Drug another one home.

[gordr]

Yesterday saw a road trip to a farmstead in Vulcan County, north of Milo, Alberta to fetch a '63 GT Hawk that had languished in a shed there since the late 1970's. It had become a mouse metropolis in the succeeding years. The car had been brought into the shed via the sliding door on one side, and then had the wheels removed, and was skidded sideways, and put on blocks. With the help of fellow Foothills Chapter member Barry Brace, and with the OK of the landowner, we cut a hole in the rear wall of the shed, put roller wheels under the car, and dragged it out backwards. The landowner used his little JD tractor to pull it, which was a huge help.

We got it loaded on my trailer without difficulty, and then put the shed back together, by sistering and splinting studs. It is as solid as it was. Heh.

The tow home was uneventful. Nothing fell off, nothing came loose.

Today, I towed it to the local car wash, and blasted years of dust and raccoon turds off the outside, and blew some of the years of mouse turds and grain hulls out of the interior. This car stinks bad, let me tell you. The I got it home, and dragged it off the trailer. It did not roll backwards readily; had to tug it with another Suburban. It's nice to have more than one of those. I gave it a name: Uncle Fester. It fits, because there is so much there that is festering. There were maggots of some kind under the "carpets". And beetles. I cut the carpeted part off the door panels with a reciprocating saw. They were soggy with mouse pee, anyway.

I got out my own pressure washer, and did the trunk, under the hood, the doors, and the floors. The doors filled up with water, and all this guck then oozed out of them. The pictures tell the story. My yard looks like it has been frequented by an incontinent cow. But smells worse. I had to take a shower after doing all that. The back-splash was nasty.

I'm sure the headliner is full of mouse nests, and also the rear quarter areas where the windows crank down. Most of the seat foam and cushions are GONE.

It is a 4-speed car, 2-barrel carb, manual steering, power brakes (hydrovac), and has a full dash. Also has a model 44 Twin Traction rear axle, ratio undetermined. There was a spare tire, a jack, jack base, and jack handle in the trunk, plus a 4-way wrench, and a bunch of oil filter cartridges that don't belong to a full-flow V8. Which this is.

I don't know if the body shell will be rebuildable. The chassis looks amazingly good. Finned drums all round. Clean-ish oil on the dipstick. I will try to start the engine tomorrow.

Car was sold (new?) by Halford and Valentine, Studebaker dealers in Calgary, back in the day; their sticker is on the back.

The trunk and interior floors were rusted back in the '70's, as evidenced by patches, crude patches, that can be seen in the pictures. There is also a big patch on the inboard side of the left tail fin, by the trunk lid. And the front air scoop is red, not black. So it was less than pristine when put away, but time has been unkind to it.

This one is probably going to be a parts car, but if some masochist wants a really ambitious GT Hawk project car, give me a holler.

I will update this as new information trickles in.

[tsenecal]

Looks like a project! It's nice that you were able to get it out of prison after all those years. The pictures (after all of that washing) don't make it look as bad as you describe. Hopefully with some rust repair, it could be brought back to life.

[studegary]

From your description I expected worse than what the pictures show.

[Buzzard]

Good on ya Gord for salvaging yet another rare ride. A '63 WITH a 4 Speed no less. It looks like it was worth the effort. I have been to Vulcan but don't recall Milo. How did you find it?
Bill

[candbstudebakers]

Gord, just a word about what I found when we pulled home a 61 Lark that was in a garage since 1974, we checked the oil on the dip stick looked clean as new oil but didn't try to turn over until we drained the oil, once we pulled the drain plug nothing came out so we used a welding rod with a hook and started to pull all the crud on the bottom of the pan. we fill a can with the crap then put in some old unopened cans of oil that came in the trunk and then drained it and keep using the rod to get more . Did this a few times until it drained out rather easy and clean looking, the turned it with the fan and belt. do trust the old oil no mater how good it looks, just a word of the wise. Good luck Gord.

[Milaca]

If only there was a way to share the aroma of that car through the internet.... thankfully there isn't.

[Buzzard]

Good on ya Gord! How did you find it? A pretty deserving to be restored example being a 4 speed & '63. I have been to Vulcan, don't recall Milo.
Great find.
Bill

[Studebaker Omaha]

It can be brought back to life! Good job on saving a piece of history.

[gordr]

Yeah, it's a good thing this website did not enable the Smell-O-Vision option. Milo is about 20 miles north and 20 east of Vulcan, on secondary highways. The widow of the previous owner contacted Barry about the car, in the belief that he had sold the car to her husband. And Barry contacted me. I put a battery in the battery tray, and turned the key, and the engine turned over on the starter. Actually, it tried to roll, as the car was in second gear. I will crank it with the starter again, and see if it develops oil pressure.

Funny thing happened today. Had a guy here to pick up the shelled-out '38 Commander I sold him. We tried to air up the tires from my carry-air tank, and he put air in the right front, and said "It's got a big pimple on it. Don't think it will last." No sooner had he said that, than the tire blew with loud report like a gunshot, and blew up a cloud of leaves and twigs from the ground. The tire carcass had failed, and the tube blew out through the opening. Tube has a large hole in it, with cracks radiating in all directions. But we got tires under it, and got it loaded, and he is on his way back to Leduc.

