62 Studebaker Gran Turismo-Jack Irish

  The Magazine Feature Story #7

 https://classiccarsworldwide.com.au 

A TRUE SURVIVOR CAR – ’62 Studebaker Gran Turismo                          

PROUD OWNER, STEVE ROCCO, SHARES ITS COLOURFUL HISTORY WITH CLASSIC CARS WORLDWIDE FROM EARLY DEVELOPMENT BY AUSTRALIA’S KING OF CUSTOM, DALE FISHER, TO THE JACK IRISH TELEVISION SHOW 

Steve spent years looking for something out of the ordinary and spotted this particular car on Carsales up in Queensland in 2020. From the photos he could see that it was different (initially he thought the seller had two cars mixed up) so he rang the seller, flew up on the weekend and bought the Studebaker as soon as he saw it.

He says “I could see the quality of workmanship immediately as it had its roof chopped off and converted to a convertible in 1975. It looked factory, along with the hand-made roof irons, the fender skirts, wire baskets on the wheels and continental boot lid/dunny seat! Yes, it has two interchangeable boot lids which gives the car a completely different look.”

“The 289 Studebaker is a survivor car and is a custom convertible. It has the original 289 V8 Studebaker engine, original paintwork (Hawk Grey) and running gear, mechanics and interior, other than the carpet. Even the steering wheel has a personal touch, painted with two pack white, smoked with an acetylene torch for a marbling effect and then clear lacquered. Pure ‘70’s custom magic!”

The Studebaker was originally imported from the USA as a knock down kit new and assembled in Melbourne, factory RHD. “I’ve spent my time doing simple tidy-ups and minor improvements and mechanicals just to bring it back up so I know it’s reliable as a daily driver” says Steve. “It’s built as a cruiser and loves to get up and go, but certainly not a racer. It drives like new, but I just need to be mindful that it doesn’t have power steering or disc brakes!”

Dale Fisher – Australia’s original King of Custom

“I knew absolutely nothing about Studebakers or the car itself” Steve admits “but once I got home and started researching, I knew I had something unique.”

The Studebaker was Dale Fisher’s personal car for 40 years. Steve bought the car off the person who had bought it from Dale five years earlier. Dale is a founding member of the Studebaker Car Club in NSW, and he bought the car from another member. It was a concourse car when Dale bought it and he then cut the roof off!  Although it was engineered you probably couldn’t do that with cars these days as they might fall apart. The car has won five Concourse D’Elegance  awards in its day.

This ’62 Gran Turismo Hawk was customized by Australia’s King of Custom, Dale Fisher, in 1975. A true survivor car with original paint and interior. Beginning in the 1950’s, Dale customized 64 vehicles into convertibles and more than 280 other customs before calling it quits in the ‘90’s.

The Jack Irish television show (starring Guy Pearce)

The car recently featured as the ‘hero car’ in the last series of the Jack Irish television show. Jack Irish is based on three novels written by Peter Temple. Jack drives a Studebaker in the novels so the production company needed a Studebaker for the final series. They contacted the Studebaker car club which Steve is a member of. Steve sent through some photos of his car which the producers then chose for the show.

“They loved the convertible” says Steve. “It was ideal for filming and it suited the plot as Jack needed to replace his Studebaker which was written off in a car accident in a previous series.”

Steve was paid for the use of the vehicle and was given a timetable of filming dates and times, so he simply delivered the car to the set location wherever it was for the particular day of filming. “It was a fantastic experience” he says. “I could watch how the filming was done and they were very accommodating and looked after the car and myself as if I were part of the crew.”

“The car was used on 10 separate occasions, usually for around two or three hours each day over a two-month period. Guy Pearce would drive the vehicle or for shots of the car driving through Fitzroy or a country road then a stand-in was used. Guy Pearce was  a down to earth guy and we often had a chat about the car between setting up.”

Steve Rocco has always had an interest in motor bikes, cars, aircraft and steam engines. In fact, anything historical that makes a noise. Steve, a plumber by trade, is partnered with three sons and four grandchildren and originally hails from Adelaide. He has lived in Melbourne for 35 years working in building and construction and as a plumber. He met Mr. Excited (Glen Higginson) at a recent local car meet hosted by KustomKraft digital print studio and became interested in cars when he was 15 years old.

Early cars and lessons learned

Steve’s first car was a HR Holden and he currently drives a Toyota Prado. He explains that as a15 year old he started his apprenticeship and used to ride his pushbike to work which gave him plenty of time to think about what his first car would look like. He says “back in1975 in South Australia you could get a full drivers license at the age of 16 and I bought a ’51 Morris Minor and attempted to modify it by putting Ford Cortina running gear into it. I didn’t complete it as I was beaten by the three ‘R’s’, rust and road rules.”

“I then got hold of a ’51 FX Holden and modified it with a red motor, HR front end disc brakes and a Toyota Celica five speed transmission. I did all this in my parent’s backyard, no garage.  A lesson I learned from my earlier experience was to join a car club with like-minded people, and with all their help and experience I made that project succeed. I owned that car for quite a while and towed a 27-foot caravan as I often worked away. That certainly got some looks! I then purchased a’48 Morris Z van and restored that with a mate.”

Car clubs, shows and the Australian classic car scene

Steve is a member of the Studebaker Car Club of Australia and tries to get to as many car shows as he can. “They are all unique in their own right” he says. I think the Australian classic car scene is just exceptional. We predominantly tend to look at the USA as a benchmark, after all we do get our blank canvas from them. Even our own early local stuff is USA based but I truly believe we are their match”

“As for the future my aim is just to keep cruisin’!