Avanti parking lights

[garyc]

Parking light assemblies for the '63 Avanti are hard to come by. Can the '63 assembly be replaced with the '64 assembly without modifiing the exterior surface of the car? I realize they are different internaly to the car but would the exchange affect the exterior opening necessitating body work and painting?

[Warren Webb]

In a word, yes. The 63 used the fiberglass as part of the lamp housing whereas the 64 style used a separate pot metal housing. Although from a distance they may look the same, the 63's chrome is part of the outer lens where the 64 chrome is the housing itself. Body & paint work would be required to change it from the earlier to the later or vice versa.

[sbca96]

My '63 has one '63 light on the passenger side, and a '64 on the drivers side. The
'64 is about a 1/2 taller than the '63. I would like to ditch the '63 and get another
'64. From the looks of it, to use a '64 on a '63 would require cutting the hole a tad
larger to mount the lense. I havent got brave enough to pull them both off and do
a serious investigation. I had the car for over 10 years before a friend pointed it
out to me they were different. I noticed the lense design was, but not all of it.

Edit: I believe the drivers fender was replaced years ago with a '64.

Tom

[bonehead007]

Actually you'll find the replacment assembly in the Studebaker International Catalog, page 124, part # 800734 for $69.95 each. Thats the good news. The bad is the old assembly was part of the body so, you would have to cut out the old and attach the new one with duraglass or any type of fiberglass filler , as well as, drill the holes fo the light and screw attacments. I was going to replace my one but opted to drill out the screws,they snapped in the assembly, duraglass it , sand & drill new lens holes. Good luck.

[StudeRich]

I was going to replace my one but opted to drill out the screws,they snapped in the assembly, duraglass it , sand & drill new lens holes. Good luck.

English please!

You did what? replaced a '63 Parking Light Lense with a '64? Or exactly what?

[WCP]

I understand what bonehead007 did in repairing the '63 lens housing. He drilled out the captive threads, glassed over the repair area and drilled new holes. I had to remove a housing on my '63 to correct the location and fender profile established years earlier by some repair shop after major fender damage. It can be done but it is not easy and would be considered major body repair. I purchased a unit from SI but was disappointed as it was simply a blank casting. I opted to re-use the one I removed after correcting the fender shape. The captive threads can be drilled out and replaced with common captive nuts, bonded in place with fibreglass bonding compound.

[sbca96]

English please!

Do you speak it?

Tom

[bonehead007]

In English, just what WCP said. The 63 & 64 housings are different. I had the same blank casting from SI but, realized what a complete pain it would be to replace so, opted to repair the old one. The screws broke in. Tried drilling out after drowning it in different loseners. Had to drill around it , and duraglass the hole, sand it and will drill a hole for the new screw . Unfortunatley Studebaker integrated the housing as part of the body in 63 so its major body work.

[Bob Langer]

The 1963 parking lights use a threaded metal insert for the screws. This insert can be removed by driving it out with a small drift pin or screwdriver. I replaced mine with new threaded inserts that are pressed into the original holes. The inserts have a spiral knurl and will hold against the fiberglass. They are 1/4 inch long and have 6-32 threads. They use a 6-32 x 1/2 inch long phillips fillister screw.

I got the inserts and screws from McMaster-Carr.

Inserts 97191A150
Screws 91737A109

[bonehead007]

Thanks for the heads up on the inserts & screws Bob. Just ordered a set. Thats the great part about this site. Makes restoring and maintaining our Studebakers and Packards (Packardbakers) that mush easier.