Last day of Studebaker engine production?

[M-Webb]

I was just getting ready to clean these up to test out some Eastwood high temp coating and maybe use these for start up firing the 289 motor I'm working on. When I was looking at it to see how rusty they were, I noticed the casting date, reminded me of this thread. While casting date is a few days prior to the set above, what is somewhat interesting with this is the right hand manifold it was paired with that is the generator mount version and does not have a date cast into it for some reason. Seems odd they would be casting generator versions in '65, if that was the case. But guess since that one does not have a date, can not tell for sure from this. These were a pair that came off a 259 motor that was rebuilt back in the late 80's to early 90's by the previous owner who used as many NOS parts as he could get. Not sure where he got these or if are a "matched" pair or just some completely mix matched random pair of some sort. But anyway, here is another one with a 12/65 casting date. But anyway, a foundry of some sort somewhere was still casting Studebaker motor parts at least to the very end of '65, probably even further.

[StudeRich]

That is not a Generator Mount right hand Manifold, it is a Generator OR Alternator Manifold, it was never changed from 1955 Models forward, because they simply used an Alternator peculiar Mounting Bracket on the manifold.

[M-Webb]

Rich, ah, good to know. My 259 had the generator on it. But the 289 I'm building to replace it is gong to have an alternator, with the repro R3 manifolds. So wasn't planning to use these for the final build, but good to know they could still work with an alternator anyway if ever decide to use them in the future.

[64LarkLover]

The previous exhaust manifold with the photo had a cast date of 12/29/1965 and this one is 12/15/65. Seems odd there would be multiple production dates in the same month for a 1964 (or earlier) V/8. I have no answers only wondering if there was some sort of "pull" system to manufacture parts based on service dealer requests.

[M-Webb]

Of another odd note, I was just emptying out a box yesterday of Studebaker literature that I got with my current Champ truck. For some reason there is some '63 - '65 Lark literature stuff in the pile. One is a brochure on '65 cars. The interesting part is that while the info indicates the use of the new Chevy motors, the image of the motors is clearly the Studebaker V8 and the I6 too. So up until they printed these brochures, they didn't have the updated imagery to use for printing these, or the budget to do it accurately.











.

[PackardV8]

It's going to be hard to tell since a lot of engines were produced for replacement with no serial number or date code stamped. I have an NOS R1 engine in a 55 coupe that I'm trying to sell for example and it has no number stamped.

And then for several years, Paxton Products was selling long blocks, short blocks and fitted blocks; sometimes with R3 numbers and sometimes not.

jack vnes

[64Avanti]

And then for several years, Paxton Products was selling long blocks, short blocks and fitted blocks; sometimes with R3 numbers and sometimes not.

jack vnes

Jack you forgot to mention that the ones with R3 numbers sometimes had R3 parts and sometimes not.

[PackardV8]

Jack you forgot to mention that the ones with R3 numbers sometimes had R3 parts and sometimes not.

Reportedly, the last few Paxton sold with R3 numbers had R3 pistons and cam, but did not have R3 heads or connecting rods.

jack vines