1962 Daytona J8 (62S-16390)

[62champ]

With additional information from the Studebaker National Museum, it looks as though the Daytona was sent to Kansas City following its assembly in October of 1961. It was then sold new on March 17, 1962, to a E. Morris in Enid, Oklahoma.





With that in mind, I was able to find a 1962 Oklahoma license plate.



Going along with the theme of the Daytona being originally sold in Oklahoma, got my hands on a reproduction 1962 Oklahoma inspection sticker. They are reproduced by Robert Hoyt at inspectionstickers.net

[62champ]

Had a 70 degree, partly cloudy day today, so I decided to do something productive. It has always been a challenge to try and clean the chrome rings around the instrument clusters. Long ago, I figured out that pulling a speedo/instrument cluster is pretty simple so that has been my go-to technique.

While under the dash board, I again noted as to how nice this car is, even in those places where people usually do not see. This is the area at the top of the left kick panel.



Started with the speedometer and got some pretty good results.

Before:



After:



And evidence this is not some one-off cleaning technique. These are the instruments out of my old 1960 S-W4 sedan just before the South Bend International meet in 2017.

[Craig]

What is your cleaning polishing routine for instrument chrome?

0000 steel wool and semi-chrome? or?
Thanks

[62champ]

Have never used 0000 on those small chrome pieces before - sometimes there are painted surfaces you are working up against and I don't want to take any paint off. My go-to is just simple Turtle Wax chrome polish and a clean rag.

[studefan]

Even 0000 steel wool will scratch the chrome. I don't recommend using it if you are trying to maintain or get close to show quality chrome.

[62champ]

Got all the bezels cleaned up and back in the dash. Had to reattach the small red disc behind the slot in the speedo to tell a person when the high beams are on - old glue gave out and it was floating around in the bottom of the gauge.





Also got the inspection sticker placed in the proper place on the right, lower part of the front windshield -marked with the original date of purchase - should be good for another year . . .

[62champ]

Forgot to add this to the last post - noticed something written on the underside of the hood, and after brushing off the build-up, this is what was there



Not sure if that was at the factory or when it got to Kansas City - guess the person who wrote it did not want to explain what that meant

[StudeRich]

That is one really CLEAN looking little Lark!
Is March the 17, your Birthday?

[62champ]

Nope - day the car was sold in 1962 in Enid, Oklahoma

[62champ]

An item that probably had not been operated for a decade or more on the Daytona is the heater valve. Stuck pretty tight. Lucked out with a parts car on the family farm and pulled an extra off to be sent off for a rebuild.



Sent if off to Joe Hudacek of Superior, WI. Among the things he rebuilds is heater valves and they always come back looking great.





And now that even somewhat cool weather is coming to an end, it will probably not get installed any time soon -lol

[62champ]

Every car has a history, and although the Daytona only has 25K miles, it is no different. There are places where things have been bumped, scratched, and tweeked. I noticed early on that the bumper extensions were not "100%" as they probably were when new. The rear bumper looks like it had be hung on the right side at some point and it has gotten the whole thing out of whack.

Left side looked "normal" with the distance between the top of the bumper bar and the rear pan.



The right side, however, was noticeably further from the pan.



I took the bumper off and noticed the bracket on the right side was not sitting at the same angle as the left.





Did some wrestling with the brackets and playing around with spacing and I think I got it about the same for both sides. I think the bumper bar itself might be a little tweeked but would be hard to tell unless another one that was known to be correct was sitting next to it.

The rear pan behind the bumper cleaned up pretty good (not that it was that dirty).





Also noted that the bumper brackets still had some of the original factory paint as well as the bolt heads with some of the coating still intact.

[Craig]

Nice photos, Thanks

[StudeRich]

The little Lark is going to be a wonderful drive and Original Show Car, once you get a Model 23, 27 or 44, 3.31 or 3.54 Rear Axle under it !

[62champ]

Continue to drive short little trips here in the area - 15 to 25 miles at a time. As the temperature has been rising, so has the heat gauge.

Had earlier added a spacer to the fan to move it 3/4 of a inch closer to the radiator - was 1.5 inches away at the bottom.



I emptied the radiator of its fluid back in mid-May, removed the radiator and flushed it out. Refilled with straight water and operated it again. Drained and refilled until the water added to the radiator was clean after a short drive. Refilled at 50/50. End of May, did a couple drives where the temp gauge wanted to climb up to the 3/4 mark with temperatures in the mid-90s - further than I like.

The radiator looked good, It looks like it might have been re-cored at some point but the fins are all really nice and straight.



Decided to order a 160 degree thermostat, because, well, this is Texas. Popped the old thermostat out about a week back and sure enough, it was a 180. Got everything back together and refilled with straight water. Just drove 5 miles in 100 heat the gauge did not move above the middle mark on the gauge. At a stop light, it would crawl up just above the middle line, but went no further.

Onward and upward.

[62champ]

Amazing how one seems to find deals on things like literature for a vehicle that one has acquired. All these things were less than $60 combined - were all package deals - now have two owners manuals and two yellow accessory manuals . . . Also ended up with the full color brochure in French - c'est la vie . . .

[62champ]

Great friend from back in PA is trying to find homes for items he has that he knows he will never use. Seems to be finding a number of items for a '62 Lark - lucky me!

This reverse light lens had some dis-colorization around the screw holes - problem solved with a new one.









Also threw in a couple of extra gas caps that I might be able to use - I know this one is not original to '62, but it cleaned up pretty well.

[62champ]

And again with the literature . . .

[62champ]

As pointed out earlier, Texas does not mess around when it comes to being hot. This summer will probably go down as the hottest since records have been kept - especially when it comes to being 105 or hotter - it was 107 here today, September 6th . . .

When the heat started to go up, so did the gauge on the Daytona. My first thought was to at least give the original set up a chance. Only thing I did was add a 3/4 inch spacer to move the fan closer to the radiator - at its closest is was still 1.5 inches from the core. This seemed to work until things slowed down and it sat at lights for extended periods. Removed the thermostat (180) and dropped in a high-po 160 - so when it did change it was pretty quick - but still getting a couple marks above the middle.

Remembered there were a couple Studebaker 5 bladed viscous drive fans at the family home place. Found the one with the most paint still on it and made sure it was in decent shape and straight. Found a couple more things I thought I might need as well while I was there. (not sure why I brought the '63 backup light lens -anyone need a complete one?)



Fan cleaned up pretty good.



Everything went on pretty easy and it moves a substantial amount of air. Took it for a drive in 104 degree weather. Sitting at a light for a couple minutes, the gauge went to the line just above center, but within a minute of driving again, went back down to middle and sometimes just a hair under.



Also got the majority of parts together for the front end rebuild and to try and fix more of the leaks on the motor/tranny. Local Studebaker mechanic Mark Frank has said that would be a pretty easy couple of days for him. Will see how a 1.5 hour trip north west will go.

[62champ]

Driving around on the weekend, got about as good a fall look that exists in Central Texas - I got spoiled living in PA and KY for 15 years as far as fall colors.