Studebaker's repurpose of parts

[unclemiltie]

It continues to amaze me the number of different times Studebaker reused parts on different models and years.

I have had container with around 100 cables in it sitting waiting for me to have time to go through them. That time has finally came.

I found yet another example of this reuse. I have in my left hand a choke cable wire for a truck, 682898 . In my right hand I have a climatizer cable for a truck, 682956.


When you look at the cables you at first think someone must have made a mistake when labeling one. They both have the same black knob and the letter "C" on them. They are of different lengths but they still need to be cut down when they are installed.

Whom would have thought that a "choke" cable and a "heater cable" would appear the same.

This must have driven parts men crazy at times.

On the other side of the coin, I was doing Overdrive cables this past week. I found an case where they had one cable 50" long and the other was 50 1/2" long. This seems like a huge waste as 1/2" would not be noticeable on such a cable. They could have saved money by having just one cable. I think those were actually for the same year.

[WinM1895]

When FoMoCo introduced accelerator cables for F100/250's in 1965, it was soon discovered that they were too short, so the later versions were longer.

[Skip Lackie]

It continues to amaze me the number of different times Studebaker reused parts on different models and years.

I have had container with around 100 cables in it sitting waiting for me to have time to go through them. That time has finally came.

I found yet another example of this reuse. I have in my left hand a choke cable wire for a truck, 682898 . In my right hand I have a climatizer cable for a truck, 682956.


When you look at the cables you at first think someone must have made a mistake when labeling one. They both have the same black knob and the letter "C" on them. They are of different lengths but they still need to be cut down when they are installed.

Whom would have thought that a "choke" cable and a "heater cable" would appear the same.

While I agree on your basic point, a wire/knob with a "C" on the knob is for a choke cable. The truck climatizer knobs were unmarked, except that the defrost knob had an arrow on it to indicate that it was to be rotated. Both choke and climatizer wire/cable units came in the correct length out of the box and did not need to be cut down to fit. That said, after Newman & Altman began to run out of some cables in the 1970s, they substituted longer cables with instructions to cut them down to fit.

[Roscomacaw]

I've said this before, but it amazes me that a company so focused on using the same pieces thru years - DECADES in some cases... went to the extra cost of fashioning a left and a right parking lite/TS fixture for the '64 thru '66 Lark types. You practically have to get down on one knee - looking straight on - to see the small differences in the L & R fixtures/lenses, and they add nothing to the design integrity or anything like that. The bean counters must've fallen asleep tabulating steering wheels when this facet slipped by them!

[Chris_Dresbach]

Possibly the longest production run for any part that I know of is 513536X1. That's the little boot that goes under the gas pedal and was first used in 1939 and went to about 1985 on post-Studebaker Avanti's, all models including trucks. I think the only exception would be the use of batteries and wheels!

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

I've said this before, but it amazes me that a company so focused on using the same pieces thru years - DECADES in some cases... went to the extra cost of fashioning a left and a right parking lite/TS fixture for the '64 thru '66 Lark types. You practically have to get down on one knee - looking straight on - to see the small differences in the L & R fixtures/lenses, and they add nothing to the design integrity or anything like that. The bean counters must've fallen asleep tabulating steering wheels when this facet slipped by them!

No need to get too uptight about right and left parking light lenses. Every other Lark, with the exception of the '61 single headlight version, did also use separate lenses for right and left.

[StudeRich]

The deal with the '64 to '66 Lark Type Parking Light Lenses is the stone pan they mount on is "V" shaped and the outer ends curve back, so the Housings and Lenses have different angles and curves and will not correctly interchange, if they did the Bulbs would not point straight ahead.

There were lots of neat cases of repurpose of Parts or lack of it however.

I always think of the R Series Truck Grille that IMO COULD have been used on Scotsman Trucks, but they removed some vertical Bars from it, I don't know if anything else actually changed or not but they sure look similar.

And then there is the '47 to '49 Champion Headlight Rims and Hood Ornament used on R Series Trucks with the Rims upside down!

[lschuc]

There is also the '47 to '49 Commander headlight rings that are also used on 1963 Avantis, and also a few trucks too.

[kurtruk]

And then there is the '47 to '49 Champion Headlight Rims and Hood Ornament used on R Series Trucks with the Rims upside down!

