SOUTH BEND 2017 INTERNATIONAL STUDEBAKER MEET 201
http://www.michiana-chapter-sdc.net/2017-sdc-international.html
DAY 1 Friday April 28, 2017
Ken St. Claire, San Diego Chapter Studebaker Club President is my traveling companion.We depart San Diego and head off to meet Bob and Mimi Halgren in Payson Arizona. About 8 hours.
Here is the planned itinerary:
4/28/2017 LEAVE FOR PAYSON A
FRIDAY AM – BOB AND MIMI
4/29/2017 LEAVE ON TRIP FOR
TUCAMCARE NEW MEXICO
Sunday April 30 (Sunday):
- Australians (5 of them,
Studebaker owners and wives plus a single sister of one couple) arrive at our
home in Cape Girardeau, MO, they will stay with us for
2 nights.
-Wine and cheese party at our home
in evening with local friends
Monday May 1 (Monday):
-Australians here at our home in
Cape Girardeau, MO
-show the Aussies around Cape
Girardeau (geez, that will not take too long!)
-Buffet dinner at our home with
the local street rod club—Street rods of all types, Vettes, Mustangs, original
restored cars, etc. Perhaps up to 30-35 couples with the street rod club
plus the Australians
Tuesday May 2 (Tuesday):
WE ARE DRIVING TO SOUTH BEND
INDIANA
-Leave Cape Girardeau, stay on
Interstate highways to make time. Destination Monticello, Indiana (355
miles) (Gain an hour at Indiana state line going into Eastern Time Zone).
Lodging: Pine View Resort, 1969 N.
West Shafer Drive, Monticello, Ind. 574-583-7733 ($69/nite plus tax)
Wednesday May 3 (Wednesday):
THE MEET IN SOUTH BEND STARTS
ON THIS DAY
-Get on road early, drive to
pre-arranged lodgings in South Bend/Mishawaka (90 miles). Arrive before
noon, check in
at SDC and ASC, likely spend later
part of day at Fairgrounds
Thursday, May 4, Friday May 5,
Saturday May 6
-SDC/ASC activities
Sunday, May 7:
WE LEAVE AND DRIVE BELOW
-Get on road early, drive on 2
lanes (55 mph speeds, lots of small towns) across Indiana, Illinois to
Hannibal, MO (380 miles) (will take a solid 8 hours plus time for stops) (pick
up an hour from Time Zone change)
Lodging: Best Western On the
River, Hannibal, MO. #573-248-1150 ($109.99/night plus tax)
Monday, May 8:
-Play tourist in Hannibal, MO to
see Mark Twain sites
-Leave by noon to drive on 2 lanes
to Kansas City, MO (220 miles)
Lodging: Holiday Inn Country Club
Plaza, One E45th St., Kansas City, MO 64111. #816-753-7400 ($130.00/night plus
tax)
Tuesday, May 9:
-Sightseeing in Kansas City: a)
Restored Central Train Station, b) Steamboat Arabia ( 1856.com),
c) WW I museum (only one in USA), d) Crown Centre,
e) Country Club Plaza
-Dinner and evening at the
Armacost Automobile Museum
Wednesday, May 10:
WE LEAVE TO GO BACK TO
TUCAMCARE NEW
-Sightseeing in Kansas City (as
above)
Thursday, May 11:
WE LEAVE NEW MEXICO TO GO BACK
TO PAYSON
WE ARRIVE IN PAYSON AND
STAY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
WE LEAVE ARIZONA ON SUNDAY TO
RETURN HOME, MAY 14
***************************************************************
WE ARE ON OUR WAY
FRIDAY APRIL 28
Ken st claire and I left San Diego and arrived at our friends Bob and mimi halgren home in Payson Arizona..we got there about 5pm with smooth travel
We were doing 80 to 90 with no problems
We leave tomorrow for new mexico
April 29th and April 30th
Saturday morning we headed up for New Mexico full ride through Arizona and enter New Mexico so beautiful scenery.
