The Ocean Bay Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club held its July 2004 meet at the Buttonwood Park Zoo in downtown New Bedford. The chapter has 140 members in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and surrounding states. Fourteen cars and trucks were driven to the meet. Bill Rose's GT Hawk is shown below.
The zoo brought out its fully restored Studebaker farm wagon to be part of the display.
In addition, Ray Silveira of Mattapoisett, MA brought what is believed to be an original Studebaker wheelbarrow in his 1947 M5 pickup truck.
The newest car was a 2002 Avanti owned by Ron Morrison of Westford, MA. Besides club members, other local Studebaker owners brought their cars and trucks. John Abreu of South Dartmouth, MA drove his 1921 touring car, shown below with Dave Rogers' 1962 GT Hawk.
Another guest was Steve Geronimo of Fairhaven, MA with a streetrod that began life as a 1961 Champ truck. Due to the severely rusted condition of the original truck body, Steve used the front part of a 1962 Lark and the bed from a Chevy truck to rebuild it. He installed a 472 cubic inch Cadillac engine so that the "go" matches the "show".
After several hours at the zoo, the group toured the "South Coast" region of Massachusetts through the villages of Padanaram, South Dartmouth, and Westport. The toured ended at Handy Hill Creamery in Westport, where our hosts the Sanford family brought out a 1961 Lark Cruiser. We all enjoyed treats from their ice cream stand before heading home.
