By: Jon Stalnaker
AKA The Studebaker Dude
Most hard-core car guys are aware of the TV show My Classic Car. It is hosted by Dennis Gage, who is best known for his handlebar mustache. Dennis has a PhD in Chemistry and was a Product Development Scientist for Procter and Gamble at the time they were developing the Pringles Potato Chip. Dennis swears that the mustached character on the Pringles can was not modeled after him, but the Pringle potato chip is a well-known example of his work. Dennis loves cars and is not only knowledgeable about them but is very personable and easy to talk to. He began My Classic Car as a car video magazine in early 1996 on the Nashville Network (TNN). It developed into a popular car show, and he travels the world looking at cool cars and hangs out with car guys like Jay Leno. Most of his audience envy him and lust after his job. I know I have. Dennis is well known to be a Studie dude like me and has been a member of the Studebaker Drivers Club (SDC). He is pictured on the cover of the January 1998 edition of the SDC magazine Turning Wheels.
I drove my bullet nose Studebaker to The Dalles Oregon to attend a car show along the Columbia River. That trip took me through two more states and Dennis was there filming his My Classic Car TV show that day. While I did talk with him and showed him my Studebaker, I was not lucky enough to have my car chosen as a feature car of the episode. That was okay, it was the fourth time I had an opportunity to talk with him and my wife took a great picture of me showing him my car. As most people that have met him will attest, he is very friendly and talks to you like you are old high school friends. I will tell the story of the other 3 times I spent with him, as a couple of them are quite interesting, IMHO.
The first time I met Dennis was at a meet and greet booth at the SEMA show in Las Vegas. The SEMA show is the ultimate car show, and you have to be in the business or know somebody who is, to even get inside. I used to frequent Las Vegas when the SEMA show began, and I was staying there when it was going on. I had heard great things about it but didn’t know it was an exclusive event. I walked in the front door and was immediately escorted out. A few years later, I was on a Docent tour with the California Auto Museum, and we were invited in. That’s where I met him for the first time. Our local Studebaker Club was having a zone meet in a few months and I invited him to attend. He declined but gave me an autographed picture to take home. There must have been thousands of people cued up to talk with him that weekend and I figured that I was not someone he would remember talking to, even though we did converse about Studebakers. I would find out a few years later that was not the case. He must have an amazing memory as I would find out the next time we met.
I believe it was late in 2011 when Dennis was invited to be the keynote speaker for a fund-raising event at the museum. I initially didn’t plan to attend. Knowing he was a Studebaker dude; I shared a couple of things I knew about him with our local SDC Chapter Vice President who was planning to go. I asked her to write a story for me to include in the newsletter I was editing. She took it a step further and the next thing I knew, Dennis was going to drive her Studebaker into the event for a dramatic entrance. This was just going to be too cool to miss, so I decided to use my press pass, and write the story myself. I’m sure glad I did because when Dennis arrived, we were there to meet him and to my surprise, he remembered me from SEMA. I didn’t tell him I talked to him there, he told me he remembered talking to me at SEMA. I was blown away. I’ll have to tell you more about that night next week.
