'51 Land Cruiser

[mbstude]

It'll be sometime next month before I have enough time to finish the brakes and get back to working on the car. Still, I've had some time in the evenings to play around with attempting to replicate the plastic bulletnose insert.

Last year, a friend gave me a silicone mold for the bullet. Not knowing anything about casting plastics, it's been a "learn as I go" process, and I think I may have finally found a casting resin that produces acceptable results; Urethane based and supposed to not turn yellow when exposed to UV.

Why buy a part when I can make one for three times the cost?

[jclary]

It'll be sometime next month before I have enough time to finish the brakes and get back to working on the car. Still, I've had some time in the evenings to play around with attempting to replicate the plastic bulletnose insert.

Last year, a friend gave me a silicone mold for the bullet. Not knowing anything about casting plastics, it's been a "learn as I go" process, and I think I may have finally found a casting resin that produces acceptable results; Urethane based and supposed to not turn yellow when exposed to UV.

Why buy a part when I can make one for three times the cost?

Matt...just because I like you so much...I will offer to use my Land Cruiser as a test platform for the bullet casting so you won't be embarrassed. Just send it to me, set a reminder on your smartphone calendar to check back in a couple of years and I will let you know how it's doing.

[mbstude]

Matt...just because I like you so much...I will offer to use my Land Cruiser as a test platform for the bullet casting so you won't be embarrassed. Just send it to me, set a reminder on your smartphone calendar to check back in a couple of years and I will let you know how it's doing.

Hey John, send me a message.

[tim333]

I’ll take one

[mbstude]

Not so much an update on the car, but it's related. When I was talking to Tom and David Shrock about doing a steering wheel for the '51, I asked them if they could make a toy to match the car. Their response was that they didn't have any toys in production and that they really had no interest in taking custom orders, so I left it at that.

They also told me that the attic of their shop was packed full of NOS Studebaker parts from various dealership inventories that they bought out in the '70's. They never did anything with the parts and asked if that might be something we were interested in. Long story short.. We drove up to PA this past week to load the trailer. A couple of days before we left home, David told me that they'd decided to make an exception and cast a '51 Land Cruiser toy for me. He had the body painted when we got there, and had it finished before we left. He showed me the entire process and I was able to watch the toy version of my car come down the assembly line (so to speak). He said that it isn't economical to only make one toy.. So I bought two.

It was worth the trip just to hang out with them in their shop. They also gave me some helpful advice about casting the plastic bulletnoses. Coincidentally, the urethane casting resin that I used is the exact same stuff that they cast their parts with.. So the bullets should be good to go once I find a silver paint that's a closer match to the NOS one I have.

Two of the nicest, most talented guys I've ever met.

[sweetolbob]

Not so much an update on the car, but it's related. When I was talking to Tom and David Shrock about doing a steering wheel for the '51, I asked them if they could make a toy to match the car. Their response was that they didn't have any toys in production and that they really had no interest in taking custom orders, so I left it at that.

They also told me that the attic of their shop was packed full of NOS Studebaker parts from various dealership inventories that they bought out in the '70's. They never did anything with the parts and asked if that might be something we were interested in. Long story short.. We drove up to PA this past week to load the trailer. A couple of days before we left home, David told me that they'd decided to make an exception and cast a '51 Land Cruiser toy for me. He had the body painted when we got there, and had it finished before we left. He showed me the entire process and I was able to watch the toy version of my car come down the assembly line (so to speak). He said that it isn't economical to only make one toy.. So I bought two.

It was worth the trip just to hang out with them in their shop. They also gave me some helpful advice about casting the plastic bulletnoses. Coincidentally, the urethane casting resin that I used is the exact same stuff that they cast their parts in.. So the bullets should be good to go once I find a silver paint that's a closer match to the NOS one I have.

Two of the nicest, most talented guys I've ever met.

Neat story, congrats to you and well done.

Question, Is the urethane clear and the back side painted or is the paint on the outside? Not a big deal, just curious.

Bob

[61LaRk4dr]

Looking good! I bought one of those kits from Lark Works for my 1951 Land Cruiser and it turned out great. Donald does some really fine work and he is really easy to deal with. I was so impressed with his work that I ended up purchasing a harness for my 2R5. The Shrock Bros. are the way to go when it comes to re-manufactured steering wheels. About 2 years ago, I purchased a 1941 Champion phantom wheel from them and the detail is well worth the price.

[mbstude]

Neat story, congrats to you and well done.

Question, Is the urethane clear and the back side painted or is the paint on the outside? Not a big deal, just curious.

Bob

It's cast clear with paint in the inside. That gives it a deep "wet" look when it's finished.

[jclary]

Neat story, congrats to you and well done.

Question, Is the urethane clear and the back side painted or is the paint on the outside? Not a big deal, just curious.

Bob

It's cast clear with paint in the inside. That gives it a deep "wet" look when it's finished.

This reminds me of one of my "sales Successes" back in the day. It was in a town about 40 miles from where I live. A new plant had been established to build plastic components for commercial vehicles, including Volvo Trucks, and John Deere tractors. For several weeks, I called on the facility, only to be turned away by the receptionist. I would leave my business card and literature and politely leave.
The process they used to make their parts is called Reactive Injection Molding. Now, I confess, there is still more I don't know about the process than I DO know about it.

