well this story starts close to 70 yrs ago when my mom and this nice lady made friends in denver,co . as time went on they became good friends and this man pictured kind of took over being my moms dad, anyways he had bought this stude brand new in '38 and was his pride and joy. when we went to visit them we always went to supper in the ol girl and then to the airport to watch the big jets take off, what a treat for a little kid ! well fast forward 40 yrs and i had'nt seen this car since i was a teen, she calls out of the blue and wants me to come get this beauty ! well not knowing the condition or even if i wanted to tackle another car (a little note about me, i'm like a madman going to **** re-doing a car) i spend every night in the garage and my wife becomes a garage widow till its presentable. so heres a small sample of pics along my 2 month journey from cobwebs to road worthy machine. heres my 1st peak at her, with the cover pulled back i can see shes in pretty good shape, has'nt seen daylight in over 30yrs ! i am really excited to see the headlights, this means it has the statesman package which is the cathedral lights and a few otherr goodies. now i really cant wait to get there and pick up this jewel ! she looks pretty good to me after all these years, what a find.
well here she comes out of her hiding place, most neighbors never even knew it was in there. the brakes were a little stuck but with some coaxing from the winch here she comes ! heres the proud new owner at the motel all dirty and covered with spider webs from crawlin around under her, ready for a beer ! so off to the showers and a drink get some rest and a 700 mile trip to home. pretty clean ol girl inside too ! wont take much to get her running so here we go.
start changing all the fluids, hoses, belt, gas, oil etc.... changed out the headlight bulbs and wiring, it was getttin mighty crusty ! ahhhh thats better, still cant see past the end of the bumper but at least they work !! well its running now onto working over the paint, she says it was painted a long time ago, my best guess was in the 60's based on the age of g-pa when he died. it just took a color sanding and a few times around with the buffer and here comes the shine !!
OK, here's another plug for the Studebaker Drivers Club, if you aren't a member you should join, lots of good info and their magazine is worth the entry fee
ok buffins all dnoe ck, waxed ck, onto making the chrome look good, first i polish it and then paint the stripe in it red to make it "pop" yea thats better........ whadya think? this will geteven better stay tuned fuond a set of tires and so onto the wheels, first get them all cleaned up prime 'em up WOW !! thats RED man !!!! now see why i did the stripes in red? told ya to stay tuned,it 'd get better
now thats more like it ! love this look, how bout y'all? well the outside is done for a while, time to start the inside, gonna have to wait till later to do that, so thats about all for now, thanks for looking. i've been wanting to do one of these threads for a long time just never had a hamb "friendly" car to do it with. man this is fun
She's beautiful!! No, this is not a traditional Hot Rod or Custom, but who cares. Becoming more and more fond of these old full size 4 doors. You can't buy cl***, this is overflowing with it. Great story. JT
o yea i keep the lady in tune with whats goin on every week, dont know if i will tell her it left me stranded last night ! driving along just fine and carb made a **** and she died and wont start again, so tow me home and pop the hood to work i go again. o well the fun of old cars huh?
Not really surprising with a car that hadn't been driven in, what, 30 years? You'll get it worked out soon enough, enjoy!
yea its all good, im guessing points are not correct, i have everything new , dont mean its right though
The Jalopy Journal
