My first encounter was with an older brother in the late sixties whom had several late '40's Commanders and Champions. As I was learning to drive, these cars were solid. strong, but easy to drive. Later, serving in Viet-Nam as a Navy firefighter, I drove a 1953 Studebaker 2000 gallon water tanker. Even with that much weight, it would get with the program in a hurry. Although I am a Ford fanatic, I still want one of the mid '50's 'loewy' designs. It doen't matter 2 0r 4 dr, just have to have one.

   When I was 15-16, my buddies and I modified one of the old Champions for "brush' running. We had 10 acres to play on, so we removed the front doors and bumpers. We then welded up a rudimentary roll bar and welded a chunk of railroad track for the bumper. We had a dirt track around the farm and would run the Studie thru the woods. That front "bumper" was able to snap 6" alder trees off, no problem. This was 1965. That old Stude had lots of guts!! Another brother had an Erskine pickup, think it was a 1929, but I was younger and can't remember much about it.

I am the heir of a 1909 EMF "30". Actually I am now the owner. You see my dad left it to me when he died 11 years ago. It is completely restored and my son, William, drove it away from the church with his bride to the reception hall. My oh my did people stop to stare and wave as he and Becky were driving down Houston streets. There is a funny story here- they forgot to fill the gas tank full and - yes, they ran out of gas! But there were plenty of people following and anxious to help the newly weds push the car up on the trailer that was following them. William and Becky arrived at the reception in the car on top of the trailer. William said he was going to show up at his reception in that car no matter what, and he did! On November 13th, the tradition will be carried on by William's younger sister Kelly. She and her husband will drive away from the church to the reception in the "09". Keeping the tradition alive.

Now because I have always wanted to write the story to that car, I am going to do that now. First, my name is Beverly Gunderson. And the man who restored the "'09" was my dad, William Suehs. Way back in 1981, I worked for a photographer who also like old cars just as Daddy did. Each morning that I would go to work, I would say to Butch, "You ever want to see that car put together, you better give it to my dad." Butch preferred Fords and since Daddy was a Studerbaker man, Butch told me one day that if Daddy would help him restore his '27 Huckster, he'd give that car to him free! I barely got those words out to my dad and he was on the phone to Butch to ask him when he wanted to start. (I must tell you that my Daddy and Butch were City of Houston Firefighters and friends too.) I still can see my daddy standing on the driveway at his house and telling me, "Beverly, I think this goes to that, and that goes there." That '09 was strewn out all over the two car driveway in minute pieces and yet he could visually see that car put together as one piece. I thought "Wow" to myself. Only 3 weeks had passed since I had give the news to Daddy, and that's all the time that was needed to restore Butch's Huckster together. It looked fine and ran fine too. Now back to the '09 story. Butch had gotten that car from someone (I don't known who) who had gotten it off of a sign post on Harrisburg in Houston that advertised a used car dealership. It was in pretty bad shape -body wise. But the motor was all there and that excited Daddy the most! Mother and Daddy owned 3 Studebakers when I was a little girl and then Studebaker went out of business. After Daddy was diagnosed with cancer in 1979, he became obsessed with the preservation of history. Many times Daddy would bring home something that he was so proud to own and fix and we would just stand back and hold our noses because we thought that there was no way that piece of junk could be fixed up to be the beauties that he turned them into. (And some of them really did STINK!) He retired from the Houston Fire Department in 1982. He and Mother moved to Deanville and there he began his serious restoration of autos and motors. Before Daddy died in 1988, he had restored 1- 1909 EMF; 1- 1936 Dodge Coupe; 1- 1948 Champion (known to us as the anniversary car since Mother and Daddy had married in '48, they always went to dinner in that car on their anniversary); 2- Starlight Commanders, (one he traded for his tractor and implements); 1- 1960 Lark Convertible and 1- 1963 or 64 3/4 ton T cab pickup truck. At the time of his death, each of his five children inherited one of these cars. (At that moment of his death they became priceless.) In addition to all of these vehicles, he restored a 1926 Farmall Regular tractor that had paddle wheels, (hand crank of course); 2- 1953 Cushman motorcycles; and he fixed the trailbikes and the small motorcycles numerous times just to keep the grandkids happy and busy! Also, he made time to build one of the most beautiful places for he and Mother to spend their retire years. Everything on their 20 acres was built by his and family members hands. I know I sound like I may be bragging about my father, but the truth is, I was truly blessed to call William Suehs, "Daddy".

I've been off the air for a while because the computer needed some housework done. I would love for you to use the story. But since I wrote the story, here is an added footnote. Remember, that I closed the story with Kelly's wedding? Well, that old car had been running great out here in front of our house. So we loaded it on the trailer and hauled it up to church for Kelly and Jamie to drive to the reception- just as William and Becky did. But we had high hopes of Kelly and Jamie making it all the way in the car. (Not arriving on a trailer!) Well, we are 2 for 2. Kelly and Jamie had problems with the car and ended up arriving at their reception, in the car and on the TRAILER!. We still have one child left at home, a son-Kyle. So we still have high hopes that the '09 will arrive at his wedding reception being driven. Thanks for remembering my story.