Projects 53 COOP (Studebaker) gets a major makeover

Been a while since an update, how’s it
Going?

 

@Irishjr , Jim, please provide an on topic update.
Thanks.

 

So we got our hands slapped a while back. Let's all get past that and move on.
Jim, @Irishjr , can we get a little update on this neat project?

 

As I was apologizing a while back, I still am working on the XX95 CXXXXO ZX8. I twisted something wrong and had sciatica hit me on Labor Day weekend. OUCH!!! That limited my garage activity for a while.

I have the steering column apart to replace the turn signal switch and cam plus the cruise, turn, and wiper staff. Boy I hate modern cars compared to traditional hot rods and customs. The oldies are so much easier to work on. I can't even find metal close enough to situate a magnetic base led lamp. Everything's plastic!

Probably get back on 53 COOP in a couple of weeks. Grandson needs to have his 6-speed 90s factory hot rod!

 

Thanks for the update. Take care of yourself and the grandson.
We will wait patiently for a 53COOP update.

 

Are you back on the Stude yet?

 

Yes, close to getting back on it, but still having cooling system issues on the XX95 CXXXXO ZX8. Soon, and thanks for asking!

 

Awesome

 

Jim, can we get an update?

I hope all is well.

 

Phil et al.....
Sorry I haven't updated.

1. Health is OK
2. 1**5 C****o Z*8 was shipped to grandson, Sam, right after the first of the year. He's now the COOL at the Engineering SCHOOL.
3. No progress on 53 COOP because:

I got a call from Kevin Anderson of the Custom Car Revival. He and Steve Coonan got together and put out an invitation to all custom cars that have been featured in The Rodder's Journal to gather at CCR in Indianapolis June. So guess where my efforts have focused. First, I called Don Richardson about bringing the Doug Rice Coupe for another meetup of the Bonneville Boomers (TRJ #57). He liked the idea, so I am hoping he will be there. Jay Fitzhugh is planning on riding out with me (just like in 2012). So, I am busy fixing the stuff I never did right in the thrashing before leavin on High Sodium Diet III:

• I moved the A/C compressor up to the top of the engine, where it is more accessible
• Made a shroud and fit a mechanical fan
• Will be revising the cowl vent mechanism so it will seal better
• Cleaning up the wiring under the dash, including a Coach Controls panel
• Replacing my gauges in the '50 Ford dash with a Classics Instruments panel and clock
• Installed weatherproof door switches under the car (lost one key fob out on the Salt in a rainstorm!)

So that's where I am at.........

Thanks for asking. I promise to get back on 53 COOP after I get back from Indianapolis. Oh, and I also need to celebrate my 60th anniversary in May (if I want to see the 61st)

 

Keep us posted an that thrash/ trip/ adventure we’d love to see it!

 

Jim, thanks for the update. Glad you are well and busy.
I may have to put CCR on my June calendar, as a spectator.

 

I don't know if you had seen these:

40 COOP goes to Bonneville - High Sodium Diet III - Please do not post on this thread | The H.A.M.B.
and
Features - 40 C00P’S BIG ADVENTURE | The H.A.M.B.

 

...Safe travels, Jim.

 

Any progress on Stude since CCR?

I saw your CCR story of the '40 Coop adventure.

 

Alright, alright, alright.......I'm back and making progress!!!!

Yes, 40 COOP made it to CCR 2025 and I had a great time:



https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...custom-car-revival-another-adventure.1336906/

But that was in June and I had to do some repairs....but I'm back on 53 COOP and have already registered to take it to CCR 2026. So I've gotta get crackin'!

As I have related repeatedly, I'm going to paint it in segments. I'm 81 and definitely not up to doing it all in one session, so here goes. First segment is to paint the hood and trunk lid and set them out in the back garage to have them out of the way for an extended time.

So first order is to prime them with high build urethane primer and get ready for color. In order to simplify, I elected to try Eastwood's OptiFlow roll-on primer, which I had purchased a couple of years back (Oh Oh!). I started to mix the can with a stick....not! So I went over to my buddy Ray Travis's shop and used his HFT air-operated shaker. Gotta get me one! Then I cleaned the epoxy-followed-by-Slick-Sand surface with Pre and rolled the primer on per instructions. So far, so good.





Notice how glossy it ended up....not good! Instructions said it would be dry-sandable in four hours...not in my case. After 4 days, I was still not able to dry sand without clogging the 320 or 400 grit paper. So I wet sanded.

