Big band man makes Studebakers swing

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

Glenn Shull was born with Studebakers in his blood.

Although the distinguished but ill-fated line of vehicles came to the end of the road 40 years ago, they roll on thanks to the efforts of this Fort Collins musician and classic-car restorer.

Shull and his kin have owned some three dozen of the Indiana-built Studebakers, making them literally part of the family. Leafing through albums in his Scenic Drive home, recalling the passage of cars and people in his life, is a joyride down memory lane.

There's a picture of Shull on his grandfather's 1938 Commander, one of four Studebakers that granddad owned. Shull would later buy one of them to drive while attending college.

His parents owned a half dozen, ranging from a 1940 Champion to a '63 Lark Wagonaire, and his uncles owned three.

The rest are vehicles that once belonged or still belong to Shull, his wife Barbara, his sister and his son. They range from a 1905 doctor's buggy when the Studebaker brothers were still making wagons, to a national first-place award-winning 1927 Dictator (an unfortunate model name dropped as World War II approached), to a 1948 milk truck dubbed "Old Ugly." A collector bought the Dictator and shipped it to the oil-rich sheikdom of Bahrain.

Shull has always been a bit of a gearhead. "Even in high school I was in a hot-rod club in Grand Junction even though I didn't have anything very hot," he said. Despite that and his hereditary link to Studebakers, Shull was a long time returning to the fold. His family and position as the Poudre High School band director kept him busy.

But with the continuing encouragement of his colleague Jim McNeal, the Rocky Mountain High School orchestra director, Shull agreed to take on a restoration. He told McNeal to alert him if any interesting cars turned up. McNeal promptly located a scarce 1942 Commander Custom Landcruiser right in Fort Collins. Shull bought that car in 1976 and completed a careful restoration that earned him national awards.

"That kind of got me hooked on the restoration and showing," Shull said.

While he expects to always keep that prize of his collection, he doesn't have the same attachment to every Studebaker that passes through his hands. He enjoys the chase of finding them, restoring them and showing them before moving on to another project. So far his efforts have earned him more than 70 awards.

But beyond that, Shull is committed to preserving the memory of what he considers an exceptional American company. Once a leader in the industry, it lost the race because it couldn't keep pace with the so-called Big Three automakers. Formed in 1852, Shull said, Studebaker was the biggest builder of horse-drawn vehicles in the world before it started manufacturing electric automobiles at the turn of the century.

Studebaker was an innovator, Shull maintains. Originally regarded as a maker of big, expensive luxury cars, he said, the company was the first to successfully market an economy line. It also was the first to eliminate running boards, develop an overdrive transmission and hill holder, and introduce new models after World War II.

"I believe in the quality of that product," Shull said. "It's a part of American heritage that deserves to be preserved."

Plus, he admittedly prefers to do something off the beaten path.

Shull, 67, supports his passion for motors with music. A trombonist, he started his teaching career in a Denver-area suburb and retired as Poudre band director in 1993. Now Shull directs two community bands - the Northern Colorado New Horizons Band and the Foothills Pops Band - in addition to leading and performing in his own Glenn Shull Big Band and Little Big Band.

Perhaps there's a connection between Studebakers and traveling big bands for a man like Shull, who is so committed to keeping the rich rumble of classic metal on the road.