Warm day in November, Wagonaire emerges from long hibernation

[garyash]

[BobPalma]

Gee, Gary; that looks really nice. Are the trim panels and dash overlay as nice as they appear?

I'll never forget the Rose Mist Standard Wagonaire (yes, it had a sliding roof) I convinced the Pastor of our family's church to buy in 1963. A sliding-roof Standard Wagonaire, six with straight three speed...and he and his wife were heavy and they had four heavy kids and he hated to downshift...'lugged that poor sucker around corners in third gear with all that weight....I can still hear it pinging.

He traded his terribly-worn, 2-year-old, 1961 Falcon 2-door wagon on the Wagonaire. They and the Wagonaire left town about 6 months later, so I have no idea how soon he cracked the head on it, driving it as he did. (But I did get a $25 bird-dog fee from John Knapp at Snider Studebaker for dragging him in...and $25 in 1963 when you are 17 years old was several tanks of gas for my 1955 Champion Regal coupe with overdrive! <GGG>)

'Keep up the good work on it, Gary. The car looks like it is Champaign Gold; right? Are you going to use it to tow your Indy 500 replica in an enclosed trailer? (I make a little joke.) BP

[mbstude]

See Jane stand on top of a Gravely.

Was that in the book?

[showbizkid]

Gary, as a Standard aficionado, I was wondering what had happened to this project. Glad to know you've still got plans for the old girl!

That first photo brings to mind a line from the old Jan & Dean song, "Schlock Rod": "It's got one big snow tire that's low on air..."

[r1lark]

Hmm.....I see the spectator standing behind your wife. Why wasn't she helping too? <G>

[garyash]

Got another warm day in Massachusetts, and put in some hours in the garage again. I pulled the engine out today and stripped a lot of the accessories off. There must have been a pound of carbon/iron flakes that came out of the exhaust manifold. The engine can't have run very well when the car had its last inspection in 1988. Maybe I can get the head off this week and see what's inside. Having soaked it in penetrating oil and auto transmission fluid, I did get it freed up a couple of years ago. It just barely turns with my big persuader bar on the crank bolt, but that should be enough to get it apart.

Now that it's apart, I'm giving some thought to an overdrive transmission. With the 4.10 rear end, it will probably only do about 58 mph at 3000 rpm, 68 mph at 3500 rpm. With today's highway speeds, the overdrive might come in handy. Anybody got an overdrive T96 with a long tail from a '62-'63 6-cylinder car? Jack B are you reading? The pressure plate has some light grooves in it, will need to be refaced. I noticed a big "0" stamped into the flywheel - is that an alignment mark? Now I just need to find an engine shop to do the work (I don't think Bill Cathcart is doing engines just now).

[Bob Andrews]

Very glad to see progress, since you know how I love these things! I used to go to your very nice website hoping for updates, but came away empty too many times You need to update this car's page and keep it thataway!

I just bought a mostly complete T-96 w/OD setup a couple months ago off eBay for $75. But it was in GA and to make it happen Matthew went to get it for me and handed it off to Kevin Sheen, who was coming back to NY. Since so many (wrongly, IMO) are quick to toss 6-bangers for V8 conversions they shouldn't be too hard to find.

[BobPalma]

Gary: Be sure to have the head magnafluxed for cracks professionally. BP