Originally Posted by pitbulllady (Post 41316)

Willys was one of the cars I looked into before getting the Studebakers. My great-grandfather was really into Willys cars and trucks, and I can still remember a '53 Willys car he had. I've also looked into Henry J. cars, since my father drove one of those to college. Those were some really good, reliable, and fuel-efficient cars, too, along with the Studes, and people could order them from the Sears & Roebuck catalog! They also looked good-very modern and sleek in comparison with most of the cars from the early '50's. Willys cars and Henry J.'s and Kaisers are pretty hard to find, though, except those that have been completey turned into "rat rods" and hot rods, with modern high-performance engines and interiors, etc., so that the body style is really all that's left of the original car. One of the great things about Studes is that there are still a lot of 'em around, with the orignal engines, etc., and parts are still readily available for these, so it's not that different from a modern car in terms of finding stuff for one. The Studes were known for their fuel-efficiency, even way back in the day when gasoline retailed for nineteen cents per gallon, and nobody ever thought about things like "greenhouse" emissions and the effect on the environment. The old "flathead six" engines that the Studebaker was famous for actually produced FEWER greenhouse gas emissions than a modern car with all that anti-pollution stuff on the engine, because they burned fuel much more efficiently in the first place. And of course, they got almost 40 miles per gallon, too!

pitbulllady