The 1947 Studebaker Sportster

In 1947 Vincent E Gardner of South Bend, Indiana purchased a new 1947 Studebaker Champion three passenger coupe right off the assembly line. He then took the new car home and tore it down to make a sportster out it. 

The firewall and cockpit were moved back 18 inches, the headlight frames were rotated 180 degrees setting the parking lights below, he used the bumpers from a 1949 Studebaker Commander, the car was equipped with an automatic compressed air lift system to raise the deck and hood, Vince also added a new grille, hood, deck and tail lights, for added rigidity the frame was reinforced and by reworking the sedan front doors he was able to use them on the sportster. A unique feature of the car at night was the exhaust pipes looked like they were glowing red hot, he created this effect by routing the exhaust through the tail lights. Also the steering gear was set back and rotated to correct and angle, the brake and clutch pedals were extend, he lowered the radiator and moved it forward and mounted the fan on the crankshaft to correspond with the radiators new location. The engine was a 7.7 to 1 aluminum high compression head, hard faced valves with a special coil and two carburetors and dual exhaust.

In the interior there were glove boxes in both doors, fresh air was brought in through two holes and each side of the grille and distributed throughout the car from the heater which was mounted on a vertical wall above the toe board. Controls for things like the headlights, headlights and others were on the steering column. The entire interior was trimmed in a natural tan cowhide.

Vince won the first ever Press-on-Regardless Rally with Studebaker in 1949. The Rally was a 24 hour time-speed-distance event that was organized by the Detroit region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), listed as the navigator was Louise Gardner. The 1947 Sportster was known as the "Gardner Special". In 1950 the Most Magnificent Custom Roadster award was awarded to the Gardner Special at the National Roadster Show in Oakland.

The Gardner Special went through a few versions of itself before finally being restored back to the original version in 2011-2012 by Fran Roxas of Vintage Motorsports in Bridgeview, Illinois for John N. Allen of Naples, Florida. All of the Metalwork on the car was done by Jason Arrigo of Arrigo Specialty Metalwork's. In March 2012 the restored version of the Gardner Special was shown at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance in Florida.