still need color of fan and pulley "51 Champion

[JohnMSeymour]

Won't some kind soul tell me if the fan and pulley on my '51 Champion should be green or black?

[starlightchamp]

My 50 Champion has semi-gloss black on the fan and pulley. Probably the same for 51.

[barnlark]

First of all, is your engine dark olive green? I think '51 engine colors have been discussed often here and in Turning Wheels. '28 to '54 had the engines dark olive green which usually meant that the pulley was the same color. If I remember correctly, the fan was black. Hopefully a '51 Champion student of authenticity will chime in who will more sure than I. Good luck.

[bezhawk]

They are both silver, but first, you have to get rid of all the paint

[fpstude]

I agree with starlightchamp on the colors for the 1950 Champion. Although I believe the black paint was a gloss finish of such poor quality that it appeared to be semi gloss after a short period of time. The article in the December 1985 issue of Turning Wheels by Fred Fox on 1951 Studebakers indicated the following: "Engine: Olive green block and heads. Valve covers, fan and pan were either olive green or black. Generator, starter and air cleaner were black."

[Studebaker Wheel]

Won't some kind soul tell me if the fan and pulley on my '51 Champion should be green or black?

Both the photographic evidence and my memory says they were green. Export models with the five blade fan were probably black.

[(S)]

Dependant on the painter who painted them....

They were Gloss black with green over spray. SOme were all green, some not so much.

The gloss black was exactly like stated above, a cheap one coat production type finish that got surface scratches very easy, a few wipe downs and it looks satin like.

I am sure that any 'press photos' would be just that, showing a nicely painted up engine with no over spray, or defects to detect.

As the assembled engines that actually got INSTALLED into cars came down the line, they had a guy or 2 or 3 with cardboard 'shields' painting them. Over spray did happen.

The car I did some work on (252 original mile '51 Champion) Had its fan gloss black with green over spray. There was over spray on the oil filter, starter, fuel pump and even the FAN BELT! This engine was barn fresh, the previous owner did no do any touch up, I asked.

Later 'low miles engines' I have seen were done about the same way, painted after full assembly.

I'd paint it black and install it, it looks nice and you probably won't loose points over it.


Now you have advice from across the board -- draw straws?

[JohnMSeymour]

Thanks guys. I'll go with the black.

John

[barnlark]

...And on your taxes, you can now claim "dependant on the painter". Not sure if that's one or two deductions, though.

Seriously, from what I've read here, he and his family have seen many an original Studebaker engine and like (S) said, you probably won't lose points unless a pickier judge takes a hard stand on it. Tough to prove correctness either way, but when it comes to that, a judge's decision wins unless you have documentation to prove otherwise. Studebaker Wheel usually has both a sharp eye and memory for such things and pictures to back it up. Both may be correct if olive green overspray was common. Bottom line; it's your car, make it look nice. Unless you go with purple, no one is likely to get goofy about it.

After reading most of Fred Fox's articles on many models & their engine colors it seems that it may have depended on the time of year, the skill of the painter, an order from the administration building, or even the discretion of their line supervisor that day, what color many of those accessory parts were painted. Oil pans and fans seem to be at the top of the list of Fred's "may have been painted" or "most were painted" items in those articles. I started to notice those similarities after reading that '59-'60 engines could have had an oil pan & fan blades painted silver or black.

My early '60 engine had everything painted fading away silver except for the valve covers and the generator when I bought it. You could tell it was untouched. I painted the oil pan and fan black because Fred stated it could go either way. I have factory pictures (not brochure renderings) which show that the pulleys were the engine color, though, so mine are silver. Has anyone used a Fred Fox article to prove something after being judged in a stock class? Is it a valid tool? Should be; his Studebaker research is unparalleled.

if you really think about it, one repair done one day, forty or fifty years ago, could have resulted in someone painting a pulley or a fan blade or even buying a new accessory part that was then painted a color that could be contrary to the original color but now looks stock. Unless we bought it brand new from the factory, none of us can truly know for sure. Doesn't take long to paint something in an effort to clean up its appearance, even if it was painted the wrong color or had sloppy overspray with the correct color.

Fortunately we aren't the club that demands overspray to be correct like at the Big Three meets. If they tell you why they took points off during stock class judging, you have the ability to prove otherwise. I don't think Forum opinions count as documentation yet, though they are often correct.

Post some pictures of that pretty engine when you're done. Clean engine bays make us smile.