Am I Crazy to want to fix this?

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As a serious Stude fan, I'd say go for it. there are lots of Stude parts vendors with everything you need to restore or rod this. Join the Studebaker Drivers Club and go to the forum for tons of info, both technical and other stuff.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/default.asp

Convertibles are very desireable, 50 and 51 were the only "bulletnose" years for the Champion. Only the Business Coupes are cooler (but I'm biased!)

 

If you always wanted a ragtop, can do the metal work, and can grab a part's car to take care of most of the part's missing, why not..
If you think you can pull it off do it...Who care's what the rest say...

 

If you're into studebakers then go for it, it kind of reminds me of this

http://www.impalas.net/forums/showthread.php?t=686

I got slack cause I was fixing up a 53 4 door Olds in high school, I still have the car and wouldn't get rid of it for anything.

 

ditch the nay sayers and haul it out. studebaker conv are cool cars. will be different from anything your friends have. Rag tops are a must have . i have a 63 falcon conv.

 

Nope! Id say tell em to go butt a stump! Not all have creative visions that operate outside the proverbial box! Its easier to just buy it than build it ! No offense to your clubbers. Its just not positive from the perception ive gathered to dissolve a metal vision you have . Perhaps they wont get it till they see what youve accomplished without them ! Good luck and stay in it ,whatever it is ! C.D.

 

Nope. Is very cool.

 

What's even rough about it? Solid floors, rockers, doors...it doesn't look like a bad start at all. The lower 10" or so of my current 51 Merc 2 dr were gone. What else wasnt gone was rusted paper thin.

 

Lotta folks would consider it to be a highly desireable car.

However in it's current state you'd really have to love it to lavish the cash it's gonna require. I'd be tempted to put it together as a complete-from-50-feet cruiser that's not really very complete, enjoy the hell out of it for a summer, then sell/trade it off for something that didn't need 25K of resto bits to make make it a honest 5-footer.

have fun

 

Honestly, I don't see what's so "rough" about it. The body looks pretty clean to me, with mostly original paint, and it's already got new floors in it, although it's hard to tell if they were done right or not from the picture.

The only thing "rough" about it is that it's already taken apart, and that's not even a big deal, especially if you have a parts car to fix it with. I've fixed way rougher looking shit than that.

Your club buddies must be some spoiled rotten little bitches to think that car is unfixable scrap. It's not even rusty.

 

I would use their negativity as fuel for the fire, and when its done ask them how they got their foot in their mouths with theire heads so far up their asses! If you know you can pull it off, go for it! Hotrodders in the 50s and 60s were poor kids with a skill, they didnt throw alot of money at their cars, and isnt that "Traditional" by todays standards? Good luck!

 

You don't have enough spare parts? I need to get up there anyway. I want a look.

 

I would say yes. You have to be crazy your from Michigan.

 

your friends are a bunch of pansies. they wouldn't know a rough car if it rolled over thier feet.

 

If ya got an itch Scratch it.

 

HECK yeah....Stude Vert...looks good. I was at the Sachse Rod Shop show this year in Sachse TX and you would not believe all the Stude stuff they have in their barn. I was drooling.

 

I think your friends are right it too much of a project and too rough! I'll drive out next week and pick it up so you don't have to look at it anymore : )

 

Not crazy, a little disturbed maybe. As everyone else said, go for it. They ain't making anymore studebakers you know.

 

not at all

 

ANY pre-65 convertible would be cool! I'd be excited as hell to find that.

 

Being crazy and working on that car are THREE different things.

Go for it.

 

Yeah your crazy, so send it to me and I will cure it for you. Seriously get it and build it, Stude convert hell yeah

 

Okay I'm glad I'm not Asylum material. LOL But I guess sanity is a relative term....lol

My thinking is not to build a perfect or excellent car but a fun driver. Maybe leave it in primer, still thought stage. I have plenty of drivetrain and suspension parts. I will have to find a 50 4dr parts car though. I got lots of junk studes but they are all 53-newer.

 

Go with it - it will be a hell of cool ride when youre done, and you sure aren't going to see another one like it anytime soon. Nice score!

 

You are asking on the HAMB whether it's crazy to fix up a heap of junk??!?
Now, THAT'S crazy.
If you want to be reassured that you are crazy, try a Volvo board.

 

Do it. I wish mine was a drop top!

 

You are from Michigan - you know what rust is. I bet you can even recognize Michigan rust ... (from the inside out instead of outside in).
My handle implies my condition... Flat rate technician in a body shop for awhile. Us "professional" bodymen (I know broad brush statement there), have arrived to work each morning in anticipation of repairing to perfection (boss' interpretation of the word) some destroyed or rusted out POS that someone is giving us heaps of money (or not) to "restore" to perfect shape. After a few years of the festival of automotive resurrection you begin to think you can repair ANYTHING.
So, lets define it - too rusty to fix is: Half in the ground, floors long dissolved to dirt and a tree with atleast a 6 inch diameter trunk growing through the middle of the car. We may still attempt a resurrection of that type of vehicle if there is enough to graft to a donor car with floor and frame - if it is desirable. but that usually qualifies as too rusty to fix...
Those club guys you asked to sound off about the car? Probably never worked in a body shop... 'sides I never found it valuable to squealch anothers ambition. Got the time? a little money? DO IT... You can always put a Carson top on it for cheap.... and that feeling of saying "Yeah, I did all the work, wannasee the picks?" is priceless. Ever see what the restoration guys are willing to fix when its a Shelby Mustang GT-500 convert. or something? Lots more than what you are looking at !!!

 

My two cents is to build the car, but I have Studebakers so think that thing is desiralbe as Hell.

 

That's way better than what I started with. Those guys are just lazy

 

A really nice old guy at church gave me this 1948 Plymouth 2 dr a while back. It was his first car when he was 16. after keeping it for 30 years, he'd started to restore it but never got very far and it sat for many years. He said he gave it to me because he knew I'd finish it. I showed to my wife's ex-fighter pilot, new Corvette driving uncle and he laughed and said that the old guy just found a sucker to haul his junk off for free. Dont let em sway you, if you want to put in the work and $$ to fix it, it's worth it.