I think it all started at the SDC Christmas party in December of 1979. For entertainment we had slides of an early SDC expedition to the Studebaker "mystery graveyard."
The next morning, bright and early, in snow and below freezing temperatures, a half dozen SDCers went on an unofficial visit of that graveyard. After fording a creek, climbing over fences and trudging through a foot of snow I still remember first sighting the cars. The sun was glistening off their windshields. There they were. More than 50 prototype Studebakers in various disarrayed rusted hulks. Among these cars were a Model N which would have been the 100 anniversary car, a 1947 Woody and the famous Sandcar.
Later that spring on a trip to the Reedsville Penn. swap meet, International SDC president Max Corkins expressed an interest on removing the Woody from the gravesite. At the same time several other SDC members were considering the same thing. Why not combine our forces and let the people in South Bend make the arrangements. After very complicated issues were resolved the date was set for May 20th, 1980. Max Corkins and Pete Wilson arrived in a Studie pickup and trailer. The next morning Max and Pete met yours truly, Phil Brown, Jim Bressler, Jim Name, John Borkowski, new Museum director Gust Saros, Brian Webster and our tour guides, Pete Leatherwood and Jim Baugh to lead the group. This was Gust's official introduction to the SDC. To get to the gravesight, we had to cut an access road into where the cars were. After reaching the cars, the Sandcar had to be tipped over and the trailor backed up to the Woody. Eight bodies lifted the Woody body onto the trailer. This was no easy task and it took most of the day. The agreement was that we could have anything we wanted that could be removed in one day only. It took 8 hours of hard work just to get the Woody out. After it sat on the trailer and the trip back to Mishawaka the Woody's body collapsed under its own weight, requiring shoring up, to make the trip back to Pennsylvania. The next day, Max and Pete wanted to see the Studebaker collection. They were appalled. The majority of the cars in the Studebaker Archives were stored in the old Drewrys beer complex. They were not happy. They reported back to the SDC Keystone chapter members
Move ahead to July 1981. St. Louis, Mo. International Meet at Phil Browns swap space. A decision was made that if South Bend did not get off its butt the collection was going back to Pennsylvania where its real home was, Gettysburg. The next day the South Bend Tribune headlines read "Studebaker Collection going to Pennsylvania." This set the gears into motion. It wasn't long before the city struck a deal with Eli Spicer for the old Freeman-Spicer dealership which is now its present home. In January of 1982 the collection and archives were being moved into the new Studebaker National Museum. The official opening of the Museum was January 21st, 1983 with a ribbon cutting at the SDC International Meet that summer
In the meantime the Woody sat at Max Corkins restoration shop for 14 years. In the spring of '94 Max Corkins donated the Woody back to the Studebaker Museum. Phil Brown and myself traveled to Lewistown, Pa. with the Museum car hauler and brought it back home. Chuck Naugle from Arizona donated a car for the chassis, cowl and floorpan. The Woody roof was grafted on to the doner body. The only part of the Woody that was left was the roof assembly. This was a major undertaking but was tackled by Chuck Collins who was an expert model body builder for Ford Motor Company. Also involved in this was Phil Brown, Max Gretencourt, Jim Name, Jim Maxie, Frank Sitarz and many others. I have in my possession, amateur videos of this project. Looking for somebody who could put them all together for me. Today the Woody is at the Wooden Nauga in LaPorte having the body work done. It was reported that the Woody was purchased in Kansas City by the Museum. This is not true. The car was donated by Max Corkins. It should also be known that this car at one time was on a Commander chassis and was used by the Studebaker service representative by the name of Ray Sharp who traveled to dealerships throughout the country in this particular car. Now you know the real story. |
