Adding a bullet nose to a 52

[DaveW]

Hi all,
I'm new to the forum, so a quick introduction. I've down in the Houston area and most of my car restoration experience has been gained putting back together a '54 Buick super convertible that I'm restoring to original. Since apparently I can't resist convertibles, I've recently picked up what is left of a '52 champion convertible (12G). It has some serious rust issues, so looking to see which panels might interchange. From what I understand, the bullet nose from a '50 or '51 should bolt up easily enough, but I'm trying to find out which other panels may interchange. I ordered up both of the body parts catalogs for the '47-'50 and the '51-'52 series where it looks like the convertible has different numbers on the parts than what I'm seeing on the coupes and sedans. Can anyone tell me if there is either a door or trunk lid that would work? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Dave
Pearland Texas
1952 Champion convertible

[6hk71400]

Welcome to the Forum Dave. Keep us up to date with your progress. There is many many good resources here on the forum. You have a good start with ordering the manuals. You may want to consider also getting the production order from the Studebaker National Museum. I am not sure what Studebaker Drivers Club chapter is near you but that is a close by resource as well.

The 50 front clip will not work as the wheelbase changed from 112 to 115 and that was the first year that the Champion and Commander shared the same body. The dash is different from Champion and Commander. The dash was different up to 1955 when finally everything was integrated as far as the body is concerned.

BTW is the the 52 Champion Convertible that has been for sale north of Houston?

I brought home a 1952 Commander Convertible in the pace car colors from California to Tucson in 1989. It is currently in Europe as far as I know.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[brngarage]

The '51 front clip is a very simple bolt on.

[RadioRoy]

Welcome to the world of Studebakers, where misinformation, wives tales, and wild speculation reign supreme!

In addition to the body parts manuals, you should get the CHASSIS parts manuals. All of the front end sheet metal is in the chassis parts manual.

This is a hold over from the days when you could buy a chassis, that included the front fenders, hood, grill, etc and build yourself a custom body.

The trunk lid for a convertible is the same as the two door sedan and the four door sedan. The three passenger coupe and the 5 passenger (starlight) coupe have a longer trunk lid and will not fit a convertible. All years 47-52 sedan/convertible trunk lids will fit, but the holes for the trunk handle are different.

The only doors that will fit your convertible are 47-52 convertible doors and 52 hardtop doors.

The rear fenders from any 51-52 cars with two doors (convertible, both coupes, two door sedan) will fit. The rear fenders from any 50 with two doors will also fit, but the taillight mount is slightly different.

The 50 Champion front sheet metal is different from the 51 Champion/Commander front sheet metal. Everyone seems to think they are the same, but they are not.

As mentioned, the 51 front sheet metal (Champion or Commander) should be a simple bolt on, while the 50 Champion front sheet metal will require some modification. The 50 Commander front sheet metal is a totally, completely different animal.

[rockne10]

As Roy said, you will need the Chassis Parts Catalog for all the sheetmetal in front of the cowl, as well as all the grill parts.
Do join the Studebaker Drivers Club if you haven't already.

http://studebakerdriversclub.com/index.asp

[DaveW]

Thanks all, everyone has been a great help. While working on restoring the Buick, I've been amazed at how helpful folks have been and how much knowledge they have about the cars that they are willing to share. I had just received my copy of the body parts catalogs, so I hadn't had a chance to see that they don't include the part I was most interested in. I'll order up the chassis book, since I'm a big fan of having the source books when they are so readily available.

Bob, this is probably the 52 Champion Convertible you are thinking about. I picked it up from Don Buhler, who had it sitting in front of his place north of Houston for years before he relocated to South Houston. The down side is that the car is pretty well rotted out through and through. The floors, rockers and pretty much every other lower panel are swiss cheese. On the plus side, the convertible frame assembly is intact and some of the trim is there. I'm still in the middle of the frame off restoration on the Buick, so I want to go a completely different route on this one. I hope I don't offend too many folks with my idea of taking what is left of the champion body and mounting it onto a c4 corvette frame. Since the whole lower car is going to have to be refabricated anyways, I figure that I might as well get modern handling and braking while I'm at it. I've been wanting to do a custom build for awhile as a counterpoint to doing the nut and bolt restoration on the Buick. The corvette frame will be stretched 18" to match the wheelbase and then I'll just have to build from there. No idea if this is going to work, but I'm willing to give it a try

Thanks for bearing with my questions, I hope to meet some folks in person if they are anywhere close to Houston. I'll be joining the SDC, since I like to support the car clubs, even if I am not doing a restoration on this particular car given it's condition.
Regards,
Dave

[6hk71400]

Dave,

That is ONE ambitious project. As lots of folks on here have said, your car your choice. I had looked at the car myself sometime ago and decided to past. Even if I had a complete car to use to restore, it would be too much for me. As it stands right now, I am piece by piece doing a 1955 Speedster so I understand the direction you are moving.

