Postwar Studebakers

Mr_Shiftright

Well that's about what a 100 pt example would sell for, so they weren't too far off the market---maybe they paid $7500--$10,000 over market in the excitement of an auction. If they keep in nice, the market should catch up with them in 4-5 years.

isellhondas

Here's another one!

Can someone tell me what "hog troughs" are?

http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/cto/2532939704.html

omarman

Here's a page All About Hog Troughs with a diagram and pic.

isellhondas

Very informative...Thanks!

Mr_Shiftright

Also you have to check the tubular rear frame piece on Avantis--very prone to rust. Avanti uses a modified Lark frame.

isellhondas

If it were closer to me I would go take a look!

http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/2534919900.html

fintail

That's not even an hour away, go look :shades:

isellhondas

I just might get tempted so I'll use the distance as an excuse.

Besides, how would YOU like to drive a 71 year old car home?

fintail

I'd do it. Just stay in the right lane and cross your fingers, or take secondary roads. My fintail is heading for 50 years old now, and I am not too afraid to take it on a highway drive...admittedly, it is like a spaceship compared to that Stude.

Mr_Shiftright

Bring water, bring oil, bring brake fluid, bring a battery and jumpers, never hit the gas or brake hard unless the car is in a straight line, and don't go over 50 mph. Those flatheads will run on half their cylinders.

fleener

Hello,
I am from Germany.
My grandfather also worked at Lon Fleener Studebaker.
Do you know more about it, they still have more pictures?

Greetings from Germany

jljac

I received a personal E-mail from Fleener and replied from my E-mail address to avoid repetition and references to my web site. His message to me was in German and I believe he said that his grandfather, Lon Fleener, worked at the Studebaker factory, not that Lon Fleener was a Studebaker dealership or assembly plant.

isellhondas

No, I would never drive a car like that home any distance. I would gladly pay 200.00 and have it flatbedded home.

When I was in high school, a buddy bought a 1955 Chevy and since he didn't know how to drive a stick he asked if I would follow him home.

Well, the old Chevy decided to pop a wheel cylinder going down a steep hill.

In those days there were no dual master cylinders so I had zero brakes!

I nursed it home in first gear and used the handbrake a lot.

Man, we were nuts in those days!

fintail

Back when I was in school, I drove the fintail home to visit - about a 4 hour drive. When I was there I noticed what looked like something leaking on the inside of the tire - but the brake fluid reservoir was full, so I ignored it, just thinking in the back of my mind to check it out when I get back as there was no shop who would touch that car where I was. I almost made it back...on the off ramp to where I lived then, brake pedal went to the floor. Luckily it was an uphill ramp and I could downshift to a stop. I pulled over and looked, empty. I always carry fluids in that car, so I filled it back up - got through 2 stops and empty again. Oh, the memories.

Mr_Shiftright

I might be getting custody of a '28 Studebaker President 8, a rather shabby but good running 4-door, solid, no rust, needs interior, has a cheap paint job on it, in order to sell it for a client. It's not too far away from me, but I am also debating whether to drive it home or not. It's registered and was running fine a few months ago, but those wooden artillery wheels are pretty scary to contemplate. With the big straight 8, it should be okay on 2-lane roads and it does have hydraulic brakes.

This car is one big mother, though...easy does it, if I do it.

Value? I'm thinking $6500 or so should do it.

isellhondas

Oh, man...Not on the freeways? Right?

Start snapping some of those wooden spokes?

Mr_Shiftright

Nope---I'm thinking 40 mph tops. The spokes look good but you never know with those things. If you hit a bad bump they can shatter on you.

isellhondas

If nothing else, it'll be an interesting ride. Where is it? Driving back to where you live?

Didn't those have split rims of some sort?

Mr_Shiftright

It's a 52 mile trip on highway 128 in California. My main concern would be overheating but those flatheads are tought---they don't bend like modern engines when they get hot. Basically there's not much difference between a 1928 Studebaker flathead and a 1950s Studebaker flathead, and I've worked on a few of the latter--so I'm in somewhat familiar territory on that count.

isellhondas

Well, have fun and take some pictures to post here.

texases

I'd have thought they stopped using the wooden wheels by then...obviously not!

