• Recent engine rebuild• Long time on display in USAFew cars capture early 1950s America's fascination with aviation design better than Studebaker's iconic Bullet Nose.

Only 2,867 Commander convertibles were produced for 1950, making this Studebaker's most expensive model that year and exceptionally rare today.

Unlike the smaller Champion, the Commander featured a front end approximately one foot longer and a more powerful 245.6 cubic-inch, L-head, inline six-cylinder engine producing 102hp.

The dramatic styling was described as everything from ‘an aeroplane without a propeller’ to ‘a Buck Rogers special’.

Although often compared with the 1948 Tucker, Studebaker's Bullet Nose concept appeared in drawings from Raymond Loewy's team as early as 1941.

The 1950 facelift was directed by Robert Bourke at Loewy's South Bend studio, with Virgil Exner also contributing.The current owner first admired 1950 Studebakers at a Cape Town dealership when he was seven.

Decades later, he successful...