My first Stude! A 1951 Land Cruiser to restore.

[51LandCruiser]

The car.

The history.



Parts.


Thanks for taking time to read this, any help is greatly appreciated.

[Mark L]

Congratulations Daniel. I lived in Canton for 11 years before I moved to Washington State a few years ago. I bought a 51 Land Cruiser out here from a scrap yard, too. I'm sorry for your father's loss. I wish you good luck with your project, and I hope it helps remind him of the good times with his sister.

Mark

[Corvanti]

welcome aboard, Daniel!

for parts, here's a couple places to look: http://www.studebakervendors.com/
and: http://www.studebakerswap.com/swap/swap.php

the best advice i can give is to join the "Studebaker Drivers Club". http://www.studebakerdriversclub.com/index.asp

the monthly magazine, "Turning Wheels", has a wealth of information, plus a very large amount of parts, etc. available in the classified ads not found elsewhere!

[PackardV8]

Your '51 Land Cruiser is one of the best of the best; the classic bulletnose styling with the new V8.

Is yours an automatic or overdrive?

FWIW, the drivetrain is the easiest part of the build. Basically any Studebaker V8 engine and transmission will fit. The '55-64 259" are the most common and least expensive.

jack vines

[Roscomacaw]

Welcome, Daniel! What Jack just said. Any of the Stude V8s will fit fine, and as Jack said - the 259s are fairly common and parts are a breeze. You could also fit a 289, since externally it's still the same basic engine. Your LC would've been a 232Cu.in. edition and lots of those are around to be had too. The original automatic (if that's what your car had) is getting hard to find and even harder to get rebuilt. Again tho, the later auto tranny would fit well and would only require some change to the driveshaft front section to work. If it had a manual tranny, you need to find one (it's a Borg-Warner T-86) with the short tailshaft. Again tho, you COULD adapt a later style T-86 to work by changing the front section of the drive shaft. Good luck with your project and keep us posted as to it's progress.

[51LandCruiser]

Congratulations Daniel. I lived in Canton for 11 years before I moved to Washington State a few years ago. I bought a 51 Land Cruiser out here from a scrap yard, too. I'm sorry for your father's loss. I wish you good luck with your project, and I hope it helps remind him of the good times with his sister.

Mark

Thanks for that, it will be a lot of work but worth it! Always good to meet someone from my home town.

welcome aboard, Daniel!

for parts, here's a couple places to look: http://www.studebakervendors.com/
and: http://www.studebakerswap.com/swap/swap.php

the best advice i can give is to join the "Studebaker Drivers Club". http://www.studebakerdriversclub.com/index.asp

the monthly magazine, "Turning Wheels", has a wealth of information, plus a very large amount of parts, etc. available in the classified ads not found elsewhere!

Thanks for the links, they will be most helpful. I plan on joining the SDC soon as well as my local chapter.

Your '51 Land Cruiser is one of the best of the best; the classic bulletnose styling with the new V8.

Is yours an automatic or overdrive?

FWIW, the drivetrain is the easiest part of the build. Basically any Studebaker V8 engine and transmission will fit. The '55-64 259" are the most common and least expensive.

jack vines

I'm positive it had the V8 w/OD. I'm new to the whole "hillholder" thing so that will be interesting to utilize once its back on the road. It didn't have blinkers though so i will need to find me some of those.

Welcome, Daniel! What Jack just said. Any of the Stude V8s will fit fine, and as Jack said - the 259s are fairly common and parts are a breeze. You could also fit a 289, since externally it's still the same basic engine. Your LC would've been a 232Cu.in. edition and lots of those are around to be had too. The original automatic (if that's what your car had) is getting hard to find and even harder to get rebuilt. Again tho, the later auto tranny would fit well and would only require some change to the driveshaft front section to work. If it had a manual tranny, you need to find one (it's a Borg-Warner T-86) with the short tailshaft. Again tho, you COULD adapt a later style T-86 to work by changing the front section of the drive shaft. Good luck with your project and keep us posted as to it's progress.