WE drove all day and got in rather late to Tucumcari where we encountered snow.
WE ARE ON OUR WAY
FRIDAY APRIL 28
Ken st claire and I left San Diego and arrived at our friends Bob and mimi halgren home in Payson Arizona..we got there about 5pm with smooth travel
We were doing 80 to 90 with no problems
We leave tomorrow for new mexico
April 29th and April 30th
Saturday morning we headed up for New Mexico full ride through Arizona and enter New Mexico so beautiful scenery.
WE drove all day and got in rather late to Tucumcari where we encountered snow.
We had dinner and then got up early Sunday morning April 30th to leave for Tulsa Oklahoma.
WE passed through Texas and on the way we were greeted by some incredibly wild weather including a white-out blizzard lots of wind and rain.
As we approached Oklahoma City on I-40 we had a blowout in the left rear tire which was a brand new tire. Fortunately I had certificates at Discount Tire (Wouldn't you know it right off the off ramp was a discount tire but it was closed since it was Sunday!)
Everybody chipped in and we had a record 5 minute tire change and back on the road.
We're heading towards Tulsa Oklahoma. We'll get up early in the morning and go to Discount Tire which is about 7 miles from where we're staying and figure out what's wrong with the tire and then we had on two Cape Girardeau Missouri where we meet our hosts for a get together.
Monday May 1st
This was a fun-filled day. We started out after an early breakfast going to Discount Tire to get the tire repaired and buy a replacement for the 10 year old bias-ply spare. The brand new tire place in the left rear of the car was destroyed when we ran it on the road the inner lining and turned into powder. What happened was that the brand new inner tube ripped along the seam there was no puncture up at all. We ordered a new tire which will be delivered in South Bend Indiana where we will pick it up on Wednesday. We got underway and traveled all day.
My co-pilot can was helping with some snacks in the car and handed me a bag of rosemary potato chips from Trader Joe's. They are delicious but they proved to be deadly. Somehow can got the oil on his skin on his face and must have touched his eye and developed a massive contact dermatitis allergic reaction which was extremely painful. Pulled off the road washed his eyes out put some medicine in which I happen to have with me and then we pulled off the Walmart where we had to fill a prescription. Waiting for the prescription we went over grab some lunch went back to Walmart got the prescription medicated him and he started to get better pretty soon. However he was unable to see very well so yours truly did the driving all day which was pretty exhausting.
We ended up on our way to Cape Girardeau Missouri where we met up with a local car club hold it hosted by Ford Stoecker. He had a good turnout of 27 people and showed us his incredible collection with his phenomenal building skills. That was about it for us as we were wiped out and returned to our hotel which was just 3 blocks away getting ready for our trip to South Bend which will be another 450 or 500 miles period I'm taking good care of my co-pilot so that he can drive tomorrow. Beware of the rosemary potato chips.
TUESDAY MAY 2ND
Long ride to South Bend no major issues. Our hotel was "Extended Stay" which is a large apartment type room with a kitchen, living room and bedroom. However no real guest services. You are basically on your own. We got in rather late so basically dinner and ready for an early start.
WEDS. MAY 3RD
We checked in for registration and got all our tickets for the events - Polish Buffet with the Avanti Group at the Studebaker National Museum, Thursday Nite Buffet and auction at the Palais Royale. Friday Building 84 Tour, Saturday Proving grounds and Parade and Saturday Car Show.
We went to the fair grounds, parked the car and then visited the vendors. It was cold and raining, and I needed to pick up some warmer clothes.
THURS MAY 4TH
We toured the Museum today and went to Studebaker International to Pick up some Parts.
