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To Paint or Not to Paint my 1950 Land Cruiser

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  • To Paint or Not to Paint my 1950 Land Cruiser

    Sunday I drove my car 100 miles to show it to an expert painter, looking for some advice. I used polishing compound to clean up the paint from the cowl back, but the paint on the hood and front fender tops don't have enough paint to polish. Brad suggested I keep the original paint and just paint the front clip. It did polish out better than I expected, and I now agree with Brad to keep the original paint. It's far from perfect, but sure isn't bad for original paint. This will also save me a lot of work and money. I took these pictures today so I'd have some good pictures with the old wide whitewalls. I'm going to have to install my new radials pretty soon, but unfortunately they only have a narrow whitewall.

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  • #2
    Coker makes a lot of whitewalls. You cant use them?


    Im sure there are plenty of others out there as well....

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    • #3
      The problem with buying a wide whitewall is each one will cost what I paid for a set of 4 radials.

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      • #4
        If you go with just painting the nose, I suggget painting it with enamel so that it will appear similar to the rest of the car.

        If you insist on using those tires, mount them with the narrow whitewall on the inside/backside. The car will look better with blackwalls than with narrow stripe whtewalls.
        Gary L.
        Wappinger, NY

        SDC member since 1968
        Studebaker enthusiast much longer

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        • #5
          I agree with Gary: better black walls than the skinny white stripe. They just look soooo wrong on those carsClick image for larger version

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          • #6
            Unless of course you go with the ole porta wall

            Beautiful car!

            Mark

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            • #7
              I wish JC Whitney would send me one of their 60's catalogs with wide white port a walls for about $10. How about a white paint to make a wide white. From 10 or more feet it might be OK.

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              • #8
                The cheapest radial WWW might be the ones made by Diamondback. Have you checked them? They take new radials and vulcanize a whitewall on them.

                Some of the low riders and Kustomizers in town have their narrow whitewalls sanded down to the wider white underneath. I have no idea if that compromises the integrity of the sidewall, though. Probably depends on how much sanding is done and by whom.

                I just had a couple of panels (middle roof and right front fender) repainted on my 99 Honda and it came out beautifully - made the whole car look 100% better. On your car, black should be an easy color to match and the breaks at the cowl and fender make a nice line of demarcation.
                Last edited by RadioRoy; 06-12-2018, 08:12 PM.
                RadioRoy, specializing in AM/FM conversions with auxiliary inputs for iPod/satellite/CD player. In the old car radio business since 1985.


                10G-C1 - 51 Champion starlight coupe
                4H-K5 - 53 Commander starliner hardtop
                5H-D5 - 54 Commander Conestoga wagon

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Ross View Post
                  I agree with Gary: better black walls than the skinny white stripe. They just look soooo wrong on those cars[ATTACH=CONFIG]73190[/ATTACH] and detract rather than dress up.
                  X 3. I agree with both of you on that one.
                  RadioRoy, specializing in AM/FM conversions with auxiliary inputs for iPod/satellite/CD player. In the old car radio business since 1985.


                  10G-C1 - 51 Champion starlight coupe
                  4H-K5 - 53 Commander starliner hardtop
                  5H-D5 - 54 Commander Conestoga wagon

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Absolutely! Black walls out!
                    Brad Johnson,
                    SDC since 1975, ASC since 1990
                    Pine Grove Mills, Pa.
                    '33 Rockne 10, '51 Commander Starlight. '53 Commander Starlight
                    '56 Sky Hawk in process

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                    • #11
                      I have older bias-ply wide white-walls on my 51 LC which I refer to as cream-walls because even with a lot of scrubbing I can't get them to come up white. They had been wrapped in plastic and stored in the trunk for over thirty years before I bought the car. I need to replace the tires because of their age (mid-nineteen eighties) not their mileage. I had hoped to be able to drive it to the international meet but my home renovation/addition ate up all my Studebaker funds this year and I can't afford to do the work I need to make it safe for highway travel.
                      Question: While you are re-painting the front clip are you planning to return the headlight trims to chrome? Maybe I'm wrong but I thought only the 1950 champions had painted headlight trim.
                      \"Ahh, a bear in his natural habitat...a Studebaker!\"

                      51 Land Cruiser (Elsie)
                      Jim Mann
                      Victoria, B.C.
                      Canada

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                      • #12
                        Since people have chosen to chime in, I vote for wide whites. I was there to watch the backlash against WW's in the late 60's and 70's. Tough and cool was in, daddy's white walls were out. To me an upscale black car like this, just looks right with wide whites. Grandpaw may have bought the car with black walls, but I bet that the ww's have been on it for many years. The car looks great! Do yourself and, everyone interested in history a favor, and leave it like it has been for 65+ years.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by StudeMann View Post
                          Question: While you are re-painting the front clip are you planning to return the headlight trims to chrome? Maybe I'm wrong but I thought only the 1950 champions had painted headlight trim.
                          Not correct.

                          All (ALL - as in every one) of the early 50 Studebakers had painted headlight rings and chrome egg-crate grills. Sometime in mid production, Studebaker decided to get more value for their chroming dollar and chrome plated the headlight rings and left the egg crate grills un-chromed.

                          When the Custom model came out in the Champion line mid year, it reverted to painted headlight and tail light rings, plus a number of other money saving things/deletions in the custom line of trim.
                          RadioRoy, specializing in AM/FM conversions with auxiliary inputs for iPod/satellite/CD player. In the old car radio business since 1985.


                          10G-C1 - 51 Champion starlight coupe
                          4H-K5 - 53 Commander starliner hardtop
                          5H-D5 - 54 Commander Conestoga wagon

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I went through this same dilemma last year with my 50 commander in Surf Grey. I had a lot of door dings on one door and scrapes on a couple fenders. While I got a very close match at the DuPont store, the gloss in the new enamel was different from mine which I had buffed and looked decent. I knew I would never be happy with the result so I ended repainting all the car. I did not do door jams nor cowl. Back then it seems they only flash coated the inner fenders so I repainted them
                            Milt

                            1947 Champion (owned since 1967)
                            1961 Hawk 4-speed
                            1967 Avanti
                            1961 Lark 2 door
                            1988 Avanti Convertible

                            Member of SDC since 1973

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by RadioRoy View Post
                              Not correct.

                              All (ALL - as in every one) of the early 50 Studebakers had painted headlight rings and chrome egg-crate grills. Sometime in mid production, Studebaker decided to get more value for their chroming dollar and chrome plated the headlight rings and left the egg crate grills un-chromed.

                              When the Custom model came out in the Champion line mid year, it reverted to painted headlight and tail light rings, plus a number of other money saving things/deletions in the custom line of trim.
                              Thank you for beating me to this correction. This was another item where Bob Bourke was overruled. Bob wanted the painted headlight rims to further emphasize the airplane inspired nose. Studebaker wanted more chrome. Some owners of early cars had their cars "updated" with chrome rims.
                              Gary L.
                              Wappinger, NY

                              SDC member since 1968
                              Studebaker enthusiast much longer

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