MCACN Show!

[mfg]

 

Hats off to Ed George, Nelson Bove, and the other Stude/Avanti participants at this annual Chicago show...Congrats to Nelson for winning the 'Bob Palma' award..and for entering the incredibly historic 'Bonneville' R3 Daytona convertible.

Nelson..when you have time, would you please post photos of '#1' on this Avanti Forum?... Thank you, Ed

 

[lschuc]

Here are photos of Nelson and his 1964 Bonneville Daytona Convertible at the MCACN show last weekend.  

The tire in the first photo was actually used at Bonneville and was in the trunk of the #1 Daytona convertible.

 

 

AOAI and SDC participants at the MCACN show.

 

Nelson Bove, left and MCACN Studebaker organizer Ed George next to the photo poster of Bob Palma. 

 

 

[mfg]

YES!....Thanks much Lou!

 

 

 

 

[Desert Driver]

A fitting tribute to the engineering excellence of Studebaker and dedicated owners. Kudos to all!

[Nelson]

Here are a few interesting photos of the 64V1001 R3 Bonneville car. Large fuel filler opening for rapid filling, twin fuel pumps, 1 inch vent lines exiting at tail lights, original one off Allstate racing tires(originals), extra instruments, original wrinkle finish roll bar, 8k tachometer and a 120 mph speedo. I guess it was too early for the 64 style 160 unit. The exhaust exits in front of the rear tire. It’s a pretty neat car.

Edited December 7, 2023 by Nelson

[mfg]

Wonderful photos!...

We're the Halibrand mag wheels blacked out like that when the Daytona ran at Bonneville?

 

 

 

 

 

[mfg]

It would be 'neat' if you could bring the car back to Bonneville for a photo session, and perhaps a few 'runs'....Similar to what they did with the 'Bobby Issac' '69 Dodge Daytona (#71) a few years ago!

(If you could pull that off, I suspect we'd see that Stude Daytona on the front cover of a future HRM!!)

Edited December 7, 2023 by mfg
added text

[Nelson]

The wheels are actually olive drab. I painted them a week or so prior to the show. They do look black but aren’t. The rim and spokes should be bare magnesium but I just didn’t have time to get that done. I was trying to squeeze those 60 year old Allstate tires on the rims on a warm day plus a few hundred other things in order to get it to MCACN. As shown, the engine was not running but is very close, no fluids in the trans or rear end, no brakes and still no top canvas. But the car put on a good show. If I was a millionaire bringing it to Bonneville for another run would be a lot of fun. I really doubt Hot Rod would have an interest though. I’ve approached them multiple times concerning the R3 Daytona they road tested in the Jan , 1964 issue and the attempts all fall on deaf ears. They should start thinking out of the box but they just don’t.

[mfg]

Nelson, you may not be a millionaire right now, however you surely would be if you sold a few of those very special Studebakers at a Barrett- Jackson!

I believe that the interest by even non-Studebaker folks would be off the charts!!

For now though, those Studes certainly ended up with the right guy!...Best regards, Ed

 

[Nelson]

Thanks, Ed. I know some of them would not have made it if I didn’t latch onto them. I’m glad I did it.

I’ve attached a few more photos, one of the over size fuel tank and one of the engine induction system. Joe Flannery nicknamed the engine a kamikaze engine as it has no air cleaner and was meant to run at full capacity with fingers crossed.

[mfg]

Nelson..was this Daytona left basically intact over the years and just salted away by someone?

( After Paxton gave it up?)

[Nelson]

I first saw it at StuV products about fifty years ago. Chis Banke owned it then. He sold it to Lionel Stone who sold it to Paul Wolfe who sold it to me. It was pretty much intact when Paul bought it. He sent it out for a total restoration which was a failure. I bought the car in peace’s about twenty years ago. I pretty much started over on the restoration as the shop doing the work was way over their head.most of the parts were there but fortunately I had two other cars to go by to help in the correct reassembly.

[mfg]

Wow!.... It's so good your Daytona wasn't destroyed by someone long ago!....Until you recently brought the car back into the light of day, I believe few knew it even still existed!........

BRAVO!!!!!!

 

 

[8E45E]

It appears there never was a nut tack welded to the spare tire hold-down in the trunk as the vent line would have interfered with the installation.

 

[mfg]

10 hours ago, 8E45E said:

It appears there never was a nut tack welded to the spare tire hold-down in the trunk as the vent line would have interfered with the installation.

 

Good eyes!!!

[mfg]

Nelson......I was wondering if it appears that the 'X' was cut out of the frame on your #1 car at Paxton...or does it look like the convertible body was simply installed on a 'non X' Lark hardtop frame at the factory?....Ed

[Nelson]

2 hours ago, mfg said:

Nelson......I was wondering if it appears that the 'X' was cut out of the frame on your #1 car at Paxton...or does it look like the convertible body was simply installed on a 'non X' Lark hardtop frame at the factory?....Ed

Ed. I looked for evidence of an X member being removed and couldn’t find anything. I think the car was made intentionally without it. I also can find no witness marks where it had the weights in the front part of the front fenders. I believe the record book was consulted and this car was made as light as possible and was dedicated to shorter runs and all standing start records. Normally weight is good at Bonneville but not for the case of short standing start type records.

[mfg]

Very interesting...so glad these cars survived!

[mfg]

Speaking of weight being a plus in some of the Bonneville classes...I remember hearing about the 'Pisano Brothers' sleek record setting '53 Stude coupe, which was powered by several different cubic inch variations of the early Chrysler  'Hemi' engine......

They ran what appeared to be a standard Studebaker dual exhaust system on this coupe..however, the exhaust system wasn't connected to the engine...The pipes and the twin mufflers were filled with CEMENT!

[Nelson]

Cement in the exhaust system, that’s interesting.I guess a lower c/g would make the car more stable at high speed? More weight is good for high speed sustained runs. 

[mfg]

Hello Nelson.....About the All-State tire you displayed at this show....It looks worn right down past the tread rubber...Did the Granatellis wear down all the tires on #1 (and the other Bonneville Studes) like that?

 

 

[Nelson]

Ed. Too bad tires can’t talk as I think this tire could have a lot to say. If you look at the tracking surface it is worn to the thread then there is some rubber then worn to the thread again etc. I think since it isn’t an even wear all the way around that what we see was caused during one of the out of control slides, some were a mile or more long, that happened on the wet salt. Instead of rolling wear you see the tire quit rotating and the rubber was quite literally being scuffed away as the car was moving 90 degrees to the direction of the tire. I think stuff like this is just too interesting.

[mfg]

Wow!

[mfg]

Nelson...did all the factory Studebakers which were run at Bonneville in '63 have standard transmissions?

[DWR46]

Are there any lists of the R3 Engines used at Bonneville? Obviously engines built after October 1963 would not be a potential Bonneville engine.