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

August 20th was another warm and sunny afternoon. The club's monthly meet was held down at the home of Bob and Alice Valpey. The couple has a beautiful 25 acre property right on the lake. This meet was a joint meet with the Ocean Bay Chapter and the Tri-Spokes Chapter. The couple's home is located in Center Harbor N.H. The longest people had to drive from what I heard was about a two to three hour drive depending on traffic. The cars were all parked at the bottom of the driveway on the lawn and the opposite side of the driveway held a few of the late comers. It was actually a good amount of Studes including what Bob had on display of his outside. The guess were also a good amount around 70 to 80 people I heard attended this event.

The arrival time for this event was set to be 11:00 a.m. with cold cuts and other sandwiches and salads being served around 12:00. After lunch comes dessert and from what I heard even though all the desserts looked delicious just like they tasted the homemade Chocolate chip cookies and the cherry squares were amongst the favorites. Stomachs full, it was time to go see Bob's collection. It was a walk up the driveway to the garage he had it in. If you were one of the lucky ones you got to board the Studebaker bus and head up to the garage.

Once stepping inside the door the rush of the cool air coming from the air conditioner was very appreciated. The collection just blew you away. The garage is built under the ground and it is much bigger than imagined on the inside. He had seven cars on the floor and an engine power wagon and a Crosley Farm-O-Road on two lifts in the back. He had two other lifts against the back wall being used as storage for other items that he wants to display later on.

Display cases wrapped the two side walls and signs decorated the wall up high. On the top of the concrete structure was where he placed oil cans. So this building was literally filled from floor to ceiling. He had this interesting light box which housed old stop lights signals hooked up to switches that you could push and turn to operate them, very awesome. All the cars were much older than what I am into but they were still cool to look at going back in the automobile world seeing what people were driving and racing back then. One interesting vehicle that was there was an Allard race car. Bob purchased the vehicle and when he bought it was in pieces. He and some of his friends put it back together and it turned out to belong to someone famous, one of a kind car in the racing world. They could tell that it was a one of a kind just because of how the grill was placed. The cool thing is that all the cars are driven and Bob even raced in some of them.

Don't forget it is a warm and sunny day perfect day to go to the lake. Oh wait we're on a lake to enjoy, and everyone that attended this event did enjoy the lake either by paddle boats, kayaks, or Bob's friend's steam boat - that's something you don't see on a lake every day. He was nice enough to give people rides on it around the lake. If you weren't into boat rides you could always just swim in the lake. Which only Garreth and I did, the rest of the people decided to enjoy the water while staying dry.

People started to head home about four and five o'clock. When you think about it, it was again another great meet, maybe one of the more fun ones. It was a great lunch, and a magnificent collection. It was nice to join two chapters for this meet because you were able to see different cars and in that case different owners. Thank you Bob and Alice for hosting this party and inviting all of us to your lovely home.

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