[gordr]

Well, I tried to start it this afternoon. Didn't quite get there. It fired a few times, picked up RPM on the starter, but could not keep running. May have some stuck valves. The engine has no serial number, maybe a weakly-struck cloverleaf; not at all clear. It is painted red. The two-barrel manifold is not painted red, and is held down by retainers painted that mid-'50's aqua color. The carb was mounted, but was not hooked up. I took it off and cleaned it thoroughly, then hooked up all the fuel and vacuum lines, and the choke heat pipe, and the throttle linkage. Some prior worker had mounted the gas pedal push rod to the wrong side of the throttle bell crank. I am thinking that the car may have originally had a 4-barrel on it, and some person took that off, and added a 2-barrel carb and manifold in its place.

I took the battery back out, and placed it on a charger. I will pull the valve covers, and check for stuck valves, and free them up, if found. Then put a slug of oil in each spark plug holes before trying to fire it again.

[8E45E]

If only there was a way to share the aroma of that car through the internet.... thankfully there isn't.

Just the car to pull up in at a cruise to Micky-D's with all four windows open!!

Craig

[gordr]

Valve covers pulled, no stuck valves, nice and clean under there, getting oil. Checked clearances; OK for a cold engine. Pulled spark plugs; all have normal light tan deposits, quite clean. Put a shot of oil in those cylinders I could reach with my oil can. Poured some water in the radiator, and it began running out of the block from a missing frost plug. Tinted green, so it looks like whatever residue was in the block had some antifreeze in it. Cranked it up again, and it wants to run, but just can't quite get there. Tried priming by squirting fuel into the inlet side of the pump by way of the rubber line going to the frame. Fuel spewed out of the pump. Found an apparently working pump in fuel pump file, and installed that. Would not pump. Pulled (now new) rubber line off pump, and skinned my arm on a sharp stud on the Hydrovac. Blew into the hose, and it offered resistance for a moment, then I could hear bubbling in the tank. Maybe it will pump fuel now.

[JoeHall]

I would run gas from a can, and not the tank. Odds are, any fuel in the tank has turned to varnish, and will gum up the motor similar to how sugar does.

[gordr]

I would run gas from a can, and not the tank. Odds are, any fuel in the tank has turned to varnish, and will gum up the motor similar to how sugar does.

Tank was bone dry, and when I rapped on the bottom, it rang clear. Nor did it smell of stale gas.

[gordr]

Update: Uncle Fester lives and drives! I noticed when the engine was trying to run, that it was spitting back something fierce through the carb. A clogged exhaust system can do that. So I used the tractor to tug Fester a few yards ahead to get it out of the heap of mouse debris I washed out with the pressure washer. Don't want to lie in that, thanks! Jacked up the right side. Right side header pipe had been torn off, and the ragged end flattened. The metal was so thin I could form it back round with my fingers. Heat riser valve stuck closed, but a few light taps with a hammer swung it around to the open position. Moved around to the left side. Pipe to muffler was intact, but thin, and muffler riddled with holes. Nothing to lose by cutting it, so out comes the reciprocating saw. Zip, zip, cut through it, and mouse nests fall out. That head pipe is paper-thin, too. Since that corner was raised, I took the LF wheel off, and found the leak in the "roller" tire I had hung on the rim. Easy fix: the valve core just wasn't fully seated in the stem.

Hooked up my booster battery, and got it started. It immediately began to run better. Not real well, but it would answer to the throttle, and the carb spit-back was gone. Shut it down. No coolant in there yet. Got another car off the hoist, and cleared a way for Fester to make a 270-degree turn and run in onto the hoist. Set up the idle speed, and opened the idle mixture screws a little. It started right up, nearly quit, and then picked back up and smoothed out a little. I threw off the jumper cables, jumped into the seat (eeew!), gave it a little throttle, and stepped on the clutch, and put Fester into First. Away we went! I made the 270 turn, lined up with the shop door, up the ramp, and up onto the hoist. Shut Fester down with the key, and raised the hoist. Took a close look at the rear end. It is a Model 44, 3.31 ratio, Twin Traction. Nice.

Fester also has a "Spin-On" (brand name) oil filter on him, which is some deal that has a permanent canister with replaceable elements, that substitutes for the normal PH11-style spin-on filter. There were 5 new elements in the trunk, but the mice destroyed 2 or 3 of them.

Next up on the agenda: replace the missing core plug, put some used but solid header pipes on there, and run some proper exhaust pipes. Try to make brakes work. Lube the front end. Use the cutting torch to cut the seat mounting bolts, since the mouse pee will have welded them to the captive nuts with rust.

By the way, the tach works! I was so taken with that, that I neglected to check any other gauges. That, and I wanted to get Fester on the hoist ASAP so as not to cook the engine.