This 1947 Studebaker Champion Business Coupe "Rat Rod" belongs to Bob Gutierrez of San Francisco, California. This is Bob's second Studebaker. He also owns a 1955 Studebaker Conestoga Station Wagon that appeared in the "More Cool Studes" area of this page in April, 2008. Bob's Business Coupe is presently powered by a Ford 302 V8 engine of unknown origin. Side pipes are a neat feature on this car. The car has been debadged and dechromed and the fender seams have been welded and filled. Bob says that he might drop in a big block Chevy engine and repaint the car dark blue. Here is a front view showing the nonstock front bumper and grille. Bob recently took his new Stude to a local Rat Rod Show and he says that people loved it since it was the only Stude there.

Some 8,600 Champion Business Coupes were produced for the 1949 model year. Production dropped off significantly to 4,606 in 1948 and continued downward from there to a mere 1,443 in 1951 which was the final year for this body style. Business Coupes were three passenger cars with an oversize trunk intended for use by salesmen and others who needed carrying space.

Thanks to Bob for sending the pictures and information about his new Stude.

If you own or once owned a Studebaker or related vehicle and would like to see your car as "Stude of the Month" or in the "Cool Studes" section, or if you have other pictures or material that you would like to contribute to this page, please e-mail me here. I can accept either electronic or hard copy images. The Main Page is issued every other month so the next edition will be August 2009.

All of the Monthly Main Pages going back to October 1995 have been reposted. In the process of reposting the pages, I have made corrections and revisions as needed, and in some cases added material that was not used when a page was first posted due to download speed and file storage limitations. A complete list of Main Pages with links to each is located here.

Bill Junge sent these pictures of a sharp custom 1939 Studebaker Commander Coupe owned by Rochelle Bazzani. The pictures were taken in March 2009 at a show sponsored by Havasu Classics. The divided front grille and flush headlights were new styling features on the Raymond Loewy designed 1939 Commander. A column shift was made standard on 1939 Commanders and the Climatizer fresh air ventilation and heating system first appeared as an option. The 1939 Commander sat on a 116" wheelbase and standard power was a flathead six displacing 226 cubic inches rated at 90 horsepower. Thanks to Bill for sending in the pictures of this cool street rod.

Bill Junge has his own web site called Bullet Nose Paradise which is dedicated to 1950 and 1951 Bullet Nose Studebakers. Thanks again to Bill for helping to keep this page in new material.

Derrick Bradley of Cleveland, Ohio sent in these pictures of his 1957 Studebaker Silver Hawk. He has owned the car for three years and has been gradually restoring it. Derrick's Hawk is equipped with a 289 cubic inch Studebaker V8 and Flightomatic automatic transmission. Other factory options include a push-buttom AM radio and dashboard clock. The front fender stainless steel trim is missing in these pictures but has since been reinstalled. The "V8 with flags" emblem that can be clearly seen on the front fender indicates that this is an eight cylinder car. Silver Hawks were also available with the 101 horsepower Champion flathead six but the vast majority of buyers opted for the V8. A total of 14,950 Silver Hawks were produced for the 1957 model year. Derrick says that he always wanted to own one of these since he was a kid.

Until recently, Derrick owned this 1949 Champion Sedan. He picked it up from an older gent who did not want to mess with it after a tree fell on it. The car was in "pretty rough shape" and Derrick had to give it away because of a city ban on unlicensed cars. After one warning, there is a daily fine for violating this rule so the car had to go. Derrick also owned a second 1957 Silver Hawk that he purchased from a guy who had painted the car purple for his wife. Turns out that the wife did not like the car so the owner sold it to Derrick about three weeks after Derrick bought the white Silver Hawk. Derrick kept it for as while and sold it to another guy who purchased it for his teenage son. Thanks to Derrick for sending in the pictures and information on his Studebakers.

Bill Junge returned to the Truxton, Arizona area auto graveyard in February 2008 and took these additional pictures. Earlier pictures taken at this site appeared on this page in June 2004, September 2004, August 2005, December 2005, and February 2006. There may be some repeats here but hopefully they are from a different distance angle. Bill noted that Cliff Sudberry, the owner of the cars, had passed away and his sons were selling them off at that time. Hopefully some of these cars will find their way to new owners who will fix them up, perhaps as street rods, or make use of the parts. Thanks to Bill for sending the information and pictures.

This is the latest version of the Hot Wheels 1953 Studebaker Starlight Hardtop "At-A-Tude" It is part of the "Modified Rides" Series for 2009. Here is a picture of the model in its blister pack featuring nice art work on the card. The "At-A-Tude" has been a very popular Hot Wheels model with a half dozen variations issued in the standard blister carded series alone. The two "Web Trading" versions were featured on this page in June 2008. More toy Studes can be found in the Stude Stuff area of this page and on my Studebaker Toys Home Page.

Jim Geary's book Studebaker Toy Treasures is the standard reference for collectors of Studebaker Toys. This wonderful book has 294 pages of color pictures and details on hundreds of Studebaker toys. Publication date is 2004 and just about every Studebaker toy and model produced up to that time is pictured and cataloged. Jim is making the book available for $25 plus $14 for shipping. Jim will sign the book if requested. It also comes with a CD of more toys than what is in the book. This is a must for the serious Studebaker toy vehicle collector. Jim can be contacted at sanjim76@live.com or send payment to Jim Geary, 181 Allendale Hills Road, Franklin, NC 28734.