Thanks for the info, it helps a lot. I talked to a gentleman in southern georgia that had a 51 2dr champ for sale. He didnt have what i needed but he did know of a guy that had several old V8 studebakers laying around. I will try and talk with him next week and see if the guy wants to sell anything.

[Corvanti]

several great Studebaker folks in Georgia (and SC) will be here soon to help you, i'm sure!

BTW: my "new" '51 (well, i'm its caretaker), spent a long time in Fayetteville, GA.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...Business-Coupe!

[1962larksedan]

Let me chime in here and say to def go ahead and upgrade the brakes: either the 1954-66 V8 setup or, better yet, the Turner disc brake conversion.

[BobPalma]

Welcome aboard, Dan. 'Nothing to add to what's already been said. You'll have a nice car when it's on the road. BP

[51LandCruiser]

several great Studebaker folks in Georgia (and SC) will be here soon to help you, i'm sure!

BTW: my "new" '51 (well, i'm its caretaker), spent a long time in Fayetteville, GA.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...Business-Coupe!

That is a beautiful car. Me and the wife have been trying to come up with a color scheme for when ours is ready to paint. Its a long way off but we need to pick something soon so I know what color to start on the interior with. I asked my father to get all the codes off the car(door, under hood, under glovebox right?), but he has yet to get back with me. I think the original color was a bluish color but its hard to tell now. Was the original engine color green? I don't think my wife wants the original colors back but we will see.

[51LandCruiser]

Let me chime in here and say to def go ahead and upgrade the brakes: either the 1954-66 V8 setup or, better yet, the Turner disc brake conversion.

I had read somewhere about using the brakes off a 64 and getting a dual master cylinder to go with it. I also looked up some disc brakes online but they are not cheap. On the other hand, this is a part of the car that should be spared no expense.

Welcome aboard, Dan. 'Nothing to add to what's already been said. You'll have a nice car when it's on the road. BP

My daughter says its a "cool" car but shes only 3 .

[avantilover]

What you could also do is obtain the production order for your car from the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend Indiana. It will disclose how the car was outfitted at the factory and maybe even have the name of the selling dealer - only around $30 I think. All the best with it. Chances are it didn't come with blinkers but the more expert guys will be able to clarify.

[51LandCruiser]

What you could also do is obtain the production order for your car from the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend Indiana. It will disclose how the car was outfitted at the factory and maybe even have the name of the selling dealer - only around $30 I think. All the best with it. Chances are it didn't come with blinkers but the more expert guys will be able to clarify.

I will try and look into this when I get the numbers. It looks like it didn't come with them from what I was told. It seems to be basic, nothing super fancy. There is a hitch on the back bumper that you can haul a trailer with but that's the only extra thing I know if. I found a studebaker trailer made from a pickup bed on craigslist that would be neat to pull behind it but one project at a time . I'm not even sure if I want to keep the hitch really, but time will tell.

[51LandCruiser]

I talked to my father today and he told me an interesting story.

He was in the house when he heard honking from the road. He looked out in time to see a nice stretch limo pull into the drive. So he goes outside and the drivers window rolls down and its the guy I bought the Studebaker from. he asks, "are you expecting a delivery?" and gets out and goes to the back door. When he opens it, there sits the extra Studebaker door and the hood ornament laying on blankets. Evidently, he had just picked up this "new toy" of his and figured he would show it to my dad and deliver the parts all in one shot.

I have to say, that's one classy way to receive parts for the car. Seemed fitting as well



EDIT: also found a pic of it when it was listed on craigslist. Missing front parts are in the trunk.

[Peanut]

Congratulations on your purchase. The haters and naysayers (and there will be some) will wonder why you're investing your time and money on such a "piece of junk". Don't listen to them. Keep working toward your goal and don't ever give up. Don't focus solely on the cosmetic. If the mechanicals aren't sorted out, it won't be fun to drive, and you won't enjoy it much. That said, here's some inspiration...