If it’s mid-July at Boothbay Railway Village, antique cars from around the state will be motoring there. This year, BRV’s 60th anniversary year, the Antique Auto Show was July 13. About 40 members of Maine Obsolete Auto League (MOALS) drove their treasured, vintage vehicles to 586 Wiscasset Road.

According to a 2014 press release Margaret Hoffman wrote for Antique Auto Days, author and historian Jordan Dingley of North Yarmouth met BRV founder George McEvoy at Nasson College. Both loved the early cars like the Model T. Years passed and Dingley followed McEvoy’s progress building Maine’s first railroad museum and reached out to help. At the time, Dingley was president of MOALS and he and other members decided to stage a show of their antique cars on the Village Green to help McEvoy get more press about his ambitious project. The first year BRV was open to the public, 1965, there were 15 cars.

About 15 Studebakers were at this year’s Antique Auto Show. Lynn and Mark Klinger of Auburn came in their two-seater Studebaker, “Blu Baby.” The couple bought this baby blue/turquoise beauty just over two years ago in Phoenix. Not long after, “Blu Baby” was on the cover of Hemmings Classic Car magazine’s January 2022 edition – with Mark in the driver’s seat.

“It has a bigger V8 engine and it’s good on the road,” he said. “I love to drive Studebakers and we get looks. I saw my first one at a Phoenix gas station in 1977 during the gas crisis and I liked the lines. I said, ‘That’s a pretty car.’ Eventually I came across one for sale. Blu Baby is (our) fourth Studenbaker.”

The couple participates in events and travels with other MOAL members. “The spring tour was to Bethel,” Lynn said. “There were 18 cars and it was a 150-mile tour on back roads as much as possible.”

Paul Shuffleburg was at the show at BRV from Arundel with his black 1951 Studebaker he and his wife bought in 2013. “My wife got me into this ... we were at a car dealership where there was one. She really liked the way it looked and wanted to buy it. So we did.”

Shuffleburg said they’ve had three other Studebakers – a roadster and two from the 1960s. “I like the uniqueness of them and they are very comfortable to ride in,” Shuffleburg said. “The front bench seat feels like you’re sitting on a sofa. And, for your ego, everyone who sees it gives us the thumbs up!”

Jim Richardson of Waterboro came with his two-tone blue and teal 1955 Studebaker Commander. He bought his first Studebaker in 1959 for a song. “It had been in a barnyard for five or six years, exposed,” Richardson said. “I liked the convertible I had even though it shed its wheel twice while I was driving it! This one (the ’55) keeps up very well with traffic and I get 20 miles to the gallon. Studebakers were known for their fuel economy.”

The Klingers and Shuffleburg agreed on the gas mileage. Richardson said his ’55 could, compared to the other Studebakers, be described as “stodgy.” Everyone laughed.

Added Lynn Klinger, “I could see June Cleaver driving it!” More laughter.

Nat Wilson of East Boothbay was there with his 1924 Model T. He brought it home sometime in the 1990s. By the time he bought it, he’d already had five or six Model A’s.

“I’ve always been curious about Model T’s,” he said. “I hadn’t intended to buy this one ... I was in North Haven and saw this guy I knew had them; I also knew he didn’t sell them. I asked him if, by chance, he did have one that he would be willing to sell. He did. His wife had told him he couldn’t buy any more until he sold one, so I got lucky.”

Talk about perfect timing ... Wilson has sold two other Model T’s and an all-brass car he now regrets selling.

Wilson works on his antique cars. He’s done valves, brakes and such. What does he like about the 1924 Model T? “I like the simplicity of it and its historical value. People traveled the length of this country in Model Ts ... E.B. White did it after he graduated from college in 1922 and wrote a book about it, ‘Farewell to Model T.’”