Drivin' on the Coast.

Today, Barney took his longest drive yet away from home a 36-mile round-trip down coast to Solana Beach and back. It was a beautiful day, and we did some mixed driving - about half of the trip on the freeway, the rest along the 101 Highway. The drive was awesome - no problems of any kind, Barney easily kept up with freeway traffic (at one point hitting 75 to pass some tractor-trailer rigs) and just generally having a blast. He's in fine fettle and I'd feel no qualms about taking this car just about anywhere. Maybe La Palma on May 27th? Anyway, here's some pics from today's trip. Enjoy!

Today's route...

On I-5 heading South towards Leucadia

Along the Coast Highway in Cardiff-By-The-Sea

Coming back... looking north along 101 in Solana Beach. This is one of my favorite views along the coast.

North into Encinitas on the 101.

Spring wildflowers... just because I wanted to.

The wheels keep on a-turnin.

A couple of weeks ago, a longtime SDC Forum member from Riverside, California offered some items from his shed. Among these items were about 10 years worth of Turning Wheels magazines, dating back as far as 1979. I won't use his name, because I'm sure he'd be embarrassed by the attention, but here's the story. He and his wife had neighbors who were Studebaker lovers too. They collected cars, parts and whatnot for years, and then the old fella passed on. His widow held on to all the Stude stuff for a long time, but finally it was too much for her, and when Alzheimer's set in, his wife helped the widow while he volunteered to help match the cars and parts with new homes.

Most of the pieces went to new homes pretty quickly, but after another year or so, he found that he still had some things left to clear out - sheet metal, engines, glass and the Turning Wheels. I can't read enough about Studebakers, so Reed and I went up to claim the magazines over the weekend. I got the nickel tour of his place, full of parts and cool machinery, as well as a lovely '62 Lark Deluxe 2-door sedan with just over 50,000 miles!

Meeting this Forum member just drove home the point of how kind and caring StudeFolks are. Truly, I haven't met one yet that wasn't, but this guy is truly a prince. It was my pleasure to meet him, and I hope we get to hang out again sometime. And now, I have a trunk full of magazines to read :)

Freeway flyer.

I had Barney out today for the longest trip away from home since his return to operation last Thanksgiving! My wife was working and my son had the day off from school. A few of his buds invited him to go bowling, so I hopped on the freeway and made the trip.

OK, I know that a 25-mile round trip is not too exciting, but really - this was Barney's first extended freeway time, and he performed admirably. I stayed in the slow lane and kept it pegged on 65; he did what was expected and we made it there and back with no fuss at all.

The transmission is still maladjusted, however, and needs attention. SDC transmission expert John Metzker has told me that the governor valve needs to be removed and cleaned - Barney doesn't like to downshift when the trans is cold, and when he's hot and shifting properly, you can hear the servos buzzing loudly during the shift. I really need to get over to my trans guy, Kurt, and have the stuff done... along with all the other things I have to do.

But it was a gorgeous day, the driving was great, and I couldn't have wished for a better trip.

Happy International Drive Your Studebaker Day (2010)

The first Saturday in September is International Drive Your Studebaker Day! Last year, Barney was unable to make it to the road owing to his lack of brakes, but today -- well, we were all over! My lovely wife took a shot of The Old Man (that's the car, not me, wiseguy) in Buddy Todd Park in the afternoon - a beautiful day for driving a Stude. But then, any day is a great day to drive your Stude!

If you didn't make it this year, no worries - there's 365 to get your car ready! Now, get out there and pound some pavement!

A few random notes...

Haven't been doing a lot of work on Barney lately - just driving him a lot! It's been nice to get out on the road this summer and just bomb around. It amazes me that nearly every time I pull into a parking lot somewhere, someone comes up to me and starts a conversation! Every Starbucks visit, every trip to the bank... it's like clockwork.

Most recently, I pulled up for coffee and a lady in her late 50s in a Honda Element parked next to me shouted over "Studebaker?" I affirmed, and congratulated her on the ID, saying most folks don't know quite what it is. She responded by saying "Most folks aren't as old as me!" Then she proceeded to ask where SHE could get a Lark of her own :) She seemed very earnest, and I gave her a copy of the Studebaker Story brochure and pointed her to the Forum. I have no doubt we'll see her at chapter meeting sooner or later.

A couple of weeks back I came across a lovely red and black '62 Rambler Classic wagon. Okay, it's a little rough, but hey - it's on the road! The body was pretty rust-free, and the paint showed signs of having been patched in a few places, so someone's taking care of this Rammer. Naturally, I couldn't resist taking a photo with Barney (hiding in the back). I've since seen it around town in several places; hope to meet the owner one day.

