Studebaker wagon generates surprise, memories

MALDEN — Gerald Linker of Malden received a special Christmas surprise this year — one that immediately brought back memories of 1942, when he was just 5 years old.

His children and friends spent the days leading up to Christmas restoring an antique Studebaker wagon that resembled the same toy he grew up playing with on the farm.

While it wasn’t the same exact wagon Linker knew in his youth, it was the same frame model of one he had purchased in a museum in 1989.

He took the old frame home and hung it from the garage ceiling with plans to restore the wagon to its original condition one day.

With it being just a wagon frame at the time, he asked distant family cousin Harold Steele of Dover to construct the wooden box portion of the wagon, which Steele agreed to do.

After researching the style of old Studebaker wagons, Steele was able to craft a complete replica, which sat within the Linker house for when the restoration project on the frame was complete.

Many years have gone by since that purchase was made 25 years ago, and time has taken its toll on Linker. Health conditions had made it impossible for Linker to get to the restoration project he always wanted to do.

With Christmas just a month away, his wife, Joyce, urged her children to restore the wagon for their father so he could see the project complete.

Their son, Steve, who is well-known locally for his restoration work in classic tractors, said he was happy to be able to do this last project for his father.

“It’s just another one of his dreams coming true for him,” he said. “If he’s happy, I’m happy.”

On Christmas day, after dinner, the kids carried in the masterpiece. Although Gerald had suspected they were working on it, he was still surprised by the amount of work they’d done to what had been just an old Studebaker wagon frame hanging in his garage.

“Oh my God! I thought there it is; now what am I going to do with it,” he laughed. “I just never expected to ever have it looking like that.”

Those who helped contribute to the project included: Darrin Carlson, John Matley, Vickie and Shannon Bickett, David Linker, Steve Linker and Harold Steele.

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