Father-Son project

[mx21]

Good Morning,

I have been looking lately for a "father-son" project car to build with my father and came across a 1952 Commander Starlite (starlight sp?). I didn't know anything about it but sure loved the unique style. So long story short there were a total of five Studebakers that have been sitting in their yard for 20+years and they needed all of them gone. So with the purchasing of the Commander I ended up getting two 1965 Daytona's and two 1963 Lark's (4 door).

All the cars will need a lot of work obviously, for sitting for so long. My game plan keeps changing but I think I want to end up with the Commander and one Daytona. I keep going back and forth on what to build first though. As I'm totally new to Studebakers I'm open for anybody's suggestions or advice to where I should but my efforts in and what I should look for in each of the cars. I hope I can sell the other cars or part out, to make some of my initial cost back. I'm sure I'll be back posting lots of questions starting with trying to figure out what I have .

Originally we wanted to build a nice street/strip car that would be fun the cruise on the weekends and could be a lot of fun on the drag strip on street legal day. Any suggestions of what would be a better platform for this scenario?

Thanks for the help and suggestions. I'll see if I can get pictures attached, I didn't get any pictures of the Larks yet as I finished picking everything up last night.

[Bradford]

Well the good thing about the Daytona is the Chevy running gear.

[georgeE]

Nice find. Hopefully you have some storage space at home. That's a lot of iron. I don't know that I could make a decision with that many choices. Good luck and keep us updated.

[6hk71400]

I had seen those cars on Craigslist. I have had several 52 Commanders over the years and they are a great all around car to drive and cruise down the highway and get great gas mileage with the overdrive. I saw the other cars too. Have fun and let us help on the forum with what you decide to do.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[mx21]

Do you know what trans (both auto) and rear end came in the Daytona's? Thanks!

[mx21]

Nice find. Hopefully you have some storage space at home. That's a lot of iron. I don't know that I could make a decision with that many choices. Good luck and keep us updated.

Luckily I have some space to park them and just need to keep the wife happy with the yard art for now.

I had seen those cars on Craigslist. I have had several 52 Commanders over the years and they are a great all around car to drive and cruise down the highway and get great gas mileage with the overdrive. I saw the other cars too. Have fun and let us help on the forum with what you decide to do.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

Yeah I found them on CL. It was a incredible pain and all weekend to get all those cars out. Cool 1st person info on the Commander, thanks.

[6hk71400]

I have a soft spot for the 52's ( on the top of my head) because I am a 52 model as well and we had one growing up until 58 when a 13 year old took her mothers car to drive in the neighborhood and hit the left front side of our car.

The weakest and most expensive thing about any 52 is the chrome. If it is intact, that is good. The commander front emblem is also hard to find. I think someone did repo those years ago but not sure.

If you ever decide that the 52 is not the project for you let me know. My wife is patient; after all she has to be after being married to me for 35 years. Right now my car is all apart. If I do get another car, there goes my last car statement down the drain.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[Champ51]

I think your father's input may be more important than ours. Depending upon your ages and health and the priority you both have for the project, you should choose one vehicle. First make it stop, then make it go, then start making it pretty to the two of you. I would choose the vehicle that can be made safely driveable in the least amount of time.

[52-fan]

The 52 Commander would be my choice, but I may be somewhat biased. The original 232 is not a bad engine, but a 259 or 289 will swap easily. Later brakes are an easy swap too. My 52 2 door has a 259 and it runs great with dual exhaust and a 4 barrel.

[6hk71400]

I also had for many years a 65 Cruiser with 283/Flightomatic that was a daily driver. The dashes on both the 63 and 65 model are hard to replace. The 63 is one year only, but the 64-66 are just trim differences. The Daytona's could come with a 194 six as well as the 283. Both were available with overdrive as well as the Borg Warner Model 8 Flightomatic with a first gear start with the six and a second gear start with the 283. Again, they are a great all around city/highway driving car.

Take Champ 51's advice on settling on a car. Otherwise, dividing time and money over 5 cars will leave you tired and frustrated.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[doug]

I have followed the CL ad for months. If I had room for 5 more cars they would be here. I am near LAX if you need help with things. The Los Angeles Chapter and the Beach Cities Chapter would be a ton of help, don't know what part of SoCal you are near.

Have fun with those cars, I am jealous.

[mx21]

I have a soft spot for the 52's ( on the top of my head) because I am a 52 model as well and we had one growing up until 58 when a 13 year old took her mothers car to drive in the neighborhood and hit the left front side of our car.

The weakest and most expensive thing about any 52 is the chrome. If it is intact, that is good. The commander front emblem is also hard to find. I think someone did repo those years ago but not sure.

If you ever decide that the 52 is not the project for you let me know. My wife is patient; after all she has to be after being married to me for 35 years. Right now my car is all apart. If I do get another car, there goes my last car statement down the drain.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

Cool thanks, I think most of the Chrome is intact. My plan now is to keep the 52 but if anything changes I can let you know.

I think your father's input may be more important than ours. Depending upon your ages and health and the priority you both have for the project, you should choose one vehicle. First make it stop, then make it go, then start making it pretty to the two of you. I would choose the vehicle that can be made safely driveable in the least amount of time.

Yeah, I was just trying to get any info I can on the cars to help us make the decision of what to build as we have both gone back and forth, or just try to help me with my own indecision . And we both agree to focus on 1 car first.

I have followed the CL ad for months. If I had room for 5 more cars they would be here. I am near LAX if you need help with things. The Los Angeles Chapter and the Beach Cities Chapter would be a ton of help, don't know what part of SoCal you are near.

Have fun with those cars, I am jealous.

Cool thanks for the offer, I'm located between Santa Clarita and Palmdale.

[mx21]

I have a few quick questions, and thought it would be better in here then starting a lot of new threads.

52 Commander: Needs both door glass, is that not too big of a concern bc its flat glass?
Any ideas on getting the hood up? I sprayed the hood release handle and line with WD-40 but still not budging.
I have the seats but they are mostly springs now any suggestions as far as interior goes?


65 Daytona: Need windshields, are they easy enough to find?
They are both 283 auto's, out of curiosity what manual trans came optioned behind the 283?

Thanks again for everyone's input. I'm enjoying learning all I can about these cars and will continue searching and digging through the forum to learn what I can.

*Edit

63 Lark: These cars both have V8s, what V8 is it most likely?

[BILT4ME]

I am going to suggest that you post the year, model, VIN, and options (V8, 289, AT, Dana 44, AC, PS, PB.....) for each of the cars so those folks here that know LOTS about the Marque can take a quick look to see if any of them are a "significant" find.

Also, you can contact the Studebaker Museum to purchase a copy of the build sheet for each car (about $50 each) to see what options came on the car from the factory. That MAY help you decide which one to choose. The is another thread where the "barn find" turns out it was the FIRST production car of that version, so it became very significant.

Good Luck and Congratulations on all the choices!

[StudeRich]

When it comes to Transmissions, Studebaker never varied much over all the years of Auto Production. I know little of what they did with pre-War Cars but probably not much different.

They always used Borg Warner transmissions so although they might have been able to purchase those Mckinnon Canada Engines with cheap GM lower quality transmissions designed and built by GM, they stuck with what they always had on most V8's; a Borg Warner T-86 Standard and the T-86 with Overdrive, but unlike the 1964 Stude. powered V8's with Ford Bolt pattern cases, it had to have a Chevy case to bolt up to the Chevy. Clutch Housing.

The '65-'66 Automatics (Flight-O-Matics) used a Checker and Jeep Wagoneer Converter Housing to mate the GM Engines to the Borg Warner Transmissions.