Well, it was winding down. There was no doubt about it. As we entered October here in the Midwest, things were cooling off, leaves were changing, and the car shows were dwindling. And so it was that on Sunday, October sixth, I headed about thirty miles north to the Hy-Vee supermarket in Clinton, IA, to attend the final local show of 2019.
As I was passing through the small river town of Port Byron, it appreared that Magnum was following me. I figured the car might be on its way to the same show as me, but I saw no Ferraris on arrival.
I’d never been to this show before, but it had a pretty good turnout. It was cloudy, and the grounds were muddy in some spots due to rain the previous day.
But the temperature was nice, and the sun even made a few brief appearances.
The first car to really give me pause was this 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk. Way back in the mid ’90s, my parents got me the 1/24 scale Danbury Mint Golden Hawk in this same color combination. I loved the model, and still have it in a display case in my home office. So I’ve always had a soft spot for Studebakers, especially the Hawks, bullet-nosed 1950-51s and Avantis. Studebaker actually was fairly well represented in this show, with three of South Bend’s wares on display.
“What about the other two Klockau?” you may be thinking. I’m glad you asked!
This one was my favorite, a 1964 Gran Turismo Hawk. I’ve previously expounded on the Thunderbird-roofed, Brooks Stevens-updated 1962-64 GT Hawk, so I won’t delve too deep into its history today.
Suffice it to say, it is my most favorite Studebaker, and this one was exceptionally fetching in white with red interior and black canopy-style vinyl roof.
It had accessory wire wheels, and while I’d prefer the factory Stude wheel covers, it was a sharp car! And the last year of the Hawk model.
Right next to the ’64 was this ’47 Commander Starliner, with that oh-so-cool wraparound rear window.
I took quite a few pictures, because I knew this was likely the last show I’d be attending until next April or May, so I’ll keep the text to a minimum from here out.
So enjoy the virtual tour, and be assured that next spring there will be more show tours! And probably more this autumn and winter too, since there were many shows I went to last summer that have yet to be written up.
Some absolutely gorgeous cars there Tom. But why put those horrible wheels on that Caprice Classic ?
Love the Studebakers but my favorite has got to be that Caprice wagon!
Thanx ! .
Looking past the in front cars I see a bewildering array of cool vehicles, what a great way to wind up the season .
-Nate
“Hy-Vee — Your employee-owned GROCERY STORE.”
Iowa has grocery stores, not supermarkets.
Just sayin’
Interesting that the 3 photographed Studebakers all share the same chassis (as did the Lark and Avanti), and the GH and GT share the same body and drivetrain. Studebaker certainly knew how to get mileage out of their platforms, but of course necessity is the mother of invention since they never had enough money to do serious updates to car or plants. Yet on a shoestring budget they beat the Big 3 in introducing mass-market “personal luxury cars”, supercharging, and disc brakes.
Stingray, I remember everything you mentioned, and I’m not particularly a Studebaker fan. It’s just that my head has been full of car arcana since I was three, six plus decades ago. Wouldn’t you think I could remember something useful?
Click on my name for a compendium of automotive trivia that I’m harvesting from the deep recesses of my grey matter.
Patrick, Many of us are afflicted with arcane automotive knowledge addiction. I could identify every car on the road before I could read, and none of my family were particularly crazy about cars so it didn’t come from socialization. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, but I’m stubborn and so far I continue to believe I can handle my car addiction.
Amazing to see two nice LeMans that haven’t been turned into GTO clones / tributes.
Same here. Neither of my parents drove so maybe automobile deprivation “fueled” my car enthusiasm.