By the way, I searched for adhesive-backed wet sanding abrasive, just hoping here was sucha a thing and there is and it worked GREAT!:



Meanwhile, I contacted Eastwood and, as I suspected, the activator for the OptiFlow primer had a shelf life far shorter than 2 years! So I will be trying out a new can of the activator in the future paint prep.

But back to the issue at hand. It turned out that the primer did wet sand OK and so I guide coaed it and used 310 and 400 wet snding, followed by 400 dry and now it did not clog the paper, so the cure was complete:





Now on to the color....

I wanted to kinda duplicate the original two tone light blue bottom/dark blue top of the stock Stude, but with heavy metllic added. So I selected some online stock shades at TCP Global's Restoration Shop and bought the system. However, it turned out that the bottom color was too dark to my liking, so I bought a gallon of a lighter blue metallic. Unfortunately, it turned out to be grayish blue, so I made a custom color by adding a pint per gallon of the too-dark-blue and I suited me perfectly (and ahould be repeatable if more is needed). Base coated the hood and trunk lid:



Then came the clear (also from Restoration shop - Premium Clear 4:1 mix). It's been awhile since I have done this, so I selected my 3M AccuSpray gun with a 1.4 tip and......not so good! A lot of orange peel on the first coat, which caused me to switch to a SATA RP gun with a 1.3 tip which a buddy gave me several years ago. With a 10% addition of urethane reducer , it atomized beautifully for a second and third coat. I will have to sand and buff the orange peel, but I can live with that:



So today I sand and buff. It's great to be back on the 'Baker!

Later.......

 

WOW! Looking great @Irishjr . Nice work as always.

 

Very nice color! Glad to see updates

 

perfection-AND ...patience!!-congrats!

 

Today was very fruitful. I called Richard Glymph, famous local custom car painter friend, to get some advice on the hood/trunk paint issue and another issue (I'll talk about that later). He suggested sanding the surface and re-clearing it rather than buffing it. That way, I won't have to sand and buff the rest of the car. He said I will really like the results. Sounded good to me.

So today I finished the sanding with 400/600/800 grit and called another retired car painter friend, Calvin Martin (wasted both his shoulders doing it) to help me set the gun correctly and give me some spraying lessons. It turns out that Calvin knew Richard and was even mentored by him when he started in the painting business.

Much improvement:







So now for the other issue I discussed with Richard Glymph. A few years ago I bought a set of four repro '54 Studebaker stainless steel full wheel discs ('53 discs had three convex radial grooves). I think these are some of the nicest discs ever put on a car. Here's a pic of a used one i snipped off eBay:



However, on a customized '53, the stock discs need added bling. Older guys like me may remember a fad back in the early 60's where guys decorated them with candy scallops with pinstripes. I'm going to try that (eventually), so I asked Richard how to do them without damaging the surface. He suggested spraying the masked surfaces with clear Bulldog Adhesion Promoter (rattle can) and then spraying the candy urethane. If I don't like it I can always use paint remover to go back to the polished stainless of the stockers.

So that's what I am going to try on an old one, just to find out if it will work.

Well, that's enough for now. Tomorrow, I will build some standoffs that bolt to the hinge mounting holes on the hood and trunk that will allow me to rest them against the wall in my back garage and be raised off the floor a bit so they don't get damaged.

Then on to the rest of the car!

Later......

 

Back at it!

So I built some short brackets that bolt to where the hood and trunk hinges bolt. These are short posts that raise them off the concrete on my back garage so I can store them for awhile and not mess up the corners:



So now, in between working on the body, I am also working on the customized full wheel discs. I've been talking to custom painter friends and merchants of paints about my plans and here goes:

First I took some measurements off the disc and went on 2D CAD to come up with my scallop design. I constructed a parabola pattern for masking to provide six radial spears. First try was too large so then I fixed it:



Then I printed six of them out at full size, cut them out and and taped them into position on the wheel disc (after laying out some centerlines with a sharpie):



Next I'm having them cut out on a special masking vinyl sheet at a friend's print shop. In the mean time I am going to try some sample paint with a blue candy color on some scrap polished stainless. I'll let you know how that works out, later.

 

I haven't been neglectiing 53 COOP......just juggling parts of the project!

