shock mounting plate

[clifford]

The newer arm is for 1957 and up cars, Clifford. They went to the newer style shock absorber mounting for the 1957 models, when they also introduced variable-rate front coil springs. BP

Thanks, Bob.

[BobPalma]

The newer arm is for 1957 and up cars, Clifford. They went to the newer style shock absorber mounting for the 1957 models, when they also introduced variable-rate front coil springs. BP

[clifford]

As I work on my 55 President coupe, I keep finding surprises from previous owners having done make shift repairs. I'm in the process of replacing front shocks, so today I removed the old ones. On the driver's side, the bolts which hold the cup shaped lower mounting plate are under the coil spring [and you cannot see the top of the bolts], and are approx. 4-1/2" apart. On the passenger side, however, there is a difference in the lower control arm, and the bolts for the mounting plate are closer together [approx. 3-1/2" apart] and are visible just inside the spring coil. I'm assuming someone replaced the lower control arm with one from a different year Studebaker. They could not use the holes in the mounting plate, so had to drill new holes to line up with the holes in the control arm. Other than this difference, the two control arms look identical. Can someone tell me what year Stude that control arm belongs to?