I finally found my 2R5
Anyone that has talked Studebakers with me knows that I have wanted a 2R pickup for a long time. It seemed that every time I thought I found one the deal fell through or the buyer wanted more money than I could afford. A few days ago SDC member, Jim Jones from the West Tennessee chapter, contacted me about a man in Mississippi who was trying to sell a pickup his daughter had inherited. I contacted the people and the truck sounded promising. Arkansas SDC member James Stevens had a trailer we could borrow and the pictures looked promising so Joe and I were on a road trip.
We left Searcy around 4 AM yesterday and arrived at the place near Meridian near 11 AM.
What we found:
We crawled under and around, felt for rust and hidden filler (the usual suspects) and were satisfied that this was a rust free example.
The engine is a 63-64 259 with overdrive from a car. The front mounts appear to be truck type, but the rear is a car mount with a tab welded to the stock cross member.
The radiator is from the car and the radiator support was cut off with wooden spacers added.
The is some weird plumbing on the engine. I'll post pictures later.
The paint is shiny, but the paint job is a 15 footer.
The bed has a few dents on the sides, but the floor and front panel look like they were attacked with a big hammer.
The tail gate looks new as well as the rear fenders.
There is an air conditioner from a car (Lark?).
The rear end is from a 3/4 ton? truck of unknown origin.
There is an Oldsmobile radio and a CB radio.
The truck does not currently run, but we were assured that before the owner had passed two years ago he drove it all over. In any case it seemed like a good risk even though there are a host of issues I will want to address. We settled on a reasonable price that wasn't too big a stretch for me and the papers changed hands.
Joe and I arrived home at a little after 10 PM last night. Tired, but satisfied. Oh yeah, it's a 52!
We left Searcy around 4 AM yesterday and arrived at the place near Meridian near 11 AM.
What we found:
We crawled under and around, felt for rust and hidden filler (the usual suspects) and were satisfied that this was a rust free example.
The engine is a 63-64 259 with overdrive from a car. The front mounts appear to be truck type, but the rear is a car mount with a tab welded to the stock cross member.
The radiator is from the car and the radiator support was cut off with wooden spacers added.
The is some weird plumbing on the engine. I'll post pictures later.
The paint is shiny, but the paint job is a 15 footer.
The bed has a few dents on the sides, but the floor and front panel look like they were attacked with a big hammer.
The tail gate looks new as well as the rear fenders.
There is an air conditioner from a car (Lark?).
The rear end is from a 3/4 ton? truck of unknown origin.
There is an Oldsmobile radio and a CB radio.
The truck does not currently run, but we were assured that before the owner had passed two years ago he drove it all over. In any case it seemed like a good risk even though there are a host of issues I will want to address. We settled on a reasonable price that wasn't too big a stretch for me and the papers changed hands.
Joe and I arrived home at a little after 10 PM last night. Tired, but satisfied. Oh yeah, it's a 52!
Attached Files
Comment