My friend Marty Hare drove in from Chicago, we toured the museum and then went to Tippecanoe Restaurant (home of one of the Studebaker Brothers). We got back to the hotel to change and join the group for the Member Dinner at the Palais Royale
FRIDAY MAY 5TH
We had a great tour at Building 84 of the original Studebaker Factory in South Bend. This is destined to be a technology center. The building is massive and on the third floor, the local Studebaker Club had a display of their cars. A careless delivery driver not paying attention ran into the back of the Avanti. Fortunately big rubber bumpers on the delivery truck and our slow movement with foot off of brake prevented serious damage
SATURDAY MAY 6TH
We went to the proving grounds which is now owned by Navistar - a trucking company.
This event was poorly organized and we ended up waiting almost 2 hours before we got on the track. The proving grounds have hills, water hazards and bumps to test the ride of the vehicles.
We left to organize for the parade back into town.
SUNDAY MAY 7TH
We leave to go to Hannibal Missouri to visit the Mark Twain boyhood hoime and Museum.
Uneventful but long drive. We checked into our hotel and then off to the Museum We caught up with our host from Cape Girardeau, Ford Stoecker. He ran across Bruce Anton who grew up in the town and ran the local soda shop, He is a multi car collector with several Packards, Thunderbird, some Studebakers and antique memorobilia. The family was in the bottling business.
MONDAY MAY 8TH
Getting ready to leave for Kansas City with a stop in St. Louis to visit the St. Louis Auto Museum. I was interested in purchasing a car (Jaguar Drophead) which was unfortunately sold. Unfortunately as we started off in the am, I noticed a right front flat. So we changed it out for the radial tire without a tube. We ended up in Kansas in the late afternoon. I decided to go to Discount tire and repair our flat so that we had a complete set of tires for our journey. Dinner and get ready for our 2 museum tours the following day.
TUESDAY MAY 9TH
After breakfast we headed off to the Arabia Steamboat Museum. This was a fabulous display of the articles excavated from a steamer that had been buried for 135 years. The quality and quantity of the items found was breathtaking. We then got ready for the Armacost Museum.
This is a private museum owned by the Armacost family, friend of our host Ford Stoecker.
The family business is Peterson Engineering which supplies lights and reflectors to the trucking industry. Between the 30,000 square foot 2 story museum and the restoration shop there is a huge pond. The display of cars is spectacular with a little bit of everything ranging from a Ferrari F40 with 200 miles to rare vintage Studebakers. After our visit we went to Campestere a Mexican Restaurant. We were joined on most of the tour from Cape Girardeau by the Studebaker owners from Australia and New Zeland.
WEDS MAY 10
I'm not sure what happened to my other entries which I will have to go back in insert when I get home. On our way home to Tucumcari New Mexico we ended up with an issue in Pratt Kansas our friend Bob Halgren heard a sound in his right rear wheel which ended up being a wheel bearing. We were referred to a shop at the outskirts of town that was run by the son of the man who started the business called Safety First. As it turns out he likes to work on old cars and had a great mechanic we had to stay overnight while we waited for the car and it did turn out to be a wheel bearing and was fixed late during that day one of his friends stopped by the shop to see Bob's beautiful 37 Studebaker and found out that we were staying at the motel several miles away he tracked us down and invited us to visit his car collection and his garage and meet some of his friends we ended up with a car show in the neighborhood the gentleman who repaired Bob's truck was most kind and actually loaned us his personal vehicle to take our luggage to the motel we will depart early in the morning to see how far we can get on our way back to Arizona
THURSDAY MAY 11TH - TRIP BACK TO PAYSON AZ.
We left Pratte Kansas early in the morning. We had reasonable weather and uneventful travels. We Traversed Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Since we were going west we crossed 2 time zones gaining 2 hours. When we last gassed up in New Mexico there were but a few hundred miles left and we decided to proceed. But we had to this with caution. When it becomes dusk, the Elk come out to feed. They are large animals and they cross the road with abandon. Weighing 1200 pounds, they can take out a car and the passengers.
We did end up in the forrest at dark and we had to be very careful. We arrived in Payson at 8pm. Our total travel was 14 hours, 842 miles. 2 time zones and 5 states!!
