Our cars bonding

[Pat Dilling]

It occurred to me today that I did not have a picture of our two Studebakers together. So I parked the '53 next to the Conestoga to give them a chance to bond. The Conestoga is patiently waiting for resto-mod to start in another year or so.

[stude53]

Pat,
My 53 Starliner would love to have a 54 wagon to live with. 54 is my favorite year Stude wagon. Thanks for this picture. Do you have more of the wagon I could view somewhere?

[woodysrods]

Come on Pat. Now you have teased us with the picture. Tell us what your plans are. You have driven your modified coupe a lot of miles. What will you replicate on the wagon and what will you change.
And why wait another year?? It will just shorten your wagon driving time by a year! Easy for me to say rather than do as I to have another Studebaker on the road., so I am a lot more patient than I used to be.......or just maybe older and slower.
Good Roads
Brian

[junior]

With those two parked side by side, the wagon is begging to have it's lid lowered a tad, just like it's brother. Wow, what a position to be in, a 54 coupe, and 54 wagon...what are you planning to power the wagon with Pat? Very cool. Junior

[Pat Dilling]

The Conestoga is my retirement project, and retirement is planned for December 30, 2011. So come 2012, there should be plenty of time to tackle the project. As for plans, they are being slowly developed. Since I already have a Studebaker with late model muscle, this one will have a Studebaker V8, probably a 289. It will be backed by a 200-4R overdrive automatic. Right now I am leaning toward a Fatman Fabrications front stub with coil over suspension. They have them developed where stock sheet metal and bumpers will bolt right in place. It will sit lower, but I am not sure if I will chop it yet, still looking at other options, maybe even slicing the roof off above the drip rails and replacing it with a flatter roof from a Lark wagon, if I can find one. Also thinking about leaning the B pillar forward some. My order of process will likely be, frame and suspension, drive train, body work, paint and interior. There are more pictures of the car in my Flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9729183...7623379200673/

As for the type of bonding Dave, the gender of the wagon has not been determined yet, the coupe (Stu) is definitely male.

[paintim613]

As I have said before...STU COOL forever!

[clonelark]

The pic shows how much sleeker the coupe is than the sedans, hope the wagon gives you lots of fun bringing it back to a driveable vehicle.

[junior]

maybe even slicing the roof off above the drip rails and replacing it with a flatter roof from a Lark wagon, if I can find one. Also thinking about leaning the B pillar forward some.

Wow, two very cool ideas....go for it. A lowered roof above the drip rails on a Coupe is what I've often thought is all they really need to give the proper 'look' they should have had from the factory...just have no idea how I would go about doing that to make it look right. Hardtops to me, always look like they need to be chopped. Often wondered about your coupe...is it red, is it orange or is it rorange??? Regardless, the color of your coupe is spectacular in photos, would love to see it in real life. Junior