Studebaker
That pointy building where 4th Street, Oak Avenue, and Government Street meet is the Studebaker dealership.
Since Studebaker ceased making cars in the 1960s, the building has hosted various hopeless enterprises, including a kite shop. All it wants, all it’s waiting for, is the arrival of a double-storied car hauler loaded with brand new Studebakers.
The driver will unload eight sparkling beauties, the shop will drive them inside, quickly prep them, drive two into the showroom, phone and email impatient customers who are eagerly awaiting the other six.
The building will have been restored to it’s glory, the plate glass in the pointy end replaced, and the big
will hang at the very end of the pointy.
The Studebaker Brothers started wagon, buggy and carriage production in the nineteenth century, building them in the largest vehicle manufacturing facility in the world. A fleet of Studebaker carriages at the White House drove the President about Washington.
About 1902 they began producing automobiles. Toward the end, Studebaker cars designed by Raymond Loewy were among the most beautiful on the market.
Our 1956-57 school year at Gainesville, Linda lived on University Avenue in the home of Mrs. Benton, mother of Dr. John Benton of Panama City. Mrs. Benton had a cream-colored Studebaker she called "my little Champion." When my 1948 Dodge wasn't running Mrs. Benton was very generous to let us drive her Studebaker.
Studebakers are driving through my memories this morning. The Commander, the Champion, the Dictator, the President, the Land Cruiser, the Avanti, the Lark. The Lark, as I recall, was produced while Studebaker was linked up with Mercedes. The Studebaker Dictator name seems to have been quietly dropped during the Hitler era. The red convertible below is a Studebaker Dictator 8.
There were Studebaker pickup trucks too.
In the end, Studebaker was doomed and desperate. They combined with Packard Motor Car Company to become Studebaker-Packard. The last Studebaker was a Studebaker. But the final "Packard" was a grotesque chrome-laden shovel-nose double-finned Studebaker pretender to the throne.
In the end, Studebaker was doomed and desperate. They combined with Packard Motor Car Company to become Studebaker-Packard. The last Studebaker was a Studebaker. But the final "Packard" was a grotesque chrome-laden shovel-nose double-finned Studebaker pretender to the throne.
The building waits hopefully.
Me too.
Tom