When you can post some pictures of your project and keep us updated. We have a Black 50 modified convertible owned in our chapter by the Ault's. There was an article in Turning Wheels, our clubs monthly magazine,(I believe it was last month). If you can get a copy of the back issue, it will be a good thing to look at every once or so to keep you focused on the goal.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[DaveW]

I'm sure lots of folks passed on this particular car because there isn't much car there. A couple of years ago I had made it out to Bonneville for speed week and was inspired by what looked to be a black '50 champion convertible out on the salt. It had a custom shifter straight out of 'A Christmas Story' (The leg lamp). I'm a fan of getting out and enjoying a car without it having to be perfect. I took the Buick out to Bonneville without waiting to get the body work or interior finished because I'd already had the frame off and epoxied, rebuilt the original suspension, rebuilt the dynaflow and the original fireball V8 still runs well. I figured who needs a top when taking a convertible halfway across the country when you haven't finished welding up all the holes in the floor pan to provide drainage .

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to giving this one a go because the styling is classic and such a nice contrast with all the generic cars out there today.

Once I track down an appropriate bullet nose, I'll have the original front sheet metal from the '52. It's not in great condition, but if anyone needs it, I'd love to see it find a good home. As another side note, one more reason for going custom on this one is that pretty much all the mechanicals are gone, the straight 6 apparently threw a rod a few decades ago based on the bulged out head and the rusty remains of the block.
Regards,
Dave

[BRUCESTUDE]

The '51 front clip is a very simple bolt on.

And less $$ for re-chroming!!!

[TX Rebel]

I can help w/ the chrome, but I have just what you need to fix your convertible- a good solid body shell! Don had been advertising that bucket for years, starting at a ridiculous $4K & slowly working down. He literally plastered CL with that car, re-listing it everywhere over & over every week and making a nuisance of himself. For so long, nobody seemed to want it for any price. When he had it at a swap meet a few yrs ago, I opened the drivers door and it almost hit my foot it was so rusted out.
I am less than an hour from you & have tons of Stude parts.

https://www.studebakersite.com

[DaveW]

Thanks all for the additional input. After having spent a bit more time researching the differences between the 50 and 51, it seems like the 51 is the more direct fit. However in my case, since I'm already having to cut and extend the c4 frame, then I can go to the 112 inches for a 50 just as easily as 115 inches for the 51/52. Given that, I'm looking to go with a 50 front end as a little bit sexier to my eye. I like the lower openings a bit more and the couple inches shorter works as well. I'm sure I'm going to have a ton of additional questions once I start the process of fitting the body to the frame. If nothing else it will prove an educational experience
I had a chance to visit with Barry yesterday, he has an impressive collection of parts. He had a nice 52 hardtop body that might have provided an eventual hard top option for the convertible, but it met a tree sometime way back that caved it in.....
Looking forward to learning more about the Studebakers.
Regards,
Dave

[RadioRoy]

Did you see this front clip on eBay??

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1951-Studebaker-Commander-Front-Clip-Custom-BBQ-Grill-1950/272391776787?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D39007%26meid%3De76065b5de714566850e1a9d2dbbe2c6%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D18%26sd%3D172356885012

[jnfweber]

It's very easy to replace the plastic nose cone on a '51 with the solid steel & chrome "rocket nose" from a '50, with only 4 cuts from a hacksaw.

[SN-60]

It's very easy to replace the plastic nose cone on a '51 with the solid steel & chrome "rocket nose" from a '50, with only 4 cuts from a hacksaw.

That's a good 'secret'!...and personally, I love the look of a '51 champ or Commander with that impressive '50 'all chrome' bullet installed!

[DaveW]

I ended up picking up a whole front clip this weekend that has all the chrome pieces including a pretty nice bullet, though without the hood badge. The steel is in pretty good shape, I'll know more after I get it out of the back of the truck and give it a good cleaning. I wanted to settle on the pieces so I can get the frame lengthening taken care of. I'll be heading off to the AACA meet at Hershey on Tuesday, so I'll be keeping an eye out for things to add a bit of a custom touch to the car
Thanks again for the suggestions.
Dave