53 Hardtop in Alvin TX

[studegary]

I thought we learned long ago, not to discount any possible concoction that Studebaker may or may not have produced. Haven't they been notorious for doing things slightly off kilter from the norm throughout their history?
Besides, who knows what the line foreman may have had spiked in his lunch that day???

Please note that the front and rear pictures used to show the emblems/trim are of two different cars. It is not one car with the two different styles/types of emblems/trim. The front and rear of the two example cars are probably correct for that particular car. My point was that that combination would not be correct on one car.

[sals54]

That depends on where and when your car was assembled.

NO 1953 would have been assembled with the combination (front and rear) that you pictured.

I thought we learned long ago, not to discount any possible concoction that Studebaker may or may not have produced. Haven't they been notorious for doing things slightly off kilter from the norm throughout their history?
Besides, who knows what the line foreman may have had spiked in his lunch that day???

[StudeNewby]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]52872[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52873[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52874[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52875[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52876[/ATTACH]No label in the glove box. I am guessing ivory mist lower body with coral red top. Look at the first pic, and you can see the original colors where the chrome strip was between top and bottom.
I plan to join the Studebaker National Museum. Is that where I can request a print out of the original features to my car?

Here are some pics, starting with the painted area I mentioned.

I see no pics. This has happened on a couple of other threads since the forum "reboot."
I'm using an Android tablet. Anyone having an issue?

[TWChamp]

What a lucky find, and I'm sure glad you want to restore it back to original condition.
Someday I'd like to find a nice 1953, and it doesn't matter if it's the Champion or the Commander, as I like them both in stock form. I do prefer the overdrive over an automatic though. When I was 17 I missed out on my neighbor's 1953 Commander because I assumed he wanted way more than I could afford, so I didn't even ask the price. He sold that beautiful car a couple days after I looked at it, for only $35. Even in 1964 that was a crazy price for such a nice car.

[Lynn]

No sticker under the glove box either. Couldn't find any glue residue where it may have fallen off.
Ordered the production order from Studebaker National Museum.

[studegary]

Thanks for the further explanation, Bob. One "caution" about your statement, for others. The tristars were only on a portion of the model year's production in South Bend, but were on all 1953s assembled in Vernon (LA), CA. This does not apply to the subject car since it is a very early 1953 assembled in South Bend (first four percent of Commander production for 1953 models in South Bend).

[BobPalma]

Thanks Gary and Bob for all the info.
Will look for all of the correct emblems.

Tristar emblem with the 8 above, is the 8 gold?

Yes. BP

[Lynn]

Thanks Gary and Bob for all the info.
Will look for all of the correct emblems.

Tristar emblem with the 8 above, is the 8 gold?

[BobPalma]

Good to know. So can you give me a breakdown on the different combinations.

Serial number on the door jamb is 8304788.

Body tag has:

4H K5

1397


Thanks for any help.

Lynn: What Gary means is that no 1953 would have been assembled with a tri-star ornament on the deck lid and a conventional V ornament on the hood, or vice-versa. It would have been either one on both ends of a given car, depending on when it was built. The deck lid outline on your car where the tri-star emblem used to be, indicates yours was an early car and would have had tri-star emblems on both ends.

To decode your body tag:

4: 1953 model year body
H: Commander body (Champion would have been G)

K: Starliner body (true 2-door hardtop, no "B" pillar)
5: Trim level [Regal] to determine the "fanciness" of the interior trim and certain exterior adornments. The alternative would have been a DeLuxe, number 3, except that the cheaper DeLuxe trim was not offered in the Starliner body, so there would be no such thing as 4H-K3.

1397: The 1,397th such body [4H-K5] welded up, since the numbers began with 1 back then. 1953 Commander Starliners were Studebaker's most popular 1953 model, with 19,236 having been built. Since yours was the 1,397th of those 19,236 bodies welded up, you can see that yours was an early-production car. That's why it has (had?) tri-star emblems on it.

To confirm: Nothing on that tag denotes the car's original color or arrangement of those colors. Nice story on the acquisition...well, except for having to buy new trailer tires en route! No fun. BP

[rodnutrandy]

Your trip reminds me of mine back in 2002 , Borrowed a 2 axle open trailer , took our 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 4.0 from SW Ohio where we live to NW Kansas to pick up my $99 truck , 1000 miles one way , left on a Friday evening in Dec. , Pulled in by the truck next morning about 11am , By time loaded ( removed the rotten flat bed ) about 3Pm , Wasn't sure truck would fit trailer or Jeep would pull it, Did fit and Jeep had no trouble with it, Stopped and slept about 5 hours and got back about 7pm Sunday night The 2002 Jeep had 25,000 on it at the time , now has 185,000 on it and still going strong!

[Lynn]

Good to know. So can you give me a breakdown on the different combinations.

Serial number on the door jamb is 8304788.

Body tag has:

4H K5

1397


Thanks for any help.

[studegary]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]52884[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52885[/ATTACH]Just want to be sure: These are the correct, for 53, front and rear V8 emblems respectively, right?

That depends on where and when your car was assembled.

NO 1953 would have been assembled with the combination (front and rear) that you pictured.

[studegary]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]52872[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52873[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52874[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52875[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52876[/ATTACH]No label in the glove box. I am guessing ivory mist lower body with coral red top. Look at the first pic, and you can see the original colors where the chrome strip was between top and bottom.
I plan to join the Studebaker National Museum. Is that where I can request a print out of the original features to my car?

Here are some pics, starting with the painted area I mentioned.

The paint label is NOT "in the glove box." It is pasted to the exterior, bottom of the glove box (get on the floor and look up).

It was a gold nameplate, NOT "a chrome strip" on the C pillar.

Absence or inclusion of this nameplate depends on build location and paint (monotone or twotone).

You do NOT have to "join the Studebaker National Museum" to order your car's production order from them.

[Lynn]

Seats and door panels and headliner were done some time before 1983. From the look, I would guess early 70's.

We are very fortunate to have the garage we do. We did have to make some mods to get the two lifts in there. I am really tired of doing work in there though. Gets all our finished cars (and drivers) dusty. That's why we are rehabbing the building next door into a dedicated work shop. It used to be a Sinclair station, and we are going retro with it.

Thanks for the compliment.

[austrian]

Also: I like your garage! Are those seat original (vinyl? leather?)