63 lark convertible project

[HooVee]

Greetings from Finland!

I wanted to share my project so I could see my own progress and what I had achieved and what still needed to be done.

My friend’s dad owned this car about 15-20 years ago and I first heard about it about 4 years ago. Last summer he came to me and asked if I would be interested in buying a studebaker from him. We immediately went to look at the car and i took some pictures and said I was thinking about it. After a week, I saw him again and we reached an agreement on the price.

He himself had once bought a car in this condition, but never had time to start building it. Almost all parts were reportedly stored, at least rear axle was missing.




place looked like a jungle, grass etc. were so long that we had to get a clearing saw to get there.




I can tell you that it was a pain in the ass to get lark to the trailer. After few hours and couple Macgyver tricks we made it!



body and frame are actually in great condition, surface rust , sure, but minimum amount of rust eaten holes

[Milaca]

Very nice project, I look forward to your progress.

[HooVee]

A week after I got my new project in the garage, I got a hint of a 62 Lark sedan left to sit in 1975, and I thought this was my chance to get the missing rear axle.


This one was pretty decently rotten.


This one has straight 6 engine and mine has v8 and front discs.

before i could get lark inside garage, i had to finish my other project, which took me 6 months to build, i had to fabricate the entire bed and floor and doors and repair frame etc. however, a ton of hours.




But finally we get to the point.


i started by sandblasting the rear axle, and removed the fenders etc. My plan is to separate the frame and body, and remove the undercoating from body, and do weldings if needed. Then gonna remove rust from firewall, quarter panels etc, and paint car underneath.


good thing is that the body is solid and prewious builder welded some supports inside, so no worries about collapsin the body.


frame is in excellent condition, just needs sandblasting and paint.


i wanted the project to be easy to move, so put some tires underneath.

[HooVee]

also removed paint from quarter panels.


drivers side. Noticed that we are missing piece from the corner. Also removed all the rust with the cleaning discs (unfortunately my sand blaster stopped working), also put some phosphoric acid.


here also rust removed and phosphoric acid in action.


Corner piece done.


some welding happened here also. Also painted with por-15 kinda stuff





same thing to the drinkers side. Cured acid.


yesterday i noticed that rocker panels are missing, gladly my friends father had new ones in his storage, so i got them and now have to figure how those are supposed to mount correctly.

[Silverplate]

Looks like an incredible undertaking Henry. Appreciate the updates…Mike

[tsenecal]

Great looking project! Happy to see that it is in your hands, and on its way to a second life. It will be a beautiful car.

[Warren Webb]

The rocker panels you have, if original Studebaker produced, should fit easily, that is if they are for a 2 door. $ door cars carried a longer wheebase starting in 62 (exception being taxis & 61 Cruisers). Keep us up to date on your progress!

[HooVee]

During the last seven days Lark has kept me busy. First i welded the rockers, which took a lot of time, just to get all gaps just right. Had to mount doors back on and assembel / remove quarter panels many times before i was satisfyed. Next job was to clean car underneath and remove all rust and undercoat. I used heat gun to soften the hardened undercoat and scraped it off with chisel. Old paint and rust was removed with strip disc.





I used epoxy for primer and polyurethane paint for final coats.

Next job on the to do list: Clean the frame


Done. Took me almost 8 hours to get this properly cleaned. Still amazed how sturdy this thing is


Aaaand painted!


Its so good looking right now, just want to keep watching it

now its time to roll it underneath the body.


There it goes. Its always exciting to alone these body and frame mounting processes, but its possible with couple jack stands & floor jacks


Tomorrow im gonna fabricate new body to frame rubber mounts.

[HooVee]

Almost forgot! Here is a couple pics of rocker panels




I also got mail from studebaker museum

[studefan]

Wow. you work fast! Incredible job so far. Please keep the progress pictures coming.

[HooVee]

Wow. you work fast! Incredible job so far. Please keep the progress pictures coming.

Thank you! Working on these old cars is my passion

[daytonadave]

Great work. Nice to have a large Building and a paint booth in it, too. You are keeping your costs to a minimum. I wonder when this 63 came to your Country?
This 63 used to be in Colorado. I would want bumpers for protection.