Dumb Stude Questions

[Daan]

[tsenecal]

Nice to see that it is finally on its way to you. It looks like a good solid car to start with. Have fun, and Good Luck with it.

[StudeRich]

Before 1959, ALL V8's have the stronger Dana 44 Axle, so if it is original, you are good to go. The most likely ratio is 3.92 a rare and discontinued Ratio after 1958. Limited Slip (TT) was not available until 1957.

Wow! That's a Score! A VERY Well Equipped Power Hawk!
That Car has WAY more then the average Options on it.
It's just too bad that ALL the Calif, (Vernon Plant) P.O.'s I have seen, NEVER have the actual Build date filled in.
Shipped May 29, 1956 so who knows maybe built 5/27 or 5/28.

I decoded the Options 8852506 had:

Overdrive
Power Kit
Oil Bath Air Cleaner
Oil Filter
Radio AC-2748
Antenna AC-2689
Climatizer
WW Wall Tires
Wheel Covers AC-2738
Clock AC-2756
Turn Signals
Cigar Lighter
Back-up Lights
Padded dash
Deluxe Steering Wheel and Horn Ring
Extra Foam padded front seat

You are a LUCKY Dude! The only downside I see, is that the Bone White Plastic Deluxe Steering Wheels were made of an early non-UV resistant formula, type plastic that never survived the Heat well at all.

[Daan]

Thank you for the decoding! It sounded like a nicely equipped car, but I didn’t realize it was THAT nice!

[RadioRoy]

Dan, congratulations on getting such a cool car. I see you are enthusiastic, but please let me give you my standard newbie advice.

The first thing most new members want to do is redesign the car to make it better. That's OK if one is an experienced hot rod builder, but most newbies who are unfamiliar with Studebakers are not experienced hot rod builders.

For some reason the prevailing "wisdom" is that every other brand of car makes better parts/systems and also every other part/system will fit on a Studebaker. Where did that come from? Maybe because Studebaker has always been an underdog in the eyes of the great unwashed masses.

Basically, Studebakers are well designed and they merely need to be brought back to specifications to be good handling, driving, reliable cars. There are certain tried and proven mods, like disk brakes and sway bars that actually do improve the car, but many one-off, shade tree mods only make the car different, difficult to fix, and difficult to sell.

Here's my best advice, for what it's worth.
-Don't rush into taking it apart
-figure out what you have, what its strong points and weak points are and go from there
-get it stopping and running and then figure out what needs to be done to it while you are enjoying it
-Don't rush into taking it apart. It is at least 100 times more difficult to put it together than it was to take it apart.

Many, many cars get taken apart by someone who is fresh into the hobby, full of enthusiasm, and yielding to popular "wisdom." But the majority of cars that get this treatment never go back together again. They sit around in pieces after the enthusiasm gets replaced by reality. The wife and family get disgusted with the pile of rusty iron sitting around, the car gets sold as a parts car, and another potentially nice old car bites the dust.

I have given this advice many, many times over many years. I know of what I speak. Feel free to ignore it as many have.

[Daan]

RadioRoy this is good advice! The plan is to just get it running and driving. I don’t want to “mod” anything unless there’s a VERY good reason to. I want to take as little as possible apart, because I want to DRIVE this, not blow it into a million pieces and then have to wait 10 years to actually use it...
Please everyone keep all the advice coming this way, I’m all ears and ready to learn!
Oh yeah, it’s in Utah today, so a couple states closer to me!

[StudeRich]

Cool !. Do you know what that is behind it? Looks like it may be a Stude.

[Daan]

On the trailer? It’s a square body Chev/GMC pickup.