South Bend’s Studebaker National Museum received a surprise visitor Sunday night when a motorcycle crashed through a window, damaging a valuable car on display. The visitor appears to have been only the motorcycle, as no rider has been found.
It happened around 9 p.m. as the museum was closed. Two separate witnesses, a driver on Chapin Street and someone at a home on Jefferson Street, told police they saw a motorcycle with no one on it drive west on Jefferson, cross Chapin, jump the curb and break through the museum’s bullet nose gallery window.
The motorcycle struck a vehicle being displayed on a turntable and came to rest lodged under the bumper.
Museum Executive Director Pat Slebonick says the car damaged was a rare 1924 Studebaker Light Six. It’s one of only seven that were built and it’s the only one left.
Slebonick says the damage to the car can be fixed.
“Nobody was harmed in this whole incident which is a miracle, quite frankly," he said.
South Bend Police Lieutenant Brad Rohrscheib said police have traced the motorcycle’s registration to an Elkhart County address but had not yet made contact with the owner.
“Definitely an odd story. I’ve had crashes where there was a motorcycle involved and someone came off of it but like they’re still there, right? I’ve never had one where this happened and we couldn’t find the person that was on it.”
