Hey, Murilee. I think I mentioned this before, but maybe I didn't. That Rambler American you guessed as a '61 is almost certainly a '63. The grille is definitely from a '63, as is the trunk lid with the "330" badge (the 220, 330 and 440 trim levels were introduced in '63, which was the last year for this platform).
While it warms my heart to see my beloved AMCs so well represented here, I have to echo our Perambulating Entertainer friend's lament as to the relative dearth of Studebakers. Such is life, I guess. If they aren't there, you can't shoot 'em, right?
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was starred
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was unstarred
@Mike the Dog: Hell, I don't know how or why I decided that car is a '61. I'm scared of changing posts once they've gone live, what with the Server Hamsters Of Fury, but maybe I'll try to fix it after they've had their meds.
@Murilee Martin: I'm guessing you based it on the DOT approval year molded into the taillight. the lenses were the same '61-'63, so they all say 61, just like the ones on my '63.
EDIT: If you fear angering Nibbles and having him eat your posts, don't bother changing it. I'll just try to remember I mentioned it already.
Edited by Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. at 07/11/09 5:42 PM
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was starred
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was unstarred
@Murilee Martin: 'Server Hamsters Of Fury' would be an excellent name for a rock band. Catch 'Murilee Martin and the Server Hamsters Of Fury', live at the Jalopnik, Saturday and Sunday only. Fifth caller to correctly date the Rambler American gets two passes and a signed 'Save the Enzos' T-shirt.
@Mike the Dog: I never, ever go by the DOT taillight numbers when trying to figure out the year of a car. Taillights stay the same for years and/or get replaced frequently. Mostly I go by the Standard Catalog.
DOTS really makes me appreciate how spoiled I was growing up. My town had the occasional Golden Hawk and DS19 sighting. Word is there is a Bentley I've never seen, not to mention all the ancient, solid iron trucks throughout the county.
I'm not faulting you, Murilee, but the lack of sufficient Studebakerage is utterly disappointing. My roommate's father owns a '48 Land Cruiser and a supercharged '64 Daytona on top of the '65 Cruiser.
@A strolling player: Sometime last year, I had an all-too-brief glimpse of a Studebaker PICKUP--a creature I didn't know existed. Based on my research after the fact, it looked to be early '60s. Obviously restored, and visiting a NJ McDonald's. Just weird, in the best way.
@A strolling player: My GT Hawk came from the Bay area a few years ago, so I'll take partial blame for the dearth of South Bend's finest in this elite group.
@A strolling player: I know this is a damned poor substitute for DOTS Studebakers, but here's a link to a set of all my Studebaker pics. (there's a pickup or two among them)
Edited by Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. at 07/11/09 12:55 PM
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was starred
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was unstarred
@flyingstitch can't comment from work anymore:I knew a guy who had a Studebaker pick-up, and I believe it was from the 50's era. I really think they might have been made even in the 40's. It was light green, and it was his daily driver.
Driving to my dad's family home, we used to take old state highways. About halfway there we'd pass this junkyard. It made up it's wall to the road with old locomotives, buses, and airplane fuselages. I always knew that heaven was on the other side of that fence.
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was starred
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was unstarred
@WilliamG.: The '55? My dad had one years ago. It was well-worn by the time he had it, but he said the sheetmetal was absolutely flawless. He pulled the 287 V8 to put in his '54 Ford F100 and junked the rest.
No need to be angry at him, because he really regrets that decision. Not as much as selling his non-numbers matching LS6 Chevelle for a couple grand in the early '80s, but regretful nonetheless.
Thanks, Murilee, for a little reminder of dozens of childhood roadtrips through the desert southwest. I used to spot these little graveyards from the back of the family Good Times Van, and would fantasize about coming back someday with a truck and bringing all these treasures home.
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was starred
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was unstarred
That isn't a junkyard...that's heaven! I see so much awesome there that it is hard to imagine it all being in one place. Studebaker pickup, 1980 Monte Carlo with the factory turbo 3.8, Packards, Pintchero, etc. Makes me want to pack up the Frontier and head out west to go desert junkyarding! That place would be a wonderful place for me to spend "Junkyard Monday". (For pleasure, some men drink, some womanize, some do drugs. Me? I do junkyards!)
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was starred
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was unstarred
Man, that is depressing- on the other hand, with the southwest's surface-of-the-moon climate, at least there's some hope of resurrection... Up here, anything that wasn't crushed ("That's not a Chevy pickup, fuck that thing!") would be a horrorshow of festering tinworm nests in every scratch or dent within 6 months.
Uncounted treasures indeed. He ought to be able to move that stuff--the Pinto bubblewagon? Classic. And was that a Pintchero? Lots of nice MoPars--but that 56 Lincoln, somebody get that outta there!
Sigh. Murilee, photo galleries like this bring me such serenity, I'm starting to think I need to go back and download them all for a screen-saver. And every time I'm feeling a bit disillusioned with Jalopnik, this kind of thing reminds me why I started coming here in the first place.
07/11/09
While it warms my heart to see my beloved AMCs so well represented here, I have to echo our Perambulating Entertainer friend's lament as to the relative dearth of Studebakers. Such is life, I guess. If they aren't there, you can't shoot 'em, right?
07/11/09
07/11/09
EDIT: If you fear angering Nibbles and having him eat your posts, don't bother changing it. I'll just try to remember I mentioned it already.
07/11/09
07/11/09
07/11/09
07/11/09
Alameda needs a Studebaker enthusiast.
07/11/09
07/11/09
07/11/09
07/11/09
07/11/09
07/11/09
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikes_car_pix/sets/72157621281902362/
(Hopefully the link works, they seem not to these days).
07/11/09
07/11/09
In return, and for those of you interested, here's a set I took of my roommate's '65 Cruiser at Audubon Park on a lovely spring afternoon.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/astrollingplayer/sets/72157617468960311/
07/11/09
04/18/09
04/19/09
04/18/09
04/18/09
04/18/09
04/19/09
No need to be angry at him, because he really regrets that decision. Not as much as selling his non-numbers matching LS6 Chevelle for a couple grand in the early '80s, but regretful nonetheless.
04/18/09
04/18/09
04/18/09
04/18/09
[s47.photobucket.com]
PS- Dear Jalopnik, please decide whether you use HTML in comments or not.
04/18/09
Assuming that worked (Preview button, please?) it goes like this <.img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f153/57Sweptside/Kingman/Vegas09180.jpg"
Just take out the(.).
04/18/09
04/18/09
04/18/09
04/18/09
04/18/09
04/18/09
Thanks again, totally made my morning.