BUT, I had two products I sold that were extremely important to the success of their operation. Finishing equipment (paint spray guns) and pumps. Finally, after several times getting turned away, I got a call from the plant manager. When I was able to get inside the operation I was stunned to find a warehouse about a third full of John Deere tractor fenders rejected by Deere's quality control. The castings were perfect, but the paint was horrible. The process involved painting the mold before the plastic was injected. Once the mold was painted, it would be closed, and then the material would be injected, cured, and when opened...a perfectly painted part was supposed to emerge. That was not happening. After observing how they were going about it, it became obvious that they had serious problems. Flea market grade imported spray guns, poor training, and controls.

I was able to clean up their compressed air, sell them quality spray guns, train the workers on how to adjust them, use correct hand/arm motion along with proper overlap, clean & maintain them, and In that operation, I became a "rock star." Rejects became rare, and my products supplied to them expanded to workstations and air tools. Like a lot of operations, that one went south of the border or offshore. Fortunately for me, after I had left the business.

That customer's material was not clear, and the paint was applied to the exterior side of the mold, but I don't see why it wouldn't work on the inside. However, I don't know if some kind of special sophisticated cooldown process wouldn't be required to keep the paint and urethane from co-mingling while the urethane was curing. Sorry 'bout all the rambling, but how things get made fascinates me, and are rarely as simple on first glance. The fact that some folks undertake these tasks is very commendable...even if it turns out to be just a humble little plastic Studebaker orb.

[mbstude]

Received the Production Order from Andy Beckman today. Not as informative as others I've seen.

[studegary]

I find it interesting that it was built for stock on August 29, 1951. That must have been at the end of 1951 model production.

I spent an afternoon at the Shrock's location (home and shop) about the time that they were winding up vehicle restoration and getting more heavily into model making. I drove a truck with a trailer with a car on it to and from their location. I remember it as being not an easy site to find or to drive something like that to.

[mbstude]

I find it interesting that it was built for stock on August 29, 1951. That must have been at the end of 1951 model production.

I spent an afternoon at the Shrock's location (home and shop) about the time that they were winding up vehicle restoration and getting more heavily into model making. I drove a truck with a trailer with a car on it to and from their location. I remember it as being not an easy site to find or to drive something like that to.

We were in Stephen’s F350 (single rear wheels) with a 24’ enclosed trailer. We stopped on a scale on the way home and figured out that we had around 13,000 pounds worth of parts in the trailer. It was a little exciting coming down the mountain from their shop.

Regarding the production order, I’m a little surprised that a car with so many original accessories didn’t leave the factory with any of them.

[jclary]

Regarding the production order, I’m a little surprised that a car with so many original accessories didn’t leave the factory with any of them.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but looking at that production order, I believe the car was built for general inventory with "destination" being #21 Stock. That leads me to think the car was to be held in some factory inventory parking lot (#21?) awaiting an order from a dealer? Notice shipping is filled in as (Cust) which I assume would be the specific Studebaker dealer would be responsible for getting the car shipped. If I'm correct, some dealers even did "driveaway" by sending employees to the factory to pick up and drive cars to their location.

In the scheme of things for 1951, a Land Cruiser was already an expensive car. Loading it up with accessories would make the financing/payments even higher, and for a lot of places, more difficult to sell. One additional question I have, if the car was indeed produced without a specific destination...If a dealer ordered the car and requested any of the accessories to be added to the car, would the factory have pulled it from the parking lot and added the accessories in South Bend, or would they have placed the accessories in the car for the dealer to install and bill those items on a separate invoice?

I certainly have zero first-hand knowledge, because, at that time, I was in the first grade, and our family of 8 had no car, no phone, no TV! But, we did have a radio, one milk cow, a bunch of chickens, and a few hogs. The only wheeled vehicle was my oldest brother's bicycle, and we had a wheelbarrow. Needless to say, it was a very small world back then, and a Studebaker Land Cruiser would certainly have been something to remember!

[mbstude]

I'm still fighting problems with the Turner brake kit, but at least I was able to spend some time on the car this weekend.

I got the dual MC setup (mostly) installed, and swapped the 9" rear brakes in favor of 11" rears from an Avanti. New inner and outer grease seals, wheel cylinders, shoes, and drums. I need to run new metal lines and sort out the MC setup, but hopefully I'll have the brakes done before too long. The parking brake cable in the picture is one from a disc brake Lark that I installed temporarily to see if it would work.. It doesn't. A custom cable is now on the shopping list.



Feeling like I needed to accomplish something on the car, I installed the new steering wheel, along with an NOS horn ring and center button.

[mbstude]

I finally have the brake job sorted out. I think I still have some air in the system somewhere as it doesn't stop quite as well as I would like, but still, it's better than it was, and the car is on the road again. I replaced the oil pressure flex hose and rebuilt the fuel pump this afternoon, and decided to drive it home this evening. The exhaust deflector fell off somewhere along the way.. Otherwise it did fine. It's nearly 90 degrees today, my only complaint is that the AC blows a little too cold.

It runs and drives so nice, I'm going to wait a bit before digging into the wiring, and enjoy putting some miles on it for a while.