(7/1/05)

The following appeared in the Flint Journal, 6/30/05

In the Army Now
'52 Studebaker called to duty as `recruiter' car

Thursday, June 30, 2005
By James M. Miller
jmiller@flintjournal.com • www.flintjournal.com


FLINT - David Carmichael's 1952 Studebaker Champion stands out from the polished and shining cars at most car shows because the paint on the old Stude is dull and flat.

Another word is "drab," as in "olive drab."

And then there's all that white lettering, painted with stencils.

The car has been painted up the way it might have looked if it had been used by an Army recruiter in the early 1950s. The man who painted it got his inspiration from a car he remembered seeing not long after he got out of the Army, said Carmichael, who displayed the Studebaker at last weekend's Sloan Summer Fair car show in Flint.

The olive-drab color covers the chrome parts, too, and swatches of it are in a different color - the way Army motor pools often did things. Old Army blankets were used to make its "custom" seat covers.

"The kids get a kick out of this," Carmichael said. "The grandkids call it 'the Army car.' They say, 'Poppa's taking the Army car.' "

The doors are lettered, "For official use only - U.S. Army Recruiting Service."

The car's six-cylinder flathead engine is stock, but the lower end has been rebuilt, Carmichael said.

He had to repair the gas tank and other minor things, he said, but has not changed anything on the car since he bought it a few years ago.

"All this is, is a fun toy," he said. "I have no motorcycles, no snowmobiles."

Carmichael sets up a small green table and chair next to the car. He said show visitors often appreciate the car's different look, and veterans notice it.

"Every now and then one of them will come by and say, 'Sign me up, sign me up.'"

He tells of going to a show at an American Legion hall and a couple of days later was told he won a prize.

"She said, 'You got the most votes of anybody,' " Carmichael said.

The Mt. Morris Township resident retired from General Motors' Chevrolet Manufacturing plant in Flint in 1999.

A member of the local chapter of the Studebaker Club, he also owns a 1955 Commander sedan and a 1921 Studebaker touring car that he has owned for at least 20 years. Both are original, unrestored cars.

In 1950 and 1951 Studebakers featured the distinctive "bullet nose" styling, with a big chrome decoration in the center of the front end.

That was gone in 1952, when Studebakers had a front design that was a little more conventional.