1950 Studebaker R10 Pickup. New To The Forum and Studebaker World!

[FamilyGuy]

Hello everyone! I am the new proud owner of an R10 Pickup. I am in the South Bend area. I have never owned a studebaker before and I am very excited. That being said, I really do not know where to begin! I was hoping some veterans to the world of Studebaker could kind of tell me what their impressions were and what they can notice/identify from these pictures (before cleaning it). Does everything look OEM and stock or are there modifications? I believe it still has the 170 ci champ engine?? Not sure about transmission. Was this always a 2 color paint job? I hope to get a battery today and start diving into the mechanical portion of the truck immediately! Looking for some good eyes to give me thoughts on things they might see! As my grandfather told the story on this truck, he purchased it back in 2006 off of ebay. It was being sold by the Studebaker Museum and the truck was used as their service/parts delivering truck. I have no way to verify any of this, but who knows, maybe someone on this forum might be able to help confirm or deny! Thanks everyone.

[52-fan]

Good solid looking truck. I just bought a 1952 2R-5 a few weeks ago. That certainly looks like the original Champion engine to me. A good sturdy engine and fine for most around town work. Your truck will be geared low enough that trips on the highway would usually be limited to about 45 MPH, but it appears you have overdrive.

[FamilyGuy]

Good solid looking truck. I just bought a 1952 2R-5 a few weeks ago. That certainly looks like the original Champion engine to me. A good sturdy engine and fine for most around town work. Your truck will be geared low enough that trips on the highway would usually be limited to about 45 MPH, but it appears you have overdrive.

Thank you very much! I am very excited. I crawled underneath it today and it does have overdrive. So 45 will be about the maximum I will be able to get out of her? Not a deal breaker by any means, but a slight bummer as it will severely limit where I can drive it........I was hoping to take it to work on nice days, but that would require the highway. I just ordered a new voltage regulator and starter switch. Hoping to change the fluids and these parts and get it to fire up. I may have to rebuild the carburetor, but we'll see .

[jclary]

45 would be about cruising speed without the overdrive. I think you will be able to do better with the overdrive. That will depend on your rear gear ratio as to how much better. Being a heavy duty truck, I doubt you will be whizzing down the highway at 70mph, but the rather flat countryside of the South Bend area should have you comfortably doing 55. If the Amish in the area begins to pass you or attempt to buggy whip you for getting in their way...then you might have a problem.

Good start on a nice truck with possibilities. I don't think the two tone is an original paint scheme. Search around for more pics and you will find some great variations of paint schemes for this model trucks (49-53) that will really make it pop once you sort out all the mechanicals. Happy you are here and look forward to future postings.

[FamilyGuy]

Thanks Jclary. Good information. I will be on the lookout for Amish flying by me, thatll mean a bad day! I will be looking into paint schemes on this forum to get an idea of what I want to do with it. Beautiful truck in your signature by the way!

[52-fan]

I think you misunderstood me. I said those trucks were usually limited to about 45. With the overdrive you can go faster as John said. I understand that the bigger trucks ride a bit stiff, so you may not want to go too fast.
Someone put a 3/4 ton rear in mine even though it is a 1/2 ton.

[FamilyGuy]

Ok, here come my first "dumb" questions:

1. In the photo below, there is a piece of metal welded across the bottom end of the bed frame. There is also a welded piece of metal in the center with a hole in it. I assume this was used for some sort of towing or pulling. Is this a modification? I am having a lot of trouble finding 2R10 pickup pictures online to reference. Did the 2R10 not have a rear bumper?

2. On some parts websites, I dont find reference to the R series trucks, but do see " C cab trucks" is there a difference or would "C Cab" parts work for the 2R series trucks?

