SEMA '31 Stude Rod by Toyo Tires

[Chris Pile]

I like the color, and the cool wheels - but the hood profile from the side looks stupid.
Further - there is no lettering or badges to tell someone this a Studebaker, and I think that sucks!
Check all the huge detail photos...

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/06/sema-2008-choppin-block-31-studebaker-model-54/

Chris Pile
Midway Chapter SDC
The Studebaker Special

[PlainBrownR2]

[url]http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22896&SearchTerms=Studebaker,and,Toyo,tire[/url]

For anyone that forgot here's the artist's rendition from October.


[img=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/My%201950%202r5%20Studebaker%20Pickup%20with%20turbocharger/P1000137-1.jpg[/img=left]
[img=right]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/DSC00005.jpg?t=1171153370[/img=right]
[IMG=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/Ex%20Studebaker%20Plant%20Locomotive/P1000578-1.jpg[/IMG=left]

[52-fan]

It is a beautiful rod for what it is, but I still don't get the trend for putting a car of any kind on the ground. It serves no purpose toward driving the car and adds to the expense of building it. Still, they are attention grabbers and that is what is most important to these guys.


1952 Champion Starlight, 1962 Daytona, both w/overdrive.Searcy,Arkansas
"I may be lazy, but I'm not shiftless."

[klifton1]

As much as I like Hot Rods, This one looks like a shiny, highly detailed, impractial rat rod. It's still fun to look at.
Klif

55 Speedster

[vegas paul]

I saw it in person on Wednesday at SEMA and it blended in with the hundreds of other beautifully done, albeit anonamous rods at the show. Don't get me wrong, it was VERY well done. Seems to me, if you wanted to attract attention and stand out from all the high $$$ rodded creations at the show, all you would have needed was a restored Stude... The crowds would have formed around something different.

My opinion only, but when I go to this type of show, after the first 90 minutes my senses are on overload for chrome, bling, crate engines, and customized everything (including the young "modified" female models!!!). Sometimes something different turns out to be something that was once quite ordinary.

Las Vegas, NV - Stop by, coffee's on!
'51 Champion Business Coupe G899965 10G-Q4-1434

[JRoberts]

Most of these cars have a semi-adjustable suspension. When driving it it is still low, but not slammed on the ground. I like these things, but maybe I'm just weird.

Joe Roberts
'61 R1 Champ
'65 Cruiser
Editor of "The Down Easterner"
Eastern North Carolina Chapter

[DEEPNHOCK]

Someone 'splain to me the A/C system on this thing...
Jeff[8D]

[mbstude]

What Jeff said. Why is there an A/C compressor?

Makes no sense.

Matthew Burnette
Hazlehurst, GA

[bridgegaurd]

quote:Originally posted by mbstude

What Jeff said. Why is there an A/C compressor?

Makes no sense.

Matthew Burnette
Hazlehurst, GA

if you ever driven around in a convertable with air on a hot day with the top down you'd know. same concept except with a street rod the cowl, floor and sun make you thankfull for any cool air you can get.

[bridgegaurd]

quote:Originally posted by JRoberts

Most of these cars have a semi-adjustable suspension. When driving it it is still low, but not slammed on the ground. I like these things, but maybe I'm just weird.

Joe Roberts
'61 R1 Champ
'65 Cruiser
Editor of "The Down Easterner"
Eastern North Carolina Chapter

I guess we belong to the same club, cause i like it also. To bad it's a $100,000 build or more. And is destianed to tile floors and museams instead of a cruze night at the local Artic Circle. Not fond of the hood and wish it had Studebaker on the grill and rear. But it is one nice build i could live with it parked in my driveway.

