FARMER CITY - It's not uncommon for brothers to work on cars together. It's a little more unusual for them to wait until they're in their 50s and 60s - and do it while living 1,800 miles apart.

Such is the case of Farmer City natives Jon and Jim Lashbrook, who recently restored a 1963 Studebaker GT Hawk that Jon purchased in 2000.

Jon, who now lives in St. Paul, Texas, needed to buy a car for his daughter. He sold his Corvette and "ponied up to get her car, but I still wanted something, so I bought this."

'This' was the Studebaker, a two-door car without a hood or fender, and filled with six cardboard boxes "of stuff."

Long story short, the car sat for several years until brother Jim, who lives in South Orleans, Mass., chimed in.

"I told him I'd give it a try" at finishing the restoration, said the 1957 graduate of Farmer City's Moore High School.

So the Studebaker was shipped last summer to Jim, who fixed the electrical system, put on fenders, primed and painted it, and basically got it ready to hit the road.

The brothers, 10 years apart, didn't get a chance to do many projects together. It's different now.

Jim enjoyed the restoration so much he purchased a Studebaker of his own. It is also a 1963, but a supercharged model. He said there are probably fewer than a dozen left, making it difficult to find parts.

His brother picked up the new project in Atlanta and hauled it by flatbed to Cape Cod, where he dropped it off and picked up his restored Studebaker. The brothers drove it in a car show in Massachusetts, then Jon started a return trip that brought him through Farmer City to visit sister Janis Maxwell and others in his hometown.

Jim is excited about his acquisition, but will "take a couple of months off" before starting his latest restoration.

And while brother Jon still loves his old cars, he learned an important lesson.

"If I ever buy another one, I'll buy it already done."