Ocean Bay, Massachusetts-Rhode Island Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club

As I have said many times, “God must be driving a Studebaker” and he was definitely driving one on Saturday August 21st, the day of the Studebaker Drivers Club 2010 Northeast Zone Meet at the Sturbridge Host Hotel in Sturbridge Massachusetts. (At least he must have been driving one on Friday and Saturday of the meet, not sure what he was driving on Sunday!) As most of you know by now the 2010 Zone Meet was a huge success, it all started on a beautiful Friday evening at Ocean Bay’s hospitality suite. It was a great evening; Studebakers started driving in throughout the afternoon from all over New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and even Ontario Canada. This year Ocean Bay hosted a great Hospitality room in the Presidential Suite of the hotel which overlooked beautiful Cedar Lake complete with patio and a great gas fired fire pit. Our guests enjoyed cheese and crackers, munchies, dessert, cold drinks and a cash bar. By evening we were all sitting around the fire pit enjoying each other’s company and talking about great times and old friends and of course our Studebakers.

Saturday morning came quick and Jane Ash, Elaine Jolicoeur, Marylou Luukko, Anne Webster and Beth Gray were at the Registration Table bright and early to start registering our guests with the help of young Bobby Munter our salesman of the meet. From the Registration Table the attendees moved to the next station where our photographer Chris Jolicoeur took their photograph. Next stop was Safety Inspection where Paul “Skip” Derosier and Dennis Luukko and some help from Chris Jolicoeur preformed, headlight, directional, horn, brake light etc inspection. After the inspection the attendees drove onto the Show Field and with the help of Charlie Peckham parked in their designated areas, Pre-war, Post-war and Avanti locations and then they were free to walk around the Concours and Vendor locations.

It is estimated that we had just under 100 Studebaker and Studebaker related automobiles on the field for judging and/or display. We know 91 cars were photographed through the photography station and a few more cars entered the field after registration closed. From here our 3 teams of judges took over the grueling task of judging and trying to place the cars in each division. Judging is a difficult task and seldom is a judge thanked for his or her time in trying to pick the best out of the best cars that are on the field. It is a thankless job! Without the Judges there would be no show. To the judges, we all thank you for a great job well-done! Your Judges were:

Chief Judge: Mark Keilen

Pre-war Judges: Jack Rodhouse Gary Ash Post-war Judges: Mark Keilen Jeff Keilen Paul Williams Bob Gray

Avanti Judges: Bill Wisniewski Miles Gray

This year we were fortunate to have SDC member George Shields video the meet. George will have CD’s available for sale to anyone that wishes to purchase one, see details below. We were also fortunate and honored to have Cruisin’ New England with Paul Mennett video the meet for a TV show that will air this November or December. We will let you know when the show will air in the next newsletter.

At the Awards Banquet we had 120 people for a wonderful buffet dinner, that we got compliments on all night long, hats off to the Sturbridge Host Hotel’s chefs! George Manoogian opened the night with his usual flair and introduced two guest speakers, Jim Maloney, who worked for Studebaker Corporation in his youth and whose wife, Idamae was a model featured in the 1950’s Studebaker ads, and Stu Chapman who was Director of Advertising and Public Relations for Studebaker/Canada from 1964 to 1966. Both related stories of their experience working with Studebaker and their love for the brand. Stu Chapman told the story of when he had to make the announcement that the Studebaker Corporation had closed its doors forever and how that event relates to recent events. After the speakers had finished, trophies were given out to all the well deserving winners by myself and Dennis Luukko. The banquet was a huge success and everyone ended the evening on a happy, upbeat note.

The Easton Audio video production of the 2010 Northeast Zone Meet will be out in a couple of weeks. There is still plenty of time to order your copy! The cost per copy including shipping and handling is only $17.85.

If you don’t still have your flyer from the show, you can contact George Shields at (610) 252-7203 or gshields@eastonaudio.com to place your order.

Easton Audio accepts checks, VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express.

 

Winners

Division I: Prewar 1902-46
1A Electric, 4-Cylinder & E-Series Studebaker,
Flanders & EMF 1902-28

No Entries

 

1B Studebaker-Pierce Arrow, 6 & 8 Cylinder 1927-33

1st: 1928 President Henry Morse - Sterling, MA

2nd: 1932 President State Roadster Bob Dalton - Westborough, MA

3rd: 1931 Dictator Fred & Polly Fortune - Richmond, VT

 

1C Studebaker, 6 & 8 Cylinder 1934-46

1st: 1941 Commander Walter & Gretchen Jones Northborough, MA

2nd: 1939 Commander Fred Radtke - Agawam, MA

3rd: 1940 Champion George Shields - Stewartsville, NJ

 

