Sweetheart Stude at 2016 Guthrie, OK Oklahoma Hotrod Asso. Show

[Studedude]

Attended the OHRA show in Guthrie, OK today, only one other Stude there, but she is a sweetie!

[48skyliner]

When I was shopping for a Starlight Coupe three years ago, I looked at a lot of photos on Google Images, on this forum and various other places and I was astounded to see so many cars with nicely restored body and paint, interiors and dashes, but under the hood they looked disgraceful, with the head, block and numerous other cast iron or steel parts just rusted to hell, looking like they sat out on the salt water beach for six months. And please don't tell me Studebaker sold cars with those cheesy looking red hoses. I could spend one afternoon working on that car and it would look pristine under the hood.

Can someone explain to my why this is so common?

[52-fan]

Many people don't care about what their car looks like under the hood. However, that car doesn't look that bad for a car that is driven. BTW I don't like red hoses and the like, but all I can do is take care of my car.

[Studedude]

It's because someone has to provide fodder for the nit pickers to whine about.

[clonelark]

It could be that many owners do not know a thing about mechanicals, and they are afraid they might mess something up. Just a guess.

[studegary]

That is a very nice looking coupe.
At least it does not have a Chevrolet V8 in it.
When it is going down the road and most of the time when it is parked, no one can see anything in the engine compartment.
The green on the sides of the engine block are what I have tried to describe as the correct color.

There was a time that before I took a good car to a major show, I would spend one day each; under the car, on the exterior, on the interior and in the engine compartment. I haven't done that in years and have no plans on doing it again. I have no problem with keeping a car clean, but I am not a fanatic at it. I have enough boxes of trophies.

[Blue 15G]

You sure don't want to see under the hood of my car if you think the pictured one looks bad. I will agree that I'm not crazy about the red heater hose. However, red heater hose is typically higher quality than the plain black. But with the low pressure cooling systems on the old models, even the black will last forever and a day.

[klifton1]

I don't think cars display vary well with the hoods up anyway.
Klif

[Lynn]

Sorry to say I missed this. I live less than 1/2 mile from the park where this meeting was.

[Mikado282]

It looks like a engine in the day would look like after 4 or 5 years of use. Even today classic driver cars engines would show signs of normal use and wear. A 400 point trailer queen I would expect to be able to eat off the engine. The average guys pride and joy that he drove to the show, I wouldn't look down at his car just because the engine compartment wasn't perfect. And as far as I see it from day one the engines on cars were hidden away and covered up, not something openly displayed for all to see.