Ayrburn Classic Car Festival

The Stude-Maker
Studebaker marketed their groundbreaking 1950 Aero-Nose models as “luxury for everyman.” A young Trevor Halstead thought this was a bit of him, so he began purchasing Studebakers in the early 1970s. The fact that the Champion model he chose was $50 less than the Ford he really wanted did play a small role in that life-changing decision. As they say, the rest is history.
“To the man on the street, they became known as bullet noses, and while they proved to be Studebaker’s best-selling model in 1950, those aero-lines did not age so well, and by 1952, the company reverted to a more conventional front end.
Fast forward a couple of decades into another hemisphere, and a one-man Studebaker ‘Next Look’ revival was about to begin, in the workshop of Studebaker devotee and custom-builder, Trev Halstead. This time, though, those vintage lines would take on wild and offbeat shapes.
In Trev’s shed, deep in the heart of dairy country, “Studees” as he calls them, are often completely transformed: chopped and channelled; shortened and sectioned into sleek, sometimes outlandish, jellybean-coloured chariots.
Think Big Daddy Roth cartoons and vintage sci-fi fantasy. He is known for building the shapes he likes, particularly the bullet noses, and creating completely fresh lines without sacrificing Studebaker’s distinctive look. On occasion, Trev has even been known to rebuild them as stock, too.
Whatever the brief or design, every detail is methodically and meticulously crafted by Trev, whose idiosyncratic reputation is legendary in the custom car and hot rod world.