Technical Is this a LaSalle 3 speed? (Bill Frick Studillac stuff)

Also interesting, so maybe it DID have a side-shift cad trans with a floor shifter at some point, and this trans was added later? The plot thickens...

 

As a former owner/builder of a '53 Stude/SBC, I'm very impressed with this car, what a find, indeed!!!
To those questioning car's heritage because of transmission, have yall considered this car is 62 years old? It is possible that a previous owner installed the "cobbled together" trans in later years when he couldn't find a Cad/Lasalle.

 

Mike I figured you would have something interesting to say when you found this thread. Man hugs all around... so who noticed that Bill Frick also sold Allards? Speaking of which, the guy I bought my '39 from was here yesterday buying some bikes from me, I never realized this, he lives about 20 minutes from Watkins Glen, we were talking for hours about Allards, Briggs Cunningham, Dan Gurney and so on. The historics there is on the same weekend as Victoria Deuce days, so we cant go next year, but the year after we are going to his place for the weekend of the vintage races at Watkins Glen, and he figures he will have my dads '31 Franklin Convertible Speedster fully restored by then, so we will be going in style! But I digress, back to Bill Frick Studillacs.

 

Yup, see post #31. Cool as hell either way...

 

Question for the op. Does the car have a "column shift" steering column jacket? Its also possible the car came as one of the "manual column shift" models mentioned in the ad, with a side shift cad box, and had an aftermarket floor shifter added in the very late fifties/early sixties, hence the extra hole in the floor.

 

Holy cow this is turning into a cool thread...

Falcongeorge.. Some of the stuff you're seeing online is from an old blog that I put up about 10 years ago. I haven't updated it in many years and a lot of the image links are dead, but it's still up. The blue '54 with the emblem was being restored in Maryland when the owner passed away. It's currently being finished by a new owner in Atlanta, so I'm told. I hope to see it finished soon.

RE Frick and Studillacs...

I was 14 (2004) when a guy in the local Stude club found this car tucked away in a lean-to, right on the coast of Georgia. He bought the car from a little old lady who's late husband had owned it since about 1961 or so. His decal from Union College, Schenectady, NY (he was a graduate in '65) is still on the back glass.

Anyway.. The buyer hired my granddad to go pick the car up and deliver it to his house for him. Being the car-kid that I was, I had to tag along and remember being mesmerized by this car. I had been on dozens of car fetching trips, but this is one old Stude that got me excited.. I went home and started digging around, searching online, making phone calls.. Trying to learn all that I could about Bill Frick and Studillacs. I've spent the last 10 years trying to soak up every tidbit of info that I could, and that has led to a LOT of cool friends and acquaintances.. So far, I have been able to confirm that there are 5 known Studillacs (mine included) extant. Two 53's, Two 54's, and one '55. Frick only did the one in '55, though he did about 100 per year or so in '53 and '54. My '53 and the '55 are the only two that are together and running. The other 3 have been in pieces under "restoration" for many, many years. (The '55 is currently for sale, btw.. Owner is asking $25K). One thing I have learned is that every single Studillac was a little bit different.. They were hand-built hot rods and there wasn't much of a rule book. One thing that all 5 remaining cars DO have in common though, is hand fabricated rear traction bars. I've been able to get pictures of the bars from 2 other cars, and compared them with mine. All 3 are a little different, but exactly the same in where they're mounted and how they function.

One gentleman that I've stayed in touch with is Bill Frick Jr. He worked at his dad's shop as a teenager before moving to California in 1956, where he still resides. Here's him as a 13 year old behind the shop... Note the Studillac with Borrani wires, and the Siata in the background behind the SSK..






Frick Jr. has given up a lot of cool info and stories.. His dad went on to do a LOT of commercials for GM in the 60s and 70s. A couple of the more famous ones were the Impala convertible on a mountain peak, and another one he mounted on pontoons to "drive" down the river in Venice. He also did a lot of the camera mount fabricating for the movie "Grand Prix" and a lot of other cool stuff..

As far as my Studillac.. About 5 years ago, my uncle traded for this car, and did nothing with it.. After a year of pestering him, he finally gave me a number (probably to shut me up) this past March and I had scraped up the money by late June. And now here I am.. The goal is to do everything the car needs mechanically, and leave the ratty paint and original interior alone.. I want to drive the snot out of this car. It's a hot rod.. It's what it was built for.

Yes, it has the column shift jacket. But, all '53 Studebakers had a column shift.. My car was ordered with a straight 3 speed (overdrive isn't spec'd on the production order) and sent to New York from the factory.

And yes, Frick did sell Allards too.. Most (all?) with Caddie engines. His son sold me, "He really, really liked that Caddie engine.. He put them in everything. One of my "jobs" after school was to pull the finished cars around to the front of the shop, dad would road test each and every one. One I remember specifically was a '55 Pontiac wagon he put a Cadillac motor in.. I backed it out of the shop and hit a tree. I remember it because I had to spend every bit of my savings on getting the bodywork done.." He also said that they were doing about 100 Studillacs a year in 53 and 54.. Two a week.

OH.. And my car doesn't have any evidence of emblems, like you say, not all of the cars had them. But one thing my uncle did do.. I supplied pictures of an original emblem, and he has a friend with a CNC machine... I have a close-to-original pair in polished aluminum. I just haven't put them on the car yet.

 

"Eldorado Burble".. Love that!

 

Turning into a cool thread ??? IT IS a cool thread. Bill Frick man ! Mention his name, you come to Frank Burrell, Zora Arkus Duntov, Bill Thompson, John Delorean, Ed Cole, Harley Earl, hell ... any Lemans conversations as in the race, not the car ... a regular group of hot rodders that begat any and all American performance car and racing production hopes and dreams that still live with us today ... nearly 60 years later. Ground zero being the 1950'2. Yeah !! This thread rules ! P.S. So does the Stude' and the dude. Lucky fella' indeed. Love it !

 

I think I'll start hanging out on the HAMB a little more often.. Thanks for all the cool replies, fellas..

 

MBStude.....any more updates on the car?

 

A little embarrassed to say...

I mentioned in an earlier post about the '55 Studillac being up for sale. It sold to a collector in Minneapolis. That gentleman found out about my car, asked a few questions, asked if it was for sale.. I gave him a "I really do not want to sell it price", and he mailed me a check. So he now owns two of the five remaining Frick Studillacs.

Realistically, the '53 needed a lot more work and money than a man of my limited means could give it. The current owner is more of a hoarder and will likely never do much with the car, but at least it's indoors, waiting for its turn someday.

I do feel lucky in that I was able to own it and hear the Caddie mill make some noise. A cooler car I'll never have.