FRIDAY MAY 12TH
This was a chill day. We ran errands getting some parts for the cars. We thought our thermostat was an issue. We were experiencing wide fluctuations in temperature. For the most part the car ran about 180 to 195. But it would occasionally get to 240 - never overheating. So we replaced it. More on this later. There was a parade of cars for the Bee Line Car show. I chose not to go since I had enough of parades and there was to be a full day of cars on Saturday.
We got back to the Halgren's home (Base Camp) In star Valley. We changed oil, tightened up the spool valve on the power steering and adjusted the steering linkage. Then we cleaned the cars in prep for the show on Saturday.
SATURDAY MAY 13TH
Breakfast at the Halgrens then off to the show. We all parked together and we noticed my left front tire was low. We also noticed this on Weds and we aired it up and checked it numerous times. We made it 800 miles on the road and I actually forgot about it. However, over the course of the day the tire became completely flat. So for the third time we did a tire change.
We filled up the left front tire which we now used as a spare and monitored it over nite. In the am we noticed the tire down to 25 pounds from 40 so we aired up again for the trip home. Unfortunately we made the mistake of not going to a tire store to find out why there was a slow leak.
The show had about 200 vehicles. I met up with a chap that was at the Good Guys Car show, promoting his modifications to 2002 BMW sports cars. The show wound up at 3:30 and we won (deservedly) the long distance award!
SUNDAY MAY 14TH - THE TRIP HOME
We left the Halgrens early am and we were on the road about 7:30. Easy trip to Phoenix where we went to Chuck and Chris Collins (Studebaker Parts) to pick up a horn relay. Then off to San Diego.
We stopped at Gila Bend and I noticed a tire store that was open. So we investigated our tire with a leak which had lost a good amount of air in just 2 hours. We found a pin hole in the side wall of the inner tube which appeared to be next to a fold in the lining tape.
So we re-tapped the wheel and installed a new tube just in case. We took off and started to notice some significant increase in temperature requiring us to pull off the road (240!!) At one stop the car vapor locked but we got going again, Temp kept going up so we pulled the thermostat. While this helped temporarily we continued to have very warm temps. Just outside El Centro, we pointed the car up hill to see if we had an air bubble. The water in the main filler did recede so we added about a cup of water. We decided to go up the grade knowing that we would have a tmeperature drop once we got up to higher altitude. This did occur and our temperature lowered. We noticed the fan was spinning freely and did not seem to increase with RPM, therefore we believe the problem is a fan clutch and perhaps a partial clog in the radiator. We will flush the radiator and change the fluid and put in a new fan clutch.
Monday May 1st
This was a fun-filled day. We started out after an early breakfast going to Discount Tire to get the tire repaired and buy a replacement for the 10 year old bias-ply spare. The brand new tire place in the left rear of the car was destroyed when we ran it on the road the inner lining and turned into powder. What happened was that the brand new inner tube ripped along the seam there was no puncture up at all. We ordered a new tire which will be delivered in South Bend Indiana where we will pick it up on Wednesday. We got underway and traveled all day.
My co-pilot can was helping with some snacks in the car and handed me a bag of rosemary potato chips from Trader Joe's. They are delicious but they proved to be deadly. Somehow can got the oil on his skin on his face and must have touched his eye and developed a massive contact dermatitis allergic reaction which was extremely painful. Pulled off the road washed his eyes out put some medicine in which I happen to have with me and then we pulled off the Walmart where we had to fill a prescription. Waiting for the prescription we went over grab some lunch went back to Walmart got the prescription medicated him and he started to get better pretty soon. However he was unable to see very well so yours truly did the driving all day which was pretty exhausting.