[sals54]

I scanned all the pictures and I like it better than the artists rendering. Woulda looked better with a Stude engine. They tried to dupe the Stude with the fake valve cover bolts. The triple exhausts would have made a difference to me. Still one hecka cool ride.

sals54

[Green 53]

I just got home from SEMA tonight. The car was different but not anything that would be good driver. I shot a few pics myself that I will try to get on. Tried to call you Paul but no answer.
Denny L

[PlainBrownR2]

Just remember the product it's displaying; Toyo tires. This vehicle is more or less destined to be used as a prop, which is probably why there's not a badge to be found on it. That's also why they decided on a custom, this is image. Imagine the low profile tires you see on the Studebaker you see there......then imagine those same rims and tires on a restored chassis. This is a company now who's biggest draw is the tuner and custom set. Dunno bout everyone else but in Toyo's case and what they're selling and who they're selling to, I can't picture it.
I love seein them on the ground(Hunnert Car Pileup, go figure), and here they are legal, as long as it's not putting a furrow down the center of the pavement or dragging something crucial in the street. I would also presume that the suspension allows for a height that doesn't have em' skirting around speed bumps in the road, which for some of the import cars here makes em look really silly. As to why, and I imagine Stu will chime in on this, part of it is style(just like whitewalls, tailfins, dual antennaes). I think the show on Speed Channel "Livin' the Low Life" is an example of this. The other part I can think of is handling. When the steering geometry(if manipulated) and the center of gravity drop, suddenly you might have a vehicle that may not roll, tip, in general handle like a go kart. Of course it introduces issues that need to be worked out like other customs, the one I can think of is room for the driveshaft inside the tunnel underneath.


[img=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/My%201950%202r5%20Studebaker%20Pickup%20with%20turbocharger/P1000137-1.jpg[/img=left]
[img=right]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/DSC00005.jpg?t=1171153370[/img=right]
[IMG=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/Ex%20Studebaker%20Plant%20Locomotive/P1000578-1.jpg[/IMG=left]

[bridgegaurd]

quote:Originally posted by PlainBrownR2

Just remember the product it's displaying; Toyo tires. This vehicle is more or less destined to be used as a prop, which is probably why there's not a badge to be found on it. That's also why they decided on a custom, this is image. Imagine the low profile tires you see on the Studebaker you see there......then imagine those same rims and tires on a restored chassis. This is a company now who's biggest draw is the tuner and custom set. Dunno bout everyone else but in Toyo's case and what they're selling and who they're selling to, I can't picture it.
I love seein them on the ground(Hunnert Car Pileup, go figure), and here they are legal, as long as it's not putting a furrow down the center of the pavement or dragging something crucial in the street. I would also presume that the suspension allows for a height that doesn't have em' skirting around speed bumps in the road, which for some of the import cars here makes em look really silly. As to why, and I imagine Stu will chime in on this, part of it is style(just like whitewalls, tailfins, dual antennaes). I think the show on Speed Channel "Livin' the Low Life" is an example of this. The other part I can think of is handling. When the steering geometry(if manipulated) and the center of gravity drop, suddenly you might have a vehicle that may not roll, tip, in general handle like a go kart. Of course it introduces issues that need to be worked out like other customs, the one I can think of is room for the driveshaft inside the tunnel underneath.


[img=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/My%201950%202r5%20Studebaker%20Pickup%20with%20turbocharger/P1000137-1.jpg[/img=left]
[img=right]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/DSC00005.jpg?t=1171153370[/img=right]
[IMG=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/Ex%20Studebaker%20Plant%20Locomotive/P1000578-1.jpg[/IMG=left]

Ain't nuthin but a thing,first street rod/drag racer. 27 turtle back, body, on a 32 frame, olds engine, hydro, olds rear, plywood floor under feet. aircraft seats with bottom cushion, drive line and tailshaft covered with a piece of tin with home made shifter through it. Neutral safety switch HUH?. steering geomertyHUH? I'm just glad it never dropped a tie rod.

I'll take this high dollar designed chassis for a ride any day. But then so would i that old turtle back if i could find it. Just for old times sake. But it and the short that rode in are long gone. A rat rod when they weren't called that. If you don't use a hammer and a cresent wrench it aint rat.

Now if i could just get a set of them toyos under my C-cab Hmmm anybody got a big hammer.

[PackardV8]

Show cars are an artistic ideal and built only for static display - that they are literally un-driveable is beside the point. It's like looking at Michelangelo's David and saying, "A guy with skin and hair that white and no clothes on would be useless in the quarry, he'd get too dirty and scratched up working." It's sculpture; about the look, the vision - nothing to do with a real, operable everyday car.

thnx, jack vines

PackardV8