To be honest with you I'm not sure what year the Studebakers made their debut in La Carrera Panamericana but when you take a look at their sleek design and then close your eyes to remember how long some of those long straight away's were (We're talking MILES and MILES here) it's easy to see why they are so appealing. (Edit, Thanks to Carson Scheller pointing out a photo from Johnny Tipler's new LCP book I was able to find out during the 1953 LCP Carlos Alvarado C. and Luis Ascencio running in Turismo Especial competed in a 1953 Studebaker.) Not long ago I was at a car show and an old timer had one of the most beautiful original jet black Studebakers I had ever seen. When I asked him if he was familiar with how many of them had been raced in La Carrera Panamericana he put on quite a show in front of everyone as he began telling me how it is an "aerodynamically impossibility" for a Studebaker to reach speeds up to 125 miles per hour. "Because they are shaped like a wing they would come off the ground and crash every time they went over 90 miles per hour. Period!" Boy would I like to shove that old timer and his walker into Bill Bielharz's passengers seat for a ride he would never forget.
There have been many Studebakers achieve what that old timer deemed aerodynamically impossible and granted to say there have been a few that flew a little off course would be putting it mildly. For the most part they are an amazingly wonderful and beautiful work of art that come with wide tires, a bad ass motor an you better have a fast shutter speed should you stand a prayer in hell of getting a shot of one.
Like any other form of racing there is always the possibility of making the front cover of what is better known as the wide world of sports agony of defeat.
OK, so calm down... Sorry I asked! By the way, I saw an old car for sale the other day that could probably be fixed up really cheap. Mind if I go talk to the guy?
1 comment:
Just buy it!
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