So quite a whiles back, this olelongrooffan had the opportunity to attend a smallish Orphan Car Show here in the Music Capital of the World. It was sponsored by the Studebaker Driver’s Club so it is only appropriate the majority of attendees were products of Raymond Loewy’s Design Team. Needless to say, a longroof is featured as the lede image of this post. This version of the 1961(?) Lark was stark in its simplicity and was one of this olelongrooffan’s favorites of the show.
If my fellow Hoons are so inclined, feel free to click on through to see some of the other orphan cars spotted that sunny Saturday afternoon.


While the original Raymond Loewy design team specified the original Studebaker Avanti to be a four place GT during its 1962 and 1963 production run, it wasn’t until Avanti design’s fifth owner, John Cafaro, that a four door Avanti sedan was introduced in 1989. It appears this fiberglass rarity is based on GM running gear (tonyola?).

One of the attendees at this show had certainly performed a miraculous merge of a bullet nose Studdie with the business end of a panel van.

While this longroof is not something this olelongrooffan would call desirable, kudos must be given for the pure imagination of its builder to combine two totally diverse vehicles to construct what has to the be the only bullet nosed Studebaker Panel Van in existence. It is acknowledged that my fellow Hoons will most likely prove this olelongrooffan mistaken on this declaration.

Just down a ways this pair of tudor Studebakers were noted. The Lark in front appears to be a pretty sporty model while the version of the Hawk/Champion/Gran Turismo behind it was one of the stalwarts of the Raymond Loewy design team and the Studebaker auotmobile company.

Moving on from Studees for a bit, this sweet Corvair Greenbriar was loaded up and heading out by the time it was stumbled upon. It purred as it exited the premises. It appeared to be just the way I like them, bone ass stock, and my fellow Hoons can bet this olelongrooffan will keep an eye peeled for it in future wanderings.

A brief interlude to back to Studebakers to capture this image of a Studebaker Daytona. The Daytona longroof was the top of the line Lark based convertible offered by Studebaker and this one had all the bells and whistles offered up for purchase in Studebaker’s waning years.

Not far off was this Hudson Hornet with “Twin H Power”. Like the majority of Hudsons, other than those dressed up as Marshall Teague’s racecar, this one is truly gorgeous and is most likely nicer than when it came off the line in Detroit between 1951-54.

And which of my fellow Hoons don’t like a big window first generation Barracuda? Once upon a time, this olelongrooffan was watching one of those obnoxious car restoration shows on the idiot box and some buffoon shattered the rear window on one of these during the “restoration” process. He purportedly found a replacement in a junkyard for twenty-five hundred bucks.

But it is nice to know that someone, well its owner anyway, believes that “Plymouth Built Great Cars.”

This olelongrooffan is just curious how long it will be before someone shows up to The Orphan Car Show with one of these?
Image Copyright Hooniverse 2017/longrooffan