Select Studebaker

It’s late summer, and that means I’m back on the road. As I prepare for tomorrow’s 4:15 a.m. departure, I have hot rods and customs on the brain. No surprise here. The days are still seemingly endless, and when the sun casts long shadows on quiet streets, I love nothing more than walking through the old neighborhoods.

Main streets. Side streets. Narrow sidewalks and cracked driveways. I wait for crosswalks and watch the city busses roll past with their electric motors whirring and passengers peering back at me. And, on those walks, I often pass my neighbor Nick’s house.

Regular readers will recall my piece about Nick’s hot rod Hawk that I wrote last month. On that same walk, I stumbled upon one of his other Studebakers, this one being 1953 vintage. As much as I liked the ’57, the ’53 filled my mind with an ever-exciting case of “What if?”

Growing up, I was drawn to ’53 Studebakers. AMT had their version, which included a chopped top and twice-blown Hemi. Revell, of course, had my all-time-favorite “Miss Deal,” which had a radically altered wheelbase and supercharged Chrysler. Now that I’m a little older, I think I may just lower it and really drive it.

These trips—both big and small—make the imagination run wild. My alarm will be sounding soon, but you know I’ll be dreaming of a Studebaker, sometime down the road.

—Joey Ukrop