Kitbash Candy

[showbizkid]

1947 Studebaker Truck by jerbec, on Flickr

OK, how many bits can you name?

[Chris Pile]

Very interesting!

[warrlaw1]

Body from a land cruiser? Clip from an M-series. Super well done. Thanks for posting.

[wolfie]

The guys here on the forum beat this thing to death when it was first shown here still in primer/project stage. I actually thought then with a little vision it would finish out pretty nicely. Glad to see someone else had enough foresite (and cash) to finish it. I kinda like it. Steve

[StudeMichael]

The wheels really set it off. Looks good!

[BobGlasscock]

Well, that certainly screws around with my "all original" attitude. harumph.

Very nice.

[junior]

This guy was thinking out of the box, and that's huge risk-taking in this case (in more ways then one). He actually pulled it off, this truck's concept really works for me, and from the photo it appears to be first class workmanship as well. Can't imagine the amount of hours that went into this project. Two minor things I don't really care for: the modern mirrors (a personal pet-peeve) and that 'thang' over the rear window, but overall....WOW! Good job. Junior.

[JimK]

This looks really interesting. It begs the question: What took the industry so long to come up with crew cab pickups? IIRC, there were some early examples but they might have been special / fleet order only. (I'm not a truck guy, so I don't try to keep up with this part of the world.)

Would something like this (4-door pickup) sold back in the day?

[JRoberts]

I saw this truck at York a few years ago. The craftsmanship is unbelievable. I really do like this truck. If I remember correctly the bed is from a late model Chevy. The way the builder of this vehicle bleneded the various components, none of which were ever designed to be used together, into a package as beautiful as this is beyond me. Its another thing Santa can leave in my driveway Friday night.

[starliner62]

If Santa leaves it in your driveway, I'll be driving it till you get home!!! I know where you are!!

[Bob Andrews]

This looks really interesting. It begs the question: What took the industry so long to come up with crew cab pickups? IIRC, there were some early examples but they might have been special / fleet order only. (I'm not a truck guy, so I don't try to keep up with this part of the world.)

Would something like this (4-door pickup) sold back in the day?

No it would not have.

Thinking of trucks as passenger or family or pleasure vehicles is a relatively recent concept. Manufacturers started playing with it a little in the 50s with the Cameo and the like. But it wasn't until into the 70s before it really started catching on with the extended cabs. Until then, trucks were strictly a tool, like a tractor or a combine. I'm just old enough to remember marveling at the first time I saw trucks with carpet, or power windows, or automatic transmissions. It seems the earliest crew cabs I remember were HD trucks as spartan as you could get; mostly bought by railroads and the military. And when they came available used, no one wanted them.

Today, trucks are as luxurious as cars, rivaling even high-end luxury models. On my lot we sell far more trucks than anything else. Especially popular are the 4-door Dodge pickups- we never can get enough of them.Nowadays it's rare to see a truck that's NOT fully loaded, and families use them as everyday family haulers.

[woodysrods]

Love It! Love IT! Love It! And YES to really appreciate the work, time, and ability to pull something like this off to this level, you have to customize something yourself.
Even the simplest modification like a rounded corner, shaved door handle, frenched headlight or taillight takes way more time than you would imagine.
Compliments to the builder!
Good Roads
Brian

[Pat Dilling]

That... is COOL! Whether Studebaker invented it or not!

[showbizkid]

Just thinking about some of those old-timer crew cabs I remember. Like the Dodge 4-doors from the '60s, where they basically just doubled the cab length and used two sets of standard pickup doors, rounded trailing edges and all. Or the Internationals done the same way - big 4x4 pickups meant for construction, and not beauty. I remember CalTrans having very many of these, all painted Safety Orange and looking hideous.

Things have come a long, long way!

[kurtruk]

Not sure everyone here understands this is two M-series cabs back-to-back. It either used to be a different color, or this is not the only one running around.
A different one seen here used a 47-52 sedan bodyshell, with an M-series nose and a late-model Dodge bed. It was not finished.