We ended up on our way to Cape Girardeau Missouri where we met up with a local car club hold it hosted by Ford Stoecker. He had a good turnout of 27 people and showed us his incredible collection with his phenomenal building skills. That was about it for us as we were wiped out and returned to our hotel which was just 3 blocks away getting ready for our trip to South Bend which will be another 450 or 500 miles period I'm taking good care of my co-pilot so that he can drive tomorrow. Beware of the rosemary potato chips.
TUESDAY MAY 2ND
Long ride to South Bend no major issues. Our hotel was "Extended Stay" which is a large apartment type room with a kitchen, living room and bedroom. However no real guest services. You are basically on your own. We got in rather late so basically dinner and ready for an early start.
WEDS. MAY 3RD
We checked in for registration and got all our tickets for the events - Polish Buffet with the Avanti Group at the Studebaker National Museum, Thursday Nite Buffet and auction at the Palais Royale. Friday Building 84 Tour, Saturday Proving grounds and Parade and Saturday Car Show.
We went to the fair grounds, parked the car and then visited the vendors. It was cold and raining, and I needed to pick up some warmer clothes.
THURS MAY 4TH
We toured the Museum today and went to Studebaker International to Pick up some Parts.
My friend Marty Hare drove in from Chicago, we toured the museum and then went to Tippecanoe Restaurant (home of one of the Studebaker Brothers). We got back to the hotel to change and join the group for the Member Dinner at the Palais Royale
FRIDAY MAY 5TH
We had a great tour at Building 84 of the original Studebaker Factory in South Bend. This is destined to be a technology center. The building is massive and on the third floor, the local Studebaker Club had a display of their cars. A careless delivery driver not paying attention ran into the back of the Avanti. Fortunately big rubber bumpers on the delivery truck and our slow movement with foot off of brake prevented serious damage
SATURDAY MAY 6TH
We went to the proving grounds which is now owned by Navistar - a trucking company.
This event was poorly organized and we ended up waiting almost 2 hours before we got on the track. The proving grounds have hills, water hazards and bumps to test the ride of the vehicles.
We left to organize for the parade back into town.
SUNDAY MAY 7TH
We leave to go to Hannibal Missouri to visit the Mark Twain boyhood hoime and Museum.
Uneventful but long drive. We checked into our hotel and then off to the Museum We caught up with our host from Cape Girardeau, Ford Stoecker. He ran across Bruce Anton who grew up in the town and ran the local soda shop, He is a multi car collector with several Packards, Thunderbird, some Studebakers and antique memorobilia. The family was in the bottling business.
MONDAY MAY 8TH
Getting ready to leave for Kansas City with a stop in St. Louis to visit the St. Louis Auto Museum. I was interested in purchasing a car (Jaguar Drophead) which was unfortunately sold. Unfortunately as we started off in the am, I noticed a right front flat. So we changed it out for the radial tire without a tube. We ended up in Kansas in the late afternoon. I decided to go to Discount tire and repair our flat so that we had a complete set of tires for our journey. Dinner and get ready for our 2 museum tours the following day.
TUESDAY MAY 9TH
After breakfast we headed off to the Arabia Steamboat Museum. This was a fabulous display of the articles excavated from a steamer that had been buried for 135 years. The quality and quantity of the items found was breathtaking. We then got ready for the Armacost Museum.
This is a private museum owned by the Armacost family, friend of our host Ford Stoecker.
The family business is Peterson Engineering which supplies lights and reflectors to the trucking industry. Between the 30,000 square foot 2 story museum and the restoration shop there is a huge pond. The display of cars is spectacular with a little bit of everything ranging from a Ferrari F40 with 200 miles to rare vintage Studebakers. After our visit we went to Campestere a Mexican Restaurant. We were joined on most of the tour from Cape Girardeau by the Studebaker owners from Australia and New Zeland.