Mr_Shiftright

Here's the little treasure:

It's the one on the left, of course

http://s1097.photobucket.com/albums/g353/mrshiftright/

fintail

I kind of like the color and patina on that paint, makes the car look like it is made out of bakelite

Mr_Shiftright

Paint's very dull, interior kinda torn up---but it has great tires on it and seems to run well. These things aren't worth much in this condition because you know, you start adding up the cost of restoration and you're upside down very quickly. If I owned it, I wouldn't touch it--I'd keep it exactly as it is.

bhill2

It's a 52 mile trip on highway 128 in California

The stretch in from Mendocino, I hope. The section east of Rutherford is just nasty!

Mr_Shiftright

yeah it is. I was thinking of cutting off at Calistoga Road and then Hwy 12 to Sonoma.

jljac

It looks like the Studebaker used in the movie Murphy's Romance starring James Garner and Sally Field. http://imcdb.org/vehicle_246305-Studebaker-Model-53-1930.html I do not believe that it is a 1930 model as the page says, but I am not an expert on those years. I think it is a 1928 model too.

Mr_Shiftright

The one I'm talking about has an "8" held in a bar across the grille. But it does look similar. Back then, cars didn't change very much, since they hadn't perfected large steel stampings yet. So, unless you were rich and could have someone hammer out a body for you full of curves, you basically got a box welded together, with a leather roof covering the hole in the center.

bhill2

That seems like a good plan. Remind me where you are coming from and your ultimate destination.

Mr_Shiftright

Geyserville to Sonoma (if this happens---it's still up in the air).

bhill2

That sounds like a nice trip. Let us know how it goes (if it does).

uplanderguy

Pretty sure I posted this last week..looks like it got deleted.

Lon Fleener was the person who most brought M-B into the Studebaker fold. He later married Martha, Sherwood Egbert's and Byers Burlingame's secretary, who I had met on a couple occasions at meets in South Bend in the '90's. She was an elegant, friendly lady who died in the late '90s.

Sherwood Egbert and Byers Burlingame were Studebaker's last two CEO's.

Mr_Shiftright

no one *ever* gets deleted on purpose in the Edmunds forums without being notified as a courtesy, explaining the reason(s).

uplanderguy

Yesterday I bought a '66 Studebaker Daytona Sports Sedan (two-door). Niagara Blue Mist (light metallic blue) with black vinyl top and black vinyl bucket-seat interior. Factory (Chevy) 283 with a B-W 3-speed automatic. The steering is loose I think (lots of play), but a couple guys in the know told me that's not a deal-breaker with Saginaw steering. Nice, conservative car and only 620 built in '66. Sold new in Rockford, IL. The car is five hours away and now I have to figure a way to go get it and drive it home. It rec'd a body-off restoration in '98 (I saw the pics) and the car is extremely clean underneath. I have the Studebaker Drivers' Club magazine that shows the car getting 386 out of 400 points at the '99 club national meet. I'm pretty excited. I think the 283, flanged rear axle and 5" wide wheels (perfect to accomodate the easy-to-find 205-15 tires) will be things I'll be glad for as it needs work down the road at some point.

uplanderguy

I may have gotten interrupted before I posted the message, who knows.

Mr_Shiftright

Here's some info on how to adjust a Saginaw box:

http://www.partsmike.com/tech-help/saginaw-adj/

It's good to read up on it because some folks try to adjust these boxes on the fly and end up damaging them.

Congrats on your "new" car!

uplanderguy

Thanks for posting this.

jljac

Pretty sure I posted this last week..looks like it got deleted.

I saw your Lon Fleener" post over on "I Spotted a Classic" forum but not here. There was a Studebaker discussion going on there. I have been E-mailing his grandson ( auf Deutsch) since then.