However...check your early parts books. When that headlight rim started out just on Champions in '47, it had a "weep" slot on the bottom, opposite the parking light. Then (I think) when the 2R trucks came out in '48 the headlight rim, now turned 180 degrees has a "weep" slot under the parking light now on the bottom. LATER replacement parts had the weep slot in both places I THINK, so they could supply just one part for both applications. Do the parts books bear this out? Not with an explaination, but with different part numbers? I believe SI sells them with two different part numbers, one for cars, one for trucks, with each having just the one weep slot in the correct place per the application. Any one else concur?

[Chris_Dresbach]

However...check your early parts books. When that headlight rim started out just on Champions in '47, it had a "weep" slot on the bottom, opposite the parking light. Then (I think) when the 2R trucks came out in '48 the headlight rim, now turned 180 degrees has a "weep" slot under the parking light now on the bottom. LATER replacement parts had the weep slot in both places I THINK, so they could supply just one part for both applications. Do the parts books bear this out? Not with an explaination, but with different part numbers? I believe SI sells them with two different part numbers, one for cars, one for trucks, with each having just the one weep slot in the correct place per the application. Any one else concur?

We sell them under different part numbers, so I believe Studebaker did too. The car one is 285177 and the truck one is 652780. At one point Studebaker Parts & Service (Plant 8) did sell them with the weep slots on the top and bottom to make them interchangeable, but I think it was done that way just for ease of manufacturing replacement parts. Chances are what they did was make a whole bunch of them and set so many on the 285177 shelf, and the rest on the 652780 shelf. When a dealer needed one or the other, they just gave the car or truck part number and away it went without the need for creating a new part number and having to tell every dealer in the world about it.

[unclemiltie]

While I agree on your basic point, a wire/knob with a "C" on the knob is for a choke cable. The truck climatizer knobs were unmarked, except that the defrost knob had an arrow on it to indicate that it was to be rotated. Both choke and climatizer wire/cable units came in the correct length out of the box and did not need to be cut down to fit. That said, after Newman & Altman began to run out of some cables in the 1970s, they substituted longer cables with instructions to cut them down to fit.

Skip,

While I do not know if the "C" is correct for the Climatizer cable, I did do a google on the number and found a vendor online that has one pictured with a C on it also and shows it as fitting "Climatizer defroster button plunger & wire 3E E 2E 7 12 13 28 38",

The URL is "http://www.studebakerclubs.com/stelfordsinc/Pages/Studebaker21ClosedBodies.htm" and do a find for 682956.

It did seem wierd to me also. And why was this cable only for these models???

This may be one where we never know whom made what I assume is a substitution of the C for climatizer. Was it Sasco? Was it some parts man? Was it prior to 1964??

Along this same line, I have some cables which show as truck heater cables which have the letter "T" on them. I assume T is suppose to be for Temperature. I would have thought T would have been for Throttle. I can see why they would not use H for Heat as they already used it for Hood.

[2R2]

Regarding the C cab heater cables, I can supply a little first hand experience here. This past summer, the water control cable (heat) for my '49 2R-5 snapped. None of the venders I checked with had a replacement, so I pulled out my copy the Stude Parts and Accessories book, or as it is referred to, Book F. I have to have what is one of, if not the last printing of this book, as the revision is dated 4-1-71, and of course shortly thereafter, Studebaker-Worthington would sell off what remained of the original SASCO.
anyway, it states to sub the choke cable part number for the heater control cable, as Skip stated. My good friend Bob Kapteyn luckily had one in stock. I needed to shorten it ,but it works fine, the knob is identical to the original, except for the "C"'

[Skip Lackie]

Miltie- I think 2R2 may have the answer. Once Stude quit the business,, they weren't going to bother buying large quantities of heater parts for 20 year old trucks. But they did still have a parts depot business, and had the blueprints that showed the dimensions of each part. Obviously, they raided the choke cable bin for some button/wire assemblies that were the right length and called them heater cables. And you're right, "T" meant throttle. I have NOS throttle, choke, and heater cables for my 3R6, and they are marked as I indicated.

That vendor''s listing may be incomplete, as that number should also apply to early 4E trucks with a V8. But in any case, that number only fiits those models because it is cut to fit the water valve location on a V8, which is what those modls are.