[52-fan]

Trucks back then did not come with rear bumpers. The dealer could add one or the buyer might buy or build his own. One of our members has a truck like yours with a rear bumper that almost looks wide enough for a porch. My truck ha s a very heavy home grown bumper and my brother has a 56 with some very large angle solidly welded to the frame. Thank goodness mine is bolted on.
Your truck is a C cab. That type of cab came out with the 1949 models and continued with a few changes until the end of truck production in 1964. The earlier trucks 41-48 were M series and the 1959-64 light trucks were T cabs.

[Studedude]

Matt-

Nice truck, congrats on finding it!

Check out this link, for Studebaker Drivers Clubs in your area:

http://www.studebakerdriversclub.com/chapters.asp

I would suggest not only joining the International club, but one of the local ones in your area. I know that you showing up in that truck at one of their meetings will result in getting any and all of your questions answered.

And... I suspect that if this truck was a part of the museum's inventory/work fleet, they would surely have some information/history on it... I would drop by there, also, since you are in the area.

Good luck with the truck!

[52-fan]

You may want to check out the Studebaker truck talk page. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/stud...273dc7a09dcde7 That's where many answers can be found.

[FamilyGuy]

You may want to check out the Studebaker truck talk page. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/stud...273dc7a09dcde7 That's where many answers can be found.

I actually discovered this while waiting on my membership to become active on this forum! Great guys and information. I even found a gentlemen that did some work on this truck about 10 years ago!!

[FamilyGuy]

Matt-

Nice truck, congrats on finding it!

Check out this link, for Studebaker Drivers Clubs in your area:

http://www.studebakerdriversclub.com/chapters.asp

I would suggest not only joining the International club, but one of the local ones in your area. I know that you showing up in that truck at one of their meetings will result in getting any and all of your questions answered.

And... I suspect that if this truck was a part of the museum's inventory/work fleet, they would surely have some information/history on it... I would drop by there, also, since you are in the area.

Good luck with the truck!

Thank you very much! This is great information and a great idea. I would love to show up in my truck at a meeting once I get her running! Thanks!

[FamilyGuy]

Trucks back then did not come with rear bumpers. The dealer could add one or the buyer might buy or build his own. One of our members has a truck like yours with a rear bumper that almost looks wide enough for a porch. My truck ha s a very heavy home grown bumper and my brother has a 56 with some very large angle solidly welded to the frame. Thank goodness mine is bolted on.
Your truck is a C cab. That type of cab came out with the 1949 models and continued with a few changes until the end of truck production in 1964. The earlier trucks 41-48 were M series and the 1959-64 light trucks were T cabs.

This was exactly what I needed to know! thank so you much for this and for including example pictures. Im digging that heavy home grown bumper and the truck it sits on !!

[Skip Lackie]

Ok, here come my first "dumb" questions:



On some parts websites, I dont find reference to the R series trucks, but do see " C cab trucks" is there a difference or would "C Cab" parts work for the 2R series trucks?

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Studebaker, like most other auto manufacturers, used letters to indicate models and sub-models, but sometimes used the same letter to refer to two different things. Trucks could be ordered in a variety of ways, such as with a full cab, cowl/windshield only, or cowl only. The latter types (A1, A2) were used for things like bread/milk trucks and Railway Express vans. Trucks with a full cab were designated at having a C cab; in some years they came in standard (C2) and deluxe (C4) styles. This system was used in M-series and R/E series trucks, and perhaps earlier. The military cab used on the WWII US6 Army trucks and the 1945 M15 trucks was designated as a C9 cab. As noted above, the Champ trucks were designated as having T cabs.

We are somewhat sloppy in our usage of this terminology. The term C cab has come to apply to all 1949-64 R/E-series trucks except the Champs, though this is not strictly accurate. Also note that the letter C also refers to 53-60 pillared coupes. And there is a big difference between a 2R and an R2. More on the trucks here: http://www.studebakerdriversclub.com...uckHistory.asp

[FamilyGuy]

Skip Lackie,
Thank you for this wonderful summary. Very helpful for me and also thank you for the link to the truck history page. Extremely interesting!!