Studebaker Anniversary

[raprice]

To address Scott's question, John Kennedy was assasinated on November 22, 1963. You were only a day off.
Rog

[monomaniac]

On second thought - perhaps Mr. Biggs can help. I recall reading somewhere that Studebaker "seasoned" their engine blocks. So now we would have to establish what the date code on an engine means. Is it the date it came out of the foundry? Is it the date the engine was assembled? Or??
If it's the latter, then the actual casting of the last engines could have been accomplished months earlier. Perhaps Studebaker even "engineered" or planned the total production they would need to use up most of the blocks already cast. This could also be the reason they produced 1964 models so late into the year.

[JBOYLE]

quote:Originally posted by Scott

I guess that's true. I used to have a 1964 Daytona with a replacement V8 block cast on Nov. 23, 1963. Wasn't that the day after Kennedy was assassinated?

Kennedy was shot on Friday, Nov. 22. That means your block was cast on a Saturday.
Did they work on Saturdays back then?


63 Avanti R1 2788
1914 Stutz Bearcat
(George Barris replica)

Washington State

[BobPalma]

Art: The date stamped on 1964 engines is the date the engine was assembled and was ready to be installed in a vehicle as a functional unit.

To some extent, the cutoff date to quit casting Studebaker blocks would have been inexact. Planning for the balance of 1964 Hamilton production with Studebaker engines could have been fairly precise. However, the projected number of service blocks they would need for warranty replacements after the foundry was shut down would have had to be an educated guess, based on warranty projections for not only 1964 automobiles from South Bend and Hamilton, but for the variety of 1964 trucks that were still under warranty.

There is no evidence to suggest they were seasoning blocks for more than a week or so -if that long- in the early 1960s. Remember, full-flow V-8 blocks were put into production in mid-1962, primarily to accommodate the Avanti. The basic castings for those were certainly not being seasoned for any appreciable length of time, in that they needed to get Avantis into production post haste. [8D] BP

[Scott]

Jboyle, you pose an interesting question. I am quite sure that the block has a date code of 11/23/63 on it, but I have since sold the car and can't double check (gee, I so seldom make mistakes, too[:I]).

[Roscomacaw]

So, from Art's observations of ragtop engine numbers, it's evident that South Bend was still assembling V8s in at least June of '64. I'd bet that production stretched into July as well. Just a guess tho.[:I]
Wonder when the stamping plant formed the last of the sheet metal for Hamilton's efforts? Did they know of the impending shutdown before the Hamilton folks did or was Hamilton (as some have suggested over the years) working off stuff left over from '64? At least some bits of the 66s were unique to that model and would have been formed in '65.

Miscreant at large.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President 2-dr
1955 President State
1951 Champion Biz cpe
1963 Daytona project FS