By Jon Stalnaker
Sapulpa is no stranger to eye-catching cars. The self-proclaimed Heart of Route 66 is a common destination for all manner of hot rods, rat rods, and everything in between.
Still, this was something different. When Sapulpa Times Publisher Micah Choquette posted a picture of the shiny, space-age-looking car parked in downtown, I jumped in my Studebaker Truck in the hopes that it was still downtown, and sure enough, it was.
I parked across the street from it and started asking around to see if I could meet the owner. Apparently, he was eating at the Crossroads Cookery, so I waited outside and looked the car over. The only thing that made it look like a Studebaker was the iconic 1950 Bullet Nose Grill, but upon closer scrutiny, I could see a small grill opening under the bullet that imitated the 51 Studebaker grill opening. Other than that, the top gave it away as a Mazda Miata.
Chris Wollard was identified as the builder, so I waited for him to come out. He told me he named the vehicle “Carvid19” after the pandemic that led him to build this crazy car in 2020. Chris told me the car was a low-mileage Mazda that was in great shape. Being a creative metal fabricator that was looking for something to do while the whole nation was closed down, he built a space-age aluminum body to cover up anything that looked like Miata.
It’s not Wollard’s first time in Sapulpa, either. He was here a couple of years ago to help the Tulsa Outsiders House Museum’s Danny O’Connor safely remove the famous Rumble Fish Alleyway fire escape to his collection of S.E. Hinton memorabilia.
Wollard might be best known for two of his largest works, the rocket held by Buck Atoms on 11th Street in Tulsa, and the 20ft robot that once stood next to the Space Cowboy
Don’t look for it at car events as he built this just as a driver and doesn’t plan to take it to any local car shows. He did say he’s driven it to Florida and to Roswell, New Mexico. And, yes—it was a big hit with the alien crowd. I had seen pictures of this car on Facebook and knew it wasn’t a Studebaker, but I wanted to take a closer look knowing that the bullet was legit. He did have it on upside down though. He made no claims to it being a Studebaker. As a matter of fact, he jokingly called it a “Studefaker.”
As an official Studebaker Dude, I give this car a thumbs up. As long as it is not represented as a real Studebaker, or something built by Studebaker, we like seeing beautiful Studebaker artistry, like the iconic “Bullet”, used tastefully on custom cars. And I love the fact that he took it to Roswell.
Micah Choquette contributed to this story.
