In 1997 I sold my 1962 Lark hardtop while attending the International Studebaker Drivers Club meet in South Bend Indiana. See the story of that adventure here.
Flash forward to 2000, I was not really looking for a replacement for the Lark, after all I had recently bought a 1959 Lark (that's another tale, see here) and a 1963 Avanti. However one evening while dropping in on a Studebaker chat room I learned of a 1963 Daytona hardtop for sale. The car originally came from Florida and the original owner had recently passed away. The family had taken the car to Maryland to have it sold by a person who specialized in selling Studebakers on-line. After hearing of the car and seeing some photos I decided a trip to Maryland was in order.
This was in March and the drive there was in slush and rain with temperatures in the low forties. My friend Jim and I arrived in Maryland and took a look at the Daytona. It was all original and had documentation of everything that had been done to the car since it was new. The 259 cid V-8 ran well and the car looked good. I decided to buy it, paid for it, got the paperwork done and headed for home.
We made it about two blocks… the car quit. I got it going again and limped back to the seller's house. It turned out to be a faulty accelerator pump in the carburetor. We found parts and got the car running again.
Now with Jim following me we headed for home again. The car ran fine the whole way. There was only one issue with the trip… I'm not sure why the original owner outfitted the car like he did but I was sure wishing during the trip home that he had added one more thing to the options list. The car is a 1963 Daytona hardtop with the V-8 and automatic transmission, bucket seats, console but it has no radio or heater. I can live without a radio… I'll just sing to myself if I get bored, but if you remember it was only in the low forties and it was COLD!
The trip back home to northwestern Pennsylvania took about six hours and there was no heat… I have no idea why the windows didn't fog up, but they stayed nice and clear. Perhaps it's because it's a hardtop and as anyone who owns one knows they are not exactly airtight. You get drafts and air leaks, but maybe that was enough to keep the windows clear.
I thought about putting a heater in the car a few times since I've had it, but even though I had a parts car with all the components to do so I've resisted. I guess it's more unique the way it is.
I've put quite a few miles on the car since getting it including two trips to South Bend, a couple to Canada and one to Charlotte North Carolina for an International meet, that trip with the car loaded to capacity so I could set up as a vendor at the meet.
In 2005 when my wife and I got married it was during a Studebaker weekend at the Chautauqua Institution. Since it was a Studebaker event I wanted to drive a Studebaker, but we had tables and chairs to take with us for the wedding reception. I built a trailer hitch for the car and took a trailer along loaded with our supplies.
The Daytona is no show car but it's still mostly all original other than having been repainted in Avanti White in 1972 at a cost of 65 dollars. This was one of the receipts found in the packet that came with the car. I did replace the original engine when on a trip to Wisconsin in 2001 the engine broke a ring and started smoking like crazy. It still ran fine but used 6 quarts of oil to get it the 50 miles back home. Now the car has a 289 cid engine with a four barrel carb.
In 2004 The car was used in an independent film titled WAR. It was driven by the main character and got a lot of screen time. The film was shot in and around the Warren PA area and during the premier of the film at the Library Theater I was asked to park the car right in front of the theater.
One of these days I may get around to doing a full restoration on the car but for now it's just too much fun to drive to want to tear it apart.
