15 replies to this topic

[Magoo]

The Attack of the 50-ft. Studebaker | Mac's Motor City Garage.com

 

 

 

 

[hittheapex]

Thanks for an interesting article.I never knew this existed. I was fortunate to visit the National Studebaker Museum in South Bend last year but not being the proving ground, this was not on display. Many interesting exhibits, well worth a visit for the petrolhead. Perhaps on the way down to Indianapolis or a detour from the wonderful Auburn Cord-Dusenberg museum.

[gruntguru]

. . . this was not on display.

What? The ashes?

[hittheapex]

What? The ashes?

Haha the page didn't load properly last time it seems, the photograph of it burning is quite obvious. A shame, I don't know of anything else like this.

Edited by hittheapex, 22 October 2014 - 07:30.

[Catalina Park]

Hmmmm, what can I think of next?

[Lee Nicolle]

Hmmmm, what can I think of next?

A very large Mini,,,, though that has been done too. By BMW!

[hittheapex]

A very large Mini,,,, though that has been done too. By BMW!

Aye they get bigger every year.

[Magoo]

While the enormous Studebaker is no longer with us, a good part of the Proving Ground still exits as Bendix Woods Park, just west of South Bend. The company wasn't done with large-scale marketing stunts. After the big car was burned down, a stand of pine trees spelling out the word S-T-U-D-E-B-A-K-E-R was planted near the front gate. It's said to be the world's largest natural sign, visible to Venusians, etc. 

 

If you google map Bendix Woods Park, Indiana, you will get a nice view of the area. Meanwhile, below is a satellite view rotated 90 degrees clockwise. IN reality the word Studebaker runs North/South with the R at the top, which is right where the gigantic wooden Studebaker sat alongside Route 2. I guess we should do a story on all this as well sometime. 

 

 

Also meanwhile, here's a photo essay on the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend. Nice place but a lot of ferns.

 

 http://www.macsmotor...ational-museum/

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hittheapex]

Thanks for that, I didn't know about the trees and it was nice to see some photos from the museum. My camera's battery ran down and silly me forgot to bring the spare so I've forgotten one or two vehicles since. Your article reminded me how much I liked seeing the police car and the mail van. I did take a photo of the crazy 200mph Avanti though

[Fat Boy]

I'm amazed by Randy Grubb's work. His Blastolene and Indy Special are a couple of my favorites. He's an original.

 

http://www.randygrub...e-indy-special/

[Magoo]

and now we have video -- hilarious little 1931 flim clip. Lots of fun. 

 

 

http://www.macsmotor...aker-continued/

[B Squared]

When growing up, friends of my family (more like a third set of grandparents) Homer and Maxine Fitterling lived just east of this location at their farm on Western Avenue (Hwy 2) and we would visit often as my Dad, Mom, brother and I usually had one of Homer's 25 Model J Duesenbergs down at our home to work on. At the time, Homer and Maxine had the largest collection of Model J Duesenbergs in the world. I believe Mr. Harrah had 16 or 18 at the same point in time. Homer had around 200-300 cars with a wide variety of makes and classifications. Anyway, when the Studebaker Proving Grounds came up for sale after going under, Homer and Maxine made a bid for it, and if it were not for some last minute chicanery on the part of another prospective buyer, they would have owned it. My brother and I couldn't wait to try out the three mile oval test track, plus the associated road configurations. It is still a beautiful plot of land, I only wish we would have had a chance to have the run of the property had the sale closed in their favor. It would have been a heck of a place to call home.

[desmo]

Back in the '70s, the whole area around the proving grounds was lousy with hemp that had gone feral from cropping for WWII. 

[Ray Bell]

I will definitely have to look at that site next time I go to America...

In the interim, this clip is interesting, a pep talk for dealers by an Indiana Congressman, seemingly from 1939 or 1940:

Edited by Ray Bell, 21 November 2014 - 17:37.

[B Squared]

This shows the facility looking southeast from Western Avenue with the test track associated buildings that are to the north of the track at the left of this shot. The old Clubhouse is to the right and the woods spelling Studebaker are to the right of the Clubhouse. I'm unsure of the location of the oversized car when it was on the property.

 

A long, obstructed view of the old Studebaker Clubhouse, which Maxine and Homer were going to remodel and utilize as their home on the property. This purchase was attemped in the mid-1960s

 

A closer view of the Clubhouse, which is to the west of the test track and adjacent to the last "E" in the tree advertizement spelling STUDEBAKER

[Magoo]

The giant Studebaker sat about where the R was in the S-T-U-D-E-B-A-K-E-R, as I understand it. 

 

 

I was acquainted with Mr Fitterling many years ago. At the A-C-D meeting in Auburn, I came to his aid when his Duesenberg's float valve stuck, a messy and somewhat dangerous situation.

 

He was very grateful and I had impressed him somehow -- that a kid could fix a vintage carburetor when to me a carburetor was a carburetor.  But at the time, I was too young and self-possessed to realize that an extremely wealthy and powerful person was attempting to be nice to me. I made this mistake many times as a youngster.