Another courtesy bath

[Roscomacaw]

With the Cruiser nearing paint stage, I needed a bay to park it in while it waits a couple of days for it's trip to the paint booth. It seemed the easiest way to accomplish this was to extract the barn find coupe from it's berth for the time being. And after three years of hiding out under tools and parts, it was covered in filth. SO, I gave it a sponge bath and let it dry in the afternoon sun. Dang thing looks good no matter what![]



1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1963 Cruiser
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[rockne10]

[:0]

How'd you wedge that tractor in the trunk?

[)]

[Dick Steinkamp]

I think I'd put that one back together and drive it. A little patina looks pretty good on it. []

Dick Steinkamp
Bellingham, WA

[BobPalma]

Uh, Bob; you'll pardon me for being a little nervous when noting the proximity of that huge oxy-acetylene cutting outfit![:0][}][:0] BP

[rockne10]

We call that "the heat wrench".

[barnlark]

Originally posted by BobPalma

Uh, Bob; you'll pardon me for being a little nervous when noting the proximity of that huge oxy-acetylene cutting outfit![:0][}][:0] BP


Yeah, I was going say the coupe looked unnecessarily scared that it better run or else next to that!

[Roscomacaw]

Not to worry, Bob. It's come down to these options - Do a Ute, or a ragtop. Or WAIT! How's about a droptop Ute???[:0][:0][:0][]

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1963 Cruiser
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[Roscomacaw]

Dick,

I was headed in that direction (barn find patina), but it's either gonna get a flat blue finish OR go back with it's original Maui Blue. I took a ScotchBrite kitchen sponge/scrubber to it today. I'd never done that before - only soap and rag cleansings. Boy did that ScotchBrite side ditch that old oxidized paint! I even thought about "LarkShining" it, but there's a repaired spot back by the left taillight that would not look cool.

My body guy, Armando, is working on the Cruiser tonight. Both he and his sons (helpers) had positive things to say about the coupe. The oldest boy commented: "It just LOOKS fast!"

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1963 Cruiser
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[candbstudebakers]

Not much of a car if it doesn't have holes in the front to cool the brakes...Bob

Bob Peterson / C & B Studebakers

Castro Valley, CA

[Michidan]

True enough Bob, no fender cooling holes here. But now we see why they didn't really make the whole car from pot metal. Bigg's headlight rims have totally disolved away.


www.studebakerhardtop.com

[Roscomacaw]

C&B, I conceed that my coupe has less brake-ability than yours. As we all know, it was '54 that saw the debut of the improved brakes. Call me ol' fashioned, but I rather prefer the solidarity of this coupe's fenders.[^]

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1963 Cruiser
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[barnlark]

What a great find. Solid and straight as heck (well, from 2,500 miles away.) I hope you bring it back to life soon. [^]

[studeclunker]

Nice potential in that car.[^] Speaking of a U.T.E. project; Perhaps it would be better to get hold of a Y-body President chassis, beef it up a bit (maybe a stationwagon chassis), and set this body (with a wee bit of an extension) on it.

The biggest mistake made with the Champ pickup was using the front of a four-door. Had they used the front half of a two-door instead there would have been a wee bit more room in the cab.


Home of the famous Mr. Ed!
K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Studebaker!
Ron Smith
Where the heck is Lewiston, CA?

[Roscomacaw]

Dave, I still marvel at finding this coupe. It wasn't some turnkey gem that needed only a battery and some brake fluid, but to me it was actually more fun than that sorta find would've been.
To find it with 10" inches of bat poo on the rear window and wheel wells slap FULL of mud and yet have wash up to look about like it does in the above photo - that was a thrill. The fact that it ran after I changed the rat-eaten plug wires was even more fun.

I wanna straighten it out and make it purdy (already have a new engine 'm all to go in it) before my time's up! That'll take some financial finaglin', to get her cosmetics taken care of.[:X] And she's not the only one waitin' fer some lovin'![:0][B)]

The Cruiser's ready for the paint booth as of tonight. My $425 dollar auction gem has right at 10 times that amount invested in her. I figure she'll be a five-grander when all's said and done.
I dropped $500 for paint today - $600 for all new exterior mouldings, and I've got probably $800 in interior stuff so far. Good thing I've wanted it for a driver all along.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1963 Cruiser
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door