The Studebaker Commander and Dirty Rice (don't try this at home!)

In the Fifties, I sold Studebakers for Matassa Motor Company in Donaldsonville, Louisiana.

At that time, The Donaldsonville Police Department had a 1952 4 door Commander for a patrol car, and the engine was overhauled by an independent shop after it had well over 100,000 thousand miles on it.

The car performed well for many more miles after the overhaul. Then one day, the officer gave chase to a speeder and discovered that the Commander could not go faster than 45 miles per hour.

The car was checked by both the shop that did the overhaul, and by our Matassa shop mechanic, and neither could find anything that would cause this problem.

I contacted the Studebaker Service Rep and explained the problem. He said that he would be in our area the following week , and he would check the car. When he arrived, he conferred with both the independent mechanic, and our shop mechanic, and concluded that they had done all of the right things in attempting to correct the problem.

He then gave our mechanic some money and asked him to buy a pound of raw rice. When the mechanic returned with the rice, the Studebaker service rep asked the mechanic to remove the air cleaner and start the engine. The rep then scooped up a handful of the rice and accelerated the engine. He then began pouring the rice into the carburetor at a rate that would not kill the engine. The engine began to run stronger as he continued, until all of the rice was used up.

Pieces of carbon and burnt rice were coming out of the exhaust at a surprising rate. After the rep finished, he asked our mechanic to put the air cleaner back on. The police officer, our mechanic, the rep, and I, all took a ride to see if the Commander would run better. When the car reached a speed of 100 mph, the officer said that was good enough for him!

This was the day that I discovered a new use for rice in Louisiana.