Here's another sweet Lark I found in the Home Depot parking lot, a '59 F-body. I did meet this owner coming out of the store; he's a contractor and this Lark is his daily driver since he burned up the engine on his Powerstroke Ford truck. Says it costs him a lot less to get around (although he can't haul lumber it in ;) ) It's a Custom with the vinyl interior and plain-Jane door panels, but it's a very nice dark green over tan with chrome steelies. Love it!

Finally, this Saturday (tomorrow!) is the 2nd Annual International Drive Your Studebaker Day. If you've got one, get it on the road tomorrow! If not - be on the lookout for random Stude sightings. Barney and I will definitely be out and about.

What's up?

Life's been full! Not much time to do anything to Barney except take him out for a drive. I try to get out at least 4 days a week to keep him exercised and the battery up (as the electric clock will run the battery flat in about 2 weeks if left unattended). But I still have work to do: the steering wheel replacement, reinstall the radio, hook up the horn, chase down the cause of my awful gas mileage, change the rear springs, re-fix the heater core (long story)... hopefully I'll be able to get going on some of this soon.

In the meantime, I took a drive to the park at twilight tonight and snapped off a couple of quick shots:

He may not be pretty, but he is fun to drive!

Just killin' time...

Not much going on here lately. This time of the year is very busy for me, as my job takes a lot of preparation for a major trade show that happens each spring. Also, it's been raining every weekend, so every time I plan to take a Saturday to go out and futz with the car... you guessed it.

But I did get some Studebaker time today. Had a lot of errands to run and since it was sunny, I took Barney out for a bunch of round-town stops. He ran really well, kept his cool in the stop-n-go, and all in all everything was great. Got some attention and quite a few smiles at Costco when I stopped in to fill up (gas mileage up, from 9.5 to 10.59! I really wonder if the engine wouldn't be happier with a 2bbl carb; the WCFB may just be too much for it).

Part of the trip had him on the freeway for a good 5 miles. I hadn't logged more than a mile on the freeway before this, and I was surprised at how quiet the car was cruising at 65, even with the driver's window halfway down! There was a little bit of shimmy in the steering at 65 mph, though, which (since the front end has been totally rebuilt and aligned) I think may be attributable to the steering gearbox I haven't yet had time to adjust.

Later, I went down to Ace Hardware after dinner for a couple of repair items for the house, and the headlights managed to stay on both ways, regardless of the wonky switch.

All in all, a fun day on the road!

Out on a Mission.

It was a beautiful day today in SoCal, so I took Barney out for a few minutes in the sunshine. We live a few miles from the Mission San Luis Rey, so we tooled down the road and parked out front for a few iPhotos. San Luis Rey will be familiar to fans of Disney's old Zorro TV show, as many scenes were shot at the church.

 

Barney is running really well right now. There are a few things that need attention, of course - the ignition switch wants replaced (it doesn't send current to the Accessory bus when the car is running unless you jiggle the key), the heater still isn't hooked up, and the factory-style steering wheel awaits installation... but it's sure fun to drive.

Even with all the little stuff, it's sure fun to be out on the road with him, and every now and then to get a double-take from a car guy who knows what he's looking at :)

Here's hoping the weather clears up this nicely wherever you are reading this from!

Reed's first drive.

Remember your first time driving? For me, it was behind the wheel of my mom's '70 Impala. (I loved that car... wish I still had it. Along with the teeth I lost when I crashed it into a light pole.) Well, I wanted my son's first time at the helm to be memorable, too, so yesterday, on the last day of our Christmas vacation, we hopped in Barney and drove to El Camino High School, where a big, empty parking lot beckoned!

After some instruction on how to use the various controls ("don't press too hard on the gas", "keep your foot on either the brake or the gas - never away from the pedals", "always put the transmission in 'park' before you set the parking brake"), we swapped positions and I navigated Reed through several roundabouts of the parking lot, being careful to give a wide berth to the single light pole in our vicinity :) We talked about how steering while the car was in motion, no matter how slight, was so much easier than trying to muscle the wheel around while parked. I explained what the gauges' normal range was, and what to do if they left that range. I told him that small control inputs were much better than large ones; a warning he found to be true through slightly over-anxious applications of gas and throttle. And when we were done, we swapped seats and drove home, but not before I got the picture below. The smile says it all :)