High School Auto shop builds a '64 Convertible (picture now)

[studebaker-R2-4-me]

My grade 11 -12 Auto Shop class took on a stale 15 year old restoration of a '64 Daytona Convertible. I'm new to Vancouver Island and have been invited a couple times out with the SDC...thanks Mark, where I met a gentleman who's convertible needed to be finished. I offered to build it for him in my auto class.

Wow!... What arrived on Monday morning was a really nice Canadian Built 1964 Convertible 185 ci automatic. The original project stalled after the car came out of the paint shop, so my students will install windows, cat whiskers, carpet, seats, bumpers,grill and all the other bright work and trim work. We've been asked to change the entire braking system with bigger V8 brakes for some better stopping power.

At this point we've got the rear hubs off, brake parts down to the backing plates, the car has been clean out, we had to deal with a few generation of mice in the glove box and another in the convertible top and started to clean up and paint some parts. bumper has been polished, the grill too. The owner has been finding missing parts and dropping off parts by the school.

My students are fully engaged and pretty excited to be working on a cool project like this.

Allen

[kurtruk]

Bravo!

[JRoberts]

Fantastic! It seems most school systems around here have done away with these kinds of classes.

[FleetMaster68]

Would the owner and your school allow you to share some pictures of the project? Bravo on having young people not afraid to do physical labor, get dirty, and learn about more than a computer.

[JoeHall]

Please excuse my skepticism. Over the years, I have known two Stude 289 motors that were, "overhauled" by high school shop students. Once something becomes a student training aid, it should be designated as such. Afterward, it should also be rendered permanently unserviceable, i.e. cut in two, so nobody ever tries to place it back in service again. Long story short, both of those motors were only worth the price of scrap iron.

I also know of a 1957 Golden Hawk that was entirely, "restored" by prisoners in an auto-shop training program, and the outcome was similar to the above 289s.

[jackb]

mmmmm.... I would be interested in how Hagerty & others might cover an insured vehicle restored by students ? Does the shop class/school have a "boiler plate" policy that covers such ? Just wondering.... Also, through thought, and having restored a 64' ragtop 2X..... if you don't have the torque (subfloor) boxes installed or equivalent (and there really is little equivalence), forget body alignment and durability for after 2 years....

[candbstudebakers]

These shops are only as good as their teacher, one that can really inspect all work being done and correct as needed.

[2R5]

These shops are only as good as their teacher, one that can really inspect all work being done and correct as needed.

Agree and Allen is the man to handle that aspect Im sure !

[Guido]

I had the engine in my '49 2R5 rebuilt by the local vo-tech class in 1974-75. It was still running fine when I sold it in 1980.

[Buzzard]

I can see some of the scepticism, but I personally feel it is overruled by the fact that young folks are being introduced to Studebakers. I agree with 2R5 and hope they all learn something. Lets see some progress pics!
Bill

[SN-60]

I graduated high school from a voc-tech school, where folks who lived in the surrounding community could apply to have their vehicles worked on by students supervised by trained instructors......

Most everyone agreed it was an EXCELLENT program!....Good for the tech students, and the vehicle owners alike!

I'm sure the '64 Stude convertible will come out very, very nice!!!

[BILT4ME]

Those that accept the work of the students and the instructor accept the fact that the quality of the work may not be "perfect". They do rely heavily on the instructor to do their job and foresee the pitfalls and fix them before they are a problem.

I had a friend in high school that relegated a Pontiac 400 to the same heap as described above. Even after I pointed out what he SHOULD have done, he got mad at me and told me I was wrong, even though I had already rebuilt 3 engines before I ever took a HS shop class.

You can lead a horse to water.......

[sweetolbob]

They're not going to learn if they don't have something to learn on. It's a win/win if they do the car and the owner gets a good deal. Doctors and Veterinarians need to go through the same process so in any case you are depending on the instructors to lead them correctly.

My oldest grand daughter in Vet school just lost her first patient after many successful surgeries because the anesthesiologist administered the wrong dose of anesthesia. On the other hand, a friend lost a good friend a while back that was undergoing knee surgery. He was 45 and the surgeon had done hundreds of these operations.

The bottom line is, students need to learn by doing what they are going to be doing as a career. Luckily, I didn't blow the wall out of the chemistry lab I was experimenting in.

Kudos to Allan for allowing his students to practice real world applications.

Bob

[BobPalma]

My grade 11 -12 Auto Shop class took on a stale 15 year old restoration of a '64 Daytona Convertible. I'm new to Vancouver Island and have been invited a couple times out with the SDC...thanks Mark, where I met a gentleman who's convertible needed to be finished. I offered to build it for him in my auto class.

Wow!... What arrived on Monday morning was a really nice Canadian Built 1964 Convertible 185 ci automatic. The original project stalled after the car came out of the paint shop, so my students will install windows, cat whiskers, carpet, seats, bumpers,grill and all the other bright work and trim work. We've been asked to change the entire braking system with bigger V8 brakes for some better stopping power.

At this point we've got the rear hubs off, brake parts down to the backing plates, the car has been clean out, we had to deal with a few generation of mice in the glove box and another in the convertible top and started to clean up and paint some parts. bumper has been polished, the grill too. The owner has been finding missing parts and dropping off parts by the school.

My students are fully engaged and pretty excited to be working on a cool project like this.

Allen

Excellent, Allen; 'Way cool. Keep up the good work. BP

[StudeRich]

Wow!... What arrived on Monday morning was a really nice Canadian Built 1964 Convertible 185 ci automatic.

A '64 Daytona 6 Convertible would have had a 170 c.i.d. OHV Six Engine, has it been changed to a 185 Flathead?