On all my COOPs I have usted the same radio antenna system, i.e., a flush mounted tip painted the body color, which was originally a kit that Gennie Shifter Company sold. (OOPS! Not on 26 COOP, 'cause it ain't got a radio! )

However, Gennie Shifter hasn't sold them for a long time. So I made my own:

Here's the anntenna I use:



Here's the assembly I built, ready to go into the car. Notice the tip, which is a machined piece of aluminum which is mounted with a setscrew. It is the same O.D. as the tip that comes with the antenna, and is chamfered on the bottom to help it re-enter the hole in the fender. I machined an aluminum cylinder that allows the chromed nut to clamp onto the staff outer shell at the sheet metal bracket with an oversize hole and washers to allow horizontal adjustment. At the bottom of the assembly are two mounting holes for 5mm screws, again with oversized holes for adjustment.



I am mounting the antenna just behind the "C" pilllar at the same angle as the leading edge of the wrap-around back window, so it required cutting a slot in the inner rear quarter panel, which I clecoed in place as shown below:





Here's the tip sticking through a hole in the top of the fender:



After a lot of fitup and a few nutserts, here's the assembly in place with the tip shaped to be flush with the top of the fender:



View attachment 6522726

At the same time, I have been working on the hubcaps:

I had a friend at Island Print Shop cut me the masking vinyl parabolas:



Then I cut a hole in a piece of plywood to help me mark all 4 caps into 6 equal segments:



Then using a rigid/flexible straight edge, I eyeballed the alignment near the center of the caps:



Using a water spritz with a little Dawn soap, I mounted the parabolas and squeegied them to make them push the water out and adhere to the stainless:



Finally, I masked them the rest of the way and used a lid from Planter's Mixed Nuts, held in place with rope caulking, to mask off the center circle, which may get painted gold later Doesn't that loook like something from Cinco De mayo?:



By the way, I must give my wife credit for finding the center masking lid fitment!

I'm gonna have another friend paint the HOC candy cobalt blue next Monday, in preparation for pinstriper Matt Stankis laying down some outlines at Jalopyrama Tribute in Easton, MD October 4. Gonna take 40 COOP!

See ya there?.......

 

Rather than paint the candy myself, I elected to have a painter friend do it in his booth in Annapolis. In fact, he was my source of a 20 year old can of HOC cobalt blue candy, which he mixed into the 4:1 clear and layed on 4 coats, adding a few more drops of candy with each coat. Here's how they look now with the masking removed (the Sharpie marks will be removed after a couple of days of curing):





I'm having masks cut at the print shop to mask the center circles for gold tinting.

Now is the time to select a color for the striping. I was originally thinking of a blue of some sort, but now I'm thinking of gold. What do you think?

By the way, At the same time I've been cleaning up my garage and putting a lot of stuff into storage so I can mess it up with body work and painting. wish me well......

 

Went to Jalopyrama Tribute last weekend in Easton, Maryland. Had a great time, in spite of being addressed as "Jim Ireland, LEGEND", which meant that I was really OLD!

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/2025-jalopyrama-tribute-show-my-pics.1341949/

I had arranged for the stripes to be layed down by Matt Stankis, from Wilmington, DE. It really finished them off!











Another HAMBer, Just Gary, who I met at the show, messaged me a pic of Dean Jeffries that I had been unsuccessfully searching for:



Now I really feel that I am following in the traditional customs lineage....

Meanwhile, I'm working on readying the back half of the body for paint and assembly.

But more about that later.......

 

I saw the hubcap display in Scott's video of the Tribute event. I also noted the 40 Coop with prime parking in the outdoor area.
Looking forward to Stude updates as they progress.

 

Oops! I forgot to show ya how I did the gold centers. Studebaker hubcaps and full wheel discs had a concave center that is essentially identical on all of them and were painted a translucent gold through many years. How to mask them off presented a challenge. So I came up with a machined disc that projected down into the concaved portion so it would be self-centering and grooved on the outside of that projection where I could place rope caulking to seal it from overspray:





I used plastic film and masking tape on the bottom side to wrap around the wheel disc to mask the outer portion. Note the rope caulking in the groove:



Here's a shot of the center afteer spraying the candy gold:



Of course, I had to do one disc spraying at a time, but the transfering of the masking assembly was easy.

After the center was completed, I remasked off the portion outside of the whole design and clear coated it all to "knit" the painted surface into a single unit to aid in adhesion to the polished stainless surface. The pinstriping is the the device that seals the outside edge. Hopefully, it will be pretty permanent, given careful handling by the owner

I'm a member of the Studebaker Drivers Club and think I should share this on their forum, perhaps lending the machined masking disc to anyone who wants to try it......