The next issue of Hemmings Classic Car (cover date July 2006) arrived in today's mail. Therein is a nice feature article on a 1964 Daytona Convertible, written by a David LaChance. The photographs are beautiful, as would be expected from photographer Roy Query. The car is a red, Hamilton-produced convertible with black bucket seat interior. 289/2bbl, column Flightomatic. There's a few details amiss, including GT-Hawk R/W/B chevrons on the front fenders where the 8 badge should be, and the side trim has had the black insert replaced with either white paint or is polished aluminum (hard to tell, but it sure isn't black). The black interior trim panels on the doors and rear quarters have had white inserts placed in the center third of what were originally all-black panels. Overall, though, the car looks very nice and makes a good presentation. However, the text accuracy leaves a LOT to be desired. Mr. LaChance should have run it past someone with a little more Studebaker background. Among the facts you'll learn when you read this piece are: 1. The _base_ engine for all 1964 Daytonas except the hardtop was the 180HP, 259 CID OHV Skybolt Six inline engine that had been around since 1961. (Yep, that's exactly what it says.) 2. The flathead six for the 1959 Lark was reduced to 159.6 cubic inches. 3. Brooks Stevens did wonders for the 1962 Lark when he removed the wrap-around windshield and lightened up the window _frame_s in the upper body structure. 4. Byers Burlingame oversaw the transfer of all 1964 production to the export plant in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. (Funny, I thought it was the Canadian Assembly facility for the Canadian market - I never knew it was an export plant!) 5. Only 2 dozen 1964 Daytona buyers opted for Avanti engines. (Geeze, I'm sure I have seen that many Avanti-powered 1964 Daytonas in my lifetime...does that mean I've seen ALL the originals and several clones to boot? Quite a feat!) 6. First-generation Mustangs routinely trade for twice the price of comparable 1964 Daytonas. (Tried to buy the nicest '64 Daytona convertible in the country for less than $20,000 lately? I guess that means the nicest _base_-engine vanilla '65 Mustang convertible will go for over $40,000. Yeah, right...) 7. The long-wheel_base_ 1964 Cruiser and Daytona models made up less than 10% of 1964 production. (Implied is that all 1964 Daytonas were on the long wheel_base_.) Well, there's more, but that's a good sample. Elsewhere in this issue, they have an article on bargain collector convertibles of which you can still buy nice examples under $10,000. One example are 1962 Studebaker Daytona convertibles, ALL of which [they report] were equipped with V-8 engines! Must have been a nice engine transplant on display at South Bend 2002; the beautiful 6-cylinder Daytona convertible on the show field. Well, 'back to reading the July 2006 Hemmings Classic Car...there's lots more to learn, apparently.<G BP