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54 stude coupe design and modifications

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by negativeMatt, Apr 19, 2011.

  1. brownsmetal
    Joined: Sep 16, 2007
    Posts: 422

    brownsmetal
    Member

  2. brownsmetal
    Joined: Sep 16, 2007
    Posts: 422

    brownsmetal
    Member

  3. Those headlight mods, DON"T IMPROVE ON PERFECTION!!!

    If you want to change them to be different, have at it, but from a pure design standpoint, you'd be working it backwards.

    Read up on Raymond Lowey and Bob Bourke (Bourke is the guy who actually designed the car). You're not messing around with some POS, designed-by-comittee, atomobile here, this is well thought out by genius designers. Do some homework before you put faddish headlights on a classic design.
     
  4. Thats a badass sob there!! Looks like it going 200 mph standin still!!
     
  5. RichFox
    Joined: Dec 3, 2006
    Posts: 10,020

    RichFox
    Member Emeritus

    If you are going to change your Stude I would say any modification should make it look even more streamliney. The Mercedes head lights are slick. The Porsche 911 lights don't do that for me. There are other current lights that are very slick, but none are traditional. Maybe early Jag XKE
     

  6. There ya go.

    I think the E-Type lights would make it resemble the Sanchez-Cagle-Lemen coupe. I have even thought that you could fill the fenders just like the coupe they ran in '55 and then mount 4 small driving lights in the grill openings. Way back so they don't show until lit.
     
  7. RDR
    Joined: May 30, 2009
    Posts: 1,480

    RDR
    Member

    Abone.......LOVE your Stude!....now that's what I'm talkin' about:cool:
     

    Attached Files:

  8. It's hard to improve on that body style, especially considering how futuristic it looked for 1953. Compare it to whatever else was out there at the time, and it looks like a spaceship from the future.

    I don't have as big a problem with the headlights as I do with the roof, namely the way it slopes upward at the front. Even as a kid, I always thought a 63-67 Vette coupe roof would look badass on a Stude.
     
  9. rixrex
    Joined: Jun 25, 2006
    Posts: 1,433

    rixrex
    Member

    I second that..If you just have to mess with it, 55 Chevy headlights and eyebrows look pretty cool..
     
  10. speedyb
    Joined: May 12, 2010
    Posts: 484

    speedyb
    Member
    from socal

    My old girl, I miss her more each day, she looked perfect to me.[​IMG]
     
  11. speedyb
    Joined: May 12, 2010
    Posts: 484

    speedyb
    Member
    from socal

    I guess if I needed to change the front I'd just cut It like this,This car went 200 mph in 1958[​IMG]
     
    Flipper likes this.
  12. Builtforsin
    Joined: Feb 2, 2007
    Posts: 181

    Builtforsin
    Member

    It really is impossible to improve on that cars design. All the backward leaning lines are all shared from the front to the back (the hood center with the windshield and the C-pillar with the scallop). Trying to get the headlights to angle back to match these, presumably with the hood, only distracts from the overall shape.

    Same with when they are chopped and have the windshield leaned back, or with the 4 door sedans... They just don't look right, somethings off with em. Too many backwards leaning angles, too many of those angles fighting each other.

    The 53-54 (55 speedsters don't look too back with the grill painted...) Studebaker coupes were just plain done right the first time. Changing the shape of them only takes away from whats there and never enhances what is already beautiful shape.

    *EDIT* For an example, see above. Good for the aerodynamics, not more gooder for the eyes... too little fender or something.
     
  13. bob-o
    Joined: Aug 12, 2007
    Posts: 334

    bob-o
    Member

    Back when Custom Rodder magazine was still around, Dave Hill did a photochop of a '53-'54 Stude using the headlights of a '56 Plymouth. I tried to find it and couldn't, but here's a '56 Plym (sorry for the huge pic. I'm not tech-savvy enough to know how to re-size). Anyways, I always thought it would be a killer mod and as far as I know, it's not been done. Just my 2 cents.

    [​IMG]
     
  14. GasserTodd
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 499

    GasserTodd
    Member

    Sorry dude, you just cant improve on perfect. :):)

    Your dads car looks mighty fine as it is now
     
  15. aerorocket
    Joined: Oct 25, 2007
    Posts: 488

    aerorocket
    Member
    from N.E. P.A.


    x2- Don't fix it if it's not broke.
     
  16. stealthcruiser
    Joined: Dec 24, 2002
    Posts: 3,748

    stealthcruiser
    Member

    ..........................This one, is the ONLY one, that I might consider!!!!
     
  17. RichFox
    Joined: Dec 3, 2006
    Posts: 10,020

    RichFox
    Member Emeritus

    I would never under any circumstance nor pain of death consider '56 Plymouth, '55 Chevy or other hooded headlights on a Stude. The whole car is streamline with everything leaning back as if sculptured by the wind at 250. Putting froward facing parachutes on the front fenders is wrong. Better leave it alone then mess around with it if you like one line fighting all the rest
     
  18. mart3406
    Joined: May 31, 2009
    Posts: 3,055

    mart3406
    Member
    from Canada

    ------------------------------------------------
    I like the Porsche headlights too. The lines and
    the sloped-back angle do seem to suit the angles
    and slope of the Stude body. To those don't like
    them and say you'd be ruining the car, fitting the
    Porsche headlights would only mean altering the
    front fenders - and the car could be put back to
    stock again with just another a set of fenders.