WEDS MAY 10
I'm not sure what happened to my other entries which I will have to go back in insert when I get home. On our way home to Tucumcari New Mexico we ended up with an issue in Pratt Kansas our friend Bob Halgren heard a sound in his right rear wheel which ended up being a wheel bearing. We were referred to a shop at the outskirts of town that was run by the son of the man who started the business called Safety First. As it turns out he likes to work on old cars and had a great mechanic we had to stay overnight while we waited for the car and it did turn out to be a wheel bearing and was fixed late during that day one of his friends stopped by the shop to see Bob's beautiful 37 Studebaker and found out that we were staying at the motel several miles away he tracked us down and invited us to visit his car collection and his garage and meet some of his friends we ended up with a car show in the neighborhood the gentleman who repaired Bob's truck was most kind and actually loaned us his personal vehicle to take our luggage to the motel we will depart early in the morning to see how far we can get on our way back to Arizona
THURSDAY MAY 11TH - TRIP BACK TO PAYSON AZ.
We left Pratte Kansas early in the morning. We had reasonable weather and uneventful travels. We Traversed Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Since we were going west we crossed 2 time zones gaining 2 hours. When we last gassed up in New Mexico there were but a few hundred miles left and we decided to proceed. But we had to this with caution. When it becomes dusk, the Elk come out to feed. They are large animals and they cross the road with abandon. Weighing 1200 pounds, they can take out a car and the passengers.
We did end up in the forrest at dark and we had to be very careful. We arrived in Payson at 8pm. Our total travel was 14 hours, 842 miles. 2 time zones and 5 states!!
FRIDAY MAY 12TH
This was a chill day. We ran errands getting some parts for the cars. We thought our thermostat was an issue. We were experiencing wide fluctuations in temperature. For the most part the car ran about 180 to 195. But it would occasionally get to 240 - never overheating. So we replaced it. More on this later. There was a parade of cars for the Bee Line Car show. I chose not to go since I had enough of parades and there was to be a full day of cars on Saturday.
We got back to the Halgren's home (Base Camp) In star Valley. We changed oil, tightened up the spool valve on the power steering and adjusted the steering linkage. Then we cleaned the cars in prep for the show on Saturday.
SATURDAY MAY 13TH
Breakfast at the Halgrens then off to the show. We all parked together and we noticed my left front tire was low. We also noticed this on Weds and we aired it up and checked it numerous times. We made it 800 miles on the road and I actually forgot about it. However, over the course of the day the tire became completely flat. So for the third time we did a tire change.
We filled up the left front tire which we now used as a spare and monitored it over nite. In the am we noticed the tire down to 25 pounds from 40 so we aired up again for the trip home. Unfortunately we made the mistake of not going to a tire store to find out why there was a slow leak.
The show had about 200 vehicles. I met up with a chap that was at the Good Guys Car show, promoting his modifications to 2002 BMW sports cars. The show wound up at 3:30 and we won (deservedly) the long distance award!
SUNDAY MAY 14TH - THE TRIP HOME
We left the Halgrens early am and we were on the road about 7:30. Easy trip to Phoenix where we went to Chuck and Chris Collins (Studebaker Parts) to pick up a horn relay. Then off to San Diego.
We stopped at Gila Bend and I noticed a tire store that was open. So we investigated our tire with a leak which had lost a good amount of air in just 2 hours. We found a pin hole in the side wall of the inner tube which appeared to be next to a fold in the lining tape.
So we re-tapped the wheel and installed a new tube just in case. We took off and started to notice some significant increase in temperature requiring us to pull off the road (240!!) At one stop the car vapor locked but we got going again, Temp kept going up so we pulled the thermostat. While this helped temporarily we continued to have very warm temps. Just outside El Centro, we pointed the car up hill to see if we had an air bubble. The water in the main filler did recede so we added about a cup of water. We decided to go up the grade knowing that we would have a tmeperature drop once we got up to higher altitude. This did occur and our temperature lowered. We noticed the fan was spinning freely and did not seem to increase with RPM, therefore we believe the problem is a fan clutch and perhaps a partial clog in the radiator. We will flush the radiator and change the fluid and put in a new fan clutch.
