1947 - 1952 Studebakers and Undercoating?

[TWChamp]

I don't recall seeing any Studes that weren't undercoated during this time period.

Were all Studebakers in the 47-52 time period undercoated, or was that a factory option?

Were the floors painted top and bottom, or was the undercoating sprayed over bare metal? Thanks, Tom

[rockne10]

My '51 Commander appears to have never been "undercoated"; can't say that about my '53. The interior trunk and passenger compartment floor of the '51 were heavily applied with something appearing to be a spray tar product (for the purpose of sound deadening?). I suspect an exterior undercoat was a dealer option.

[MrHemi2U]

My 52 is completely undercoated. When I pull off the loose bits it has shiny metal underneath.

[rodnutrandy]

My m cab was under coated , I removed it because it was cracked , cleaned up, primed and painted area and put new undercoating

[Commander Eddie]

My '50 Commander was undercoated but that is not mentioned on the Production Order so it must have been done at the dealership.

[TWChamp]

My 52 is completely undercoated. When I pull off the loose bits it has shiny metal underneath.

That's the same thing I saw on the 50 Commander I looked at last spring. It was a very nice low mileage rust free California car, but the undercoating was off in a few spots and the metal appeared to have never been painted. With no paint I'd guess this had to be undercoated by the factory and not the dealer, and I'd say that not painting the metal is a big reason for the rust problems so many have had.

[old-idaho-iron]

My 49 Starlight was not undercoated, but my 50 Champ parts car, has a thick undercoating on both bottom of body and frame, along with a heavy dose of some fresh asphalt from back in the day. It's been a bugger chipping that stuff away to find bolt heads and the such.lol

[raprice]

The tar-like undercoating was always applied by the dealer's service dept. for a nominal charge. My Lark has it and has held up well over the years.
Rog

[studegary]

My '50 Commander was undercoated but that is not mentioned on the Production Order so it must have been done at the dealership.

For most, if not all postwar years, sound deadening/undercoating was a standard item (mandatory option). You had to request a delete of it if you did not want it. For this reason, it would not show up on the production order (build sheet) if it had it, but would probably show if it was deleted in production.

[studegary]

The tar-like undercoating was always applied by the dealer's service dept. for a nominal charge. My Lark has it and has held up well over the years.
Rog

I think that you are referring to rustproofing, not undercoating/sound deadening.

[dean pearson]

My 52 was under undercoated inside and out thick nice undercoating like I can't get now.

Dean.

[Deaf Mute]

I can't speak on my '51 as I didn't tear into it back in the day. But my 1953 coupe had (has) a heavy coat of undercoating or "Sound deadening" applied to the inside of the floor boards before the paint was applied. The paint is on top. When I welded in new patches, I did it the same way. Under the body, the undercoating was on top of the paint.
On the pickups I have worked on, the back of the dash and most underhood areas also had the coating on bare metal with paint on top of that.

[StudeRich]

You cannot say always or never here. It depends on the year and which Factory, my '54 Starliner is a Vernon Assembled Car, and it has Full Tar Undercoating also Body Color, not insulation/soundproofing or whatever on all of the floor, Inside and Trunk which I am pretty sure was standard in '54, but the optional in the fenders outside, was not ordered so there is none.

On later cars like Larks, Undercoating was Factory Standard on the outside of the floors, but if you wanted full undercoat in the fenders you paid for it optionally. And these two situations are not ALWAYS either!

So that means that all of these posts about my Car has this or that mean Nothing at all, there are reasons and variables at work here, including Dealer Installed which did not happen at all Dealers.

[raprice]

I think that you are referring to rustproofing, not undercoating/sound deadening.

Gary,
I think you're correct. Thanks for the correction.
All the best.
Rog