Some may say Bruce Garvey's 1949 Studebaker Champion is cursed, he's too busy enjoying it to deal with that nonsense.
Bruce Garvey refused to believe his car was cursed. His 1949 Studebaker Champion Regal Deluxe sedan was just too lovable, and too solid, to ever be a permanently doomed by bad luck.
But it's a good thing Garvey has a good sense of humor.
"I had a '46 Studebaker that I wanted to re-do, but it was too far gone," recalled Garvey, a resident of DePere, Wis. "I wanted a runner, and so I bought this one in northern Illinois, just north of Chicago — and it blew up on me on the way home! [laughs]. That was in 2005, 2006, somewhere in there."
Garvey soon decided that the Champion was going to be his maiden automotive restoration project, and with the help of family friends it turned out great — with the exception of one other little hiccup.
"Well, we had a little explosion in the garage," he says. "I don't want to point any fingers or get into specifics about how it happened … but I had second- and third-degree burns over about 21 percent of my body. UW-Madison did a phenomenal job [with his treatment and recovery] and the volunteer fire department did a great job of saving the rest of the house as well. Overall, I'd say I was out of commission for about two months, I guess, and it took about a year to recover."
The '49 Champion was in the garage at the time and was slightly luckier than Garvey. "A few panels had to be re-done, but luckily the interior was out of it at the time," he says. "All the interior and chrome were elsewhere in the house. The main chassis had to be repainted and I think two doors and two fenders."