    Not that that they had anything to do with the
    design of the the '53 Stude, but there was a
    definite Porsche connection to Studebaker in the
    1950's. Porsche even designed some prototypes
    for Studebaker in the early and mid-1950's - the
    'Type 542' and the 'Type 633'. Then later in a
    collaboration between Studebaker, Porsche and
    Curtis-Wright, even an 'experimental' air-cooled,
    flat-4-Porsche-engined 1960 Lark sedan!:eek:

    Mart3406
    ---------------------
    SIA Flashback – A Studebaker by Porsche
    http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2008/06/01/sia-flashback-a-studebaker-by-porsche/

    Porsche-Studebaker Connection - The
    Type 542: Porsche's Studebaker

    www.studebaker-info.org/studeporsche/stude-porsche08.html
    and
    http://www.studebaker-info.org/text3/porsstud2.txt

    Studebakers that never were
    www.studegarage.com/porsche.htm
    =================================
     
  19. stealthcruiser
    Joined: Dec 24, 2002
    Posts: 3,748

    stealthcruiser
    Member


    It's my understanding, that there was come major collaboration, and "design sharing", between Studebaker and Mercedes-Benz, in the early to mid fifties, specifically on suspension designs......
     
  20. mart3406
    Joined: May 31, 2009
    Posts: 3,055

    mart3406
    Member
    from Canada

    ------------------------
    Yeah. As well as Porsche, Studebaker,
    starting in the early 1950's, also collaborated
    with Mercedes-Benz too. To my mind anyway,
    there seems to be more than just a bit of
    Mercedes-inspired 'influence' at least, in the
    grill and general front end design of the '56
    through '64 Hawks and again in the '59 through
    '64 Larks. For a while as well, and I think lasting
    until sometime in the early 1960's, Studebaker
    was also the sole importer and distributor of
    Mercedes-Benz cars for the U.S. and Canadian
    market.
    *Not that any of this has anything at all to do with
    helping 'Matt' select some 'esthetically pleasing,
    while at the same time, some also somewhat less
    aerodynamically challenged
    ' headlights for his
    already very slick and very cool '54 coupe!* LOL :D

    Mart3406
    =============================
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2011
  21. mart3406
    Joined: May 31, 2009
    Posts: 3,055

    mart3406
    Member
    from Canada

    I don't know where you'd find a set
    nowadays, but what about a pair of
    headlights from a mid-60's Fiat 850
    Spyder????

    Mart3406
    =======================
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Jun 4, 2011
  22. jb39chev
    Joined: Mar 29, 2011
    Posts: 71

    jb39chev
    Member
    from Conroe,TX.

    Don't really show the headlights, but at least they don't interupt the flow.
    Hard to do anything to these cars to make them better.
     

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  23. Yeah.... the thing about these is that they were also used on the Lamborghini Miura. Makes them rather pricey! Not easy to find either.
     
  24. Hdonlybob
    Joined: Feb 1, 2005
    Posts: 4,115

    Hdonlybob
    Member

    I have always liked this style of Studebaker....way ahead of their time in style and design IMO.....would love to own one some day...
    Nice pics.
    Cheers...........
     
  25. resqd37Zep
    Joined: Aug 28, 2006
    Posts: 3,216

    resqd37Zep
    Member
    from Nor Cal

    If I remember correctly Vintage Airs project "A COOL 200" used early Cadillac rings. They were cool and rather simple but cleaned up that area all the same. I miss my 54 hardtop. It's one of the cars that when you hit the scene there is only a slim chances you'll see another one there.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Jun 3, 2011
  26. 53studecoupe
    Joined: Nov 25, 2010
    Posts: 379

    53studecoupe
    Member
    from Eagle WI

    I have a love for changing things....58 T-bird hood scoop on my 53 but the headlights, I wouldn't change other than color match IMHO
     

    Attached Files:

  27. DEEPNHOCK
    Joined: Jan 3, 2005
    Posts: 315

    DEEPNHOCK
    Member

    Here's a pic of my '53 drag car project.
    Put late model halogen bulbs in with integral turn/running lights.
    Rings are just painted the body color.
    I like them, but they look like they are full of beer:rolleyes:
    Jeff:cool:
    [​IMG]
     
  28. old me
    Joined: Mar 20, 2011
    Posts: 108

    old me
    Member
    from Iowa

    Always loved these and the Hawks.
    To think of the ones I passed on because I thought 500.00 to 1000.00 was too much money for one many years ago.
    As Builtforsin stated-these cars were done right from the beginning.
    Good luck on your build!!
     
  29. Iron Crank
    Joined: Jun 23, 2010
    Posts: 65

    Iron Crank
    Member

    You say, "full of beer" like it's a bad thing???
     
  30. Iron Crank
    Joined: Jun 23, 2010
    Posts: 65

    Iron Crank
    Member

    Very much like the scoop from the first square bird!!!!
     

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