Well, I'm knee deep in the '56 Champion 2 door sedan hot rod porject and there's no turning back now! The engine is at Valley head having all of the machine work done. I've got the rear end done and will be putting it in with new leaf springs tomorrow. The disc brake conversion is gong forward and I have the new Halibrands and tires ready to go. I have all of the parts on had to do the front suspension except for rubber busings (Can't decide between rubber and delrin). The floors are patched and POR-15 coated. The list goes on and on . . .
Yesterday I took the chrome over to Verne's for some estimates. The valve covers and R1 air cleaner weren't too bad, the rear bumper pieces were downright resonable, but those two HUGE pieces of pot metal that surround the grille? YIKES. He took one look at them and said "I hope you've got some equity in your home" and laughed! $700-$900 for the bottom piece (lots of pits) and $175 -$300 for the top piece (which is totally pit-free).
The sad part is that when I first bought the car the SASCO webiste had BOTH of these pieces as available NOS for less than $400 for both. Needless to say I jumped on them but Dennis called back and said they couldn't find them even though the inventory said they had a couple of each. Needless to say I was really bummed out.
Rich at Studebakers Northwest has the top piece NOS but if I get the bottom one rechromed there's no way they'll look "right" together, so unless I luck into a NOS bottom piece I'll be handing over a fat wad of sweaty twenties in about 10 weeks.
Luckily I found an NOS hood ornament and trunk handle on ebay for reasonable prices--they would have been at least a couple hundred each.
SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE 1958 SCOTSMAN!!!!!!!!!!!
(even though I like the looks of the '56 better)
IF ANYONE HERE KNOWS WHERE I CAN FIND AN NOS BIG HUNK OF POT METAL UNDER THE GRILL ON A '56 SEDAN FOR A DECENT PRICE I WOULD BE FOREVER GRATEFUL!!!!!!!!!
Yesterday I took the chrome over to Verne's for some estimates. The valve covers and R1 air cleaner weren't too bad, the rear bumper pieces were downright resonable, but those two HUGE pieces of pot metal that surround the grille? YIKES. He took one look at them and said "I hope you've got some equity in your home" and laughed! $700-$900 for the bottom piece (lots of pits) and $175 -$300 for the top piece (which is totally pit-free).
The sad part is that when I first bought the car the SASCO webiste had BOTH of these pieces as available NOS for less than $400 for both. Needless to say I jumped on them but Dennis called back and said they couldn't find them even though the inventory said they had a couple of each. Needless to say I was really bummed out.
Rich at Studebakers Northwest has the top piece NOS but if I get the bottom one rechromed there's no way they'll look "right" together, so unless I luck into a NOS bottom piece I'll be handing over a fat wad of sweaty twenties in about 10 weeks.
Luckily I found an NOS hood ornament and trunk handle on ebay for reasonable prices--they would have been at least a couple hundred each.
SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE 1958 SCOTSMAN!!!!!!!!!!!
(even though I like the looks of the '56 better)
IF ANYONE HERE KNOWS WHERE I CAN FIND AN NOS BIG HUNK OF POT METAL UNDER THE GRILL ON A '56 SEDAN FOR A DECENT PRICE I WOULD BE FOREVER GRATEFUL!!!!!!!!!
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