather than a mixture of stock route and dirt roads.
"Herschey", an early 1928 model Studebaker President 8 seven seat sedan was named by Peter Limon who used it as a wedding vehicle as the previous owner was a Douglas Herschberger. It was one of the two wedding vehicles that my daughter, Corinne, used for her wedding.
The picture was taken at a Christmas in July function with me hamming it up as a gangster - although I hasten to add that we did pay for our meals. We actually bought two cars from Peter but I'll tell you that story in another post.