Division II: Early Postwar 1947-58
2A Studebaker Cars, Sedans & Convertibles 1947-52

1st: 1951 Champion Convertible Dennis Luukko - Webster, MA

2nd: 1950 Champion 4 Door Murray Welsh - Germantown, MD

 

2B Studebaker/Packard Cars. Sedans, Convertibles & Wagons (except C&K) 1953-58

1st: 1956 President Classic James Waltersdorf - Hanover, PA

2nd: 1957 Packard Clipper Chip Dayton - Cheshire, CT

3rd: 1954 Commander Jack Widmann - Trenton, NJ

 

Division III: Lark Types 1959-66
3A Larks, 6 & 8 Cylinder (all) 1959-63

1st: 1963 Lark Sedan Dave Murphy - Prattsville, NY

2nd: 1962 Lark Sedan George Manoogian - Brockton, MA

 

3B Sedans, Convertibles & Wagons 6 & 8 Cylinder 1964-66

1st: 1964 Daytona Convertible Howard Clayman - N. Andover, MA

2nd: 1964 Commander Roy Lautieri - W. Warwick, RI

3rd: 1964 Wagon Larry Golub - Longwood, FL

 

Division IV: Coupes & Fin Hawks 1953-61
4A Starliner, Starlight & Speedster 1953-55

1st: 1955 President Speedster Bill Clark - Endicott, NY

2nd: 1955 President Alice Harris - Pittsgrove, NJ

3rd: 1955 President Don Rancatti - Williamstown, MA

 

4B Hawks (Studebaker & Packard) 1956-61

1st: 1961 Hawk Wesley Burge - Waltham, MA

2nd: 1956 Sky Hawk Paul & Marjorie Hobbs - Sharon, NH

3d: 1960 Hawk Bill & Cathy Mulholland - Becket, MA

 

Division V: Hawk, Gran Turismo 1962-64
5A Gran Turismo Hawk 1962-64

1st: 1962 Gran Turismo Hawk Dave & Judy Rogers - Brewster, MA

2nd: 1963 Gran Turismo Hawk Fidel & Norma Chinique - Lakewood, NJ

3rd: 1963 Gran Turismo Hawk Bill & Barbara Rose - Lincoln, RI

3rd: 1964 Gran Turismo Hawk Bob & Elizabeth Gray - Sterling, MA

 

Division VI: Avanti 1963-2007
6A Avanti (Studebaker) 1963-64

1st: 1964 Avanti Dick Vaux - Hampton Falls, NH

2nd: 1963 Avanti Julio Fassio - Torrington, CT

3rd: 1963 Avanti Jack & Kathy Rodhouse - Becket, MA

 

6C Avanti (Blake, Kelley, Cafaro, Firebird & Mustang Platforms ,etc) 1983-up

1st: 2003 Avanti Convertible Paula Brown - Branford, CT

 

Division VII: Trucks (all years)
7A Trucks under 1-ton all years

1st: 1948 M-5 Pickup Gary & Jane Ash - Dartmouth, MA

2nd: 1953 2R5 Pickup Paul Williams - Wrentham, MA

3rd: 1963 Zip Van Frank Haines - Seymour, CT

 

7B Trucks 1-ton and over all years

1st: 1938 K20 Bob Billings - Columbia, CT

 

Division VIII: Custom - all years -
Studebaker Powered
8A Prewar & Postwar (all models) all years

1st: 1957 Golden Hawk Jack & Cathy Rodhouse - Becket, MA

2nd: 1953 Commander Convertible Jim Maloney - Trumbull, CT

3rd: 1951 2R Pickup Dennis Luukko - Webster, MA

 

Division IX: Modified – all years -
Non Studebaker Powered
9A Prewar & Postwar (all models) all years

1st: 1960 Lark Sedan Mark Keilen - N. Attleboro, MA

2nd: 1961 Lark Bill Leck - Wallingford, CT

 

Best of Divisions: Prewar 1902-46

1941 Commander Coupe Bob & Beth Munter - Berlin, MA

 

Best of Division: POSTwar 1947-66

1964 Daytona Convertible Ed & Laura Jones - Beachwood, NJ

 

Best of Division: Avanti 1963-2007

1963 Avanti Bill Patterson Kingston, Ontario Canada

 

Best of Show: Northeast Zone Meet

1941 Commander Coupe Bob & Beth Munter - Berlin, MA

 

Longest Distance

1964 Lark Wagon Bill & Cathy Foy Kingston, Ontario Canada

1950 Champion Murray Welsh - Germantown, MD

 

Hard Luck

1926 Special Six Paul Derosier - Northborough, MA

 

The Sheldon B. Henderson, Godfather Award:

1963 Avanti Hugh Parkhurst - Gloucester, MA

Photo Gallery