If you want to get deleted, call a Packard "ugly." The Packard is the "Shovel Nose," the Avanti is the "Anteater" Let's try to keep the terms applied to the proper vehicles.

Mr_Shiftright

This might be interesting: (it's a craiglist ad, so it'll disappear in a few days)

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/cto/2553420884.html

Mr_Shiftright

This one doesn't look too bad and you might come out okay on it (maybe)

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/2553364760.html

Mr_Shiftright

This one doesn't look too bad and you might come out okay on it (maybe)

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/2553364760.html

uplanderguy

The guy who has sold hundreds of Studebakers over the past decade or more always says, "There's nothing more expensive than a cheap Avanti!"

Mr_Shiftright

Well these days that's true for just about any collectible car that isn't worth $80,000 or more, because to completely restore a car today (if you pay someone to do it) simply makes no sense for an Avanti. I suppose this one would be a good hobby car for a retiree who had some restoration skills and the time to gather up parts at good prices.

You see this mathematical formula working all the time in hot rods. People end up selling them for half what they put into them.

uplanderguy

What he meant was, there isn't a lot of NOS left for Avantis, as there is for Larks, primarily. That, and weak Avanti hog troughs can be a real headache. Sheetmetal, trim, soft upholstery, is available for Larks NOS, and what isn't, is available as reproduction. The only trim I couldn't get NOS or repro for my old '63 Daytona was the long "butterknife" side trim for the rear quarters, and I was lucky enough to find a guy with an NOS set he'd had for a long time, including the gold "Daytona" nameplates, who sold them to me for $110/pr. The stainless trim was available NOS, and all letters, nameplates, emblems, the gold birds on the roof, taillights, and original-style outside mirror were available repro. Bumpers and grille and headlight surrounds were available NOS, as were doors, rear fenders, trunk lid, hood, and front and rear panels. Upholstery was available NOS. All this stuff was still at South Bend. Between sheetmetal and upholstery, I only had $1K in parts.

Mr_Shiftright

That's great. Of course this is "cosmetic" restoration stuff---bolt ons and snap ons. It's the body work and paint and wiring and major mechanical disassembly that's a killer for the budget.

I guess it also depends on what standard of restoration you'd want on an Avanti.

I'd be content with a "street standard", which is usually what you see at most car shows locally.

I don't sniff at someone's car if it has some orange peel or file marks or dust in the paint, or if they taped it off to paint it rather than all glass out/all trim off.

uplanderguy

I've toured this building twice in the last 20 years, and its level of originality is amazing. In the open "courtyard" area, many partitions had been set up by the South Bend School Corp. which occupied the building from '69 or '70 'til '05. Compared to the Willys office building (demolished), or Packard (downright dangerous), Studey buffs are lucky this building exists and in this condition...20 photos here:

http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/sbt-photos-tour-of-the-studebaker-building-- 20110817,0,2386726.photogallery

Photo 19 is my favorite...from the executive office.

jljac

Great images and story. It is good to know that the building is being preserved. They City of South Bend won't even maintain the Studebaker sign of trees at the proving grounds. Here is a photo from inside the building in 1952. Notice how President H.S. Vance gets to wear the white shoes. (I wonder what would have happened if an employee showed up in white shoes.) The employees are getting their Studebaker service pins.



PS. In image 20 I can see where my Grandfather used to park his car under the bridge. The sidewalk is pretty broad there.

uplanderguy

Neat pic I've never seen before. That group sure looks like the "Over the Hill Gang", doesn't it?! Thanks for posting. I've heard that Studebaker did give a few 60-year pins. Hard to imagine.

Mr_Shiftright

Looks like there was no gym at the factory. Well people tended to look older faster back then. They probably worked a lot harder than we do anyway.

uplanderguy

You're right, I wouldn't doubt if a bunch of those guys were only in their fifties. I can plainly remember my grandmother's 56th birthday as my Grandfather had that written on her cake. She seemed much older than 56 seems now.