Building a 1955 Commander for a friend, it was modified with a 1980 5th ave front end, and has a 440 Mopar stuffed in the engine bay. The owner wants something done with the front end, the grille opening in particular. He wanted to have the front chrome taken off and powdercoated kinda like Anna DeMarco's Stude in Rodz magazine, only not white. The powder coating folks in Memphis said this wont last. So I made a mock up of a grille insert for the offending (to my friend) opening. I hve a grill from a 2014 Ram that will be the donor for the insert, but I used a 1973 Newport grill to see how I will do this. I am going to try to load a picture or two to see what ya'll think. Anypics you can share on how you have done this would be apreciated. By the way, the owner relly wanted a 53 front end on here, but was told it wouldnt fit.
The '53/'54 front ends will interchange between like body series....meaning the coupe and hardtop models can exchanged..........sedan and wagon front sheetmetal/grilles look very similar to coupes/hrdtps but are different in dimensions. You don't indicate which body shell you are dealing with...Commanders were an equipment/trim level available in all body types. While I think your grille mods are an improvement, I too prefer the '53/'54 hood and grilles. I have a '56 Hawk that I want to retrofit but the availability and cost of good front end parts is daunting. Fiberglass is available but is not as desirable to me as the original pieces. All that said, the '55 pieces, stripped of chrome and powder coated, cure the overchromed look of '55s and the center port left empty, or with the eggcrate you have fitted, would look nice, in my opinion. Ray
The '53 hood & grill will fit 'twixt the fenders of a '55. May need the hood-latch-panel that goes between the grill top & rad. Can't remember for sure. Bolt-in stuff. No metalwork. Use the 53/54 bumpers & brackets for the correct look. '56 & later require a bit of metal-fudging, 62-64 even more, but they do fit. BTW:, the dash overlay w/gauges will fit forward/backward on the dash "body", among the 53/54/55, Champion & Commander. It *does* make a difference if you are using the sedan/SW, or the hrdtp/cpe. Switching between the body styles doesn't work, but keeping w/same body type does. ie: coupe & hardtop, & 2dr, 4dr (sedan), station wagon. I'm talking sheetmetal, esp front sheetmetal here, although there are a couple of exceptions, most body panels will not exchange 'twixt the two wheelbases. HTH. Marcus... Hmmm...... I type slow... .
My avatar is a '55 Champion with a fiber glass hood and grill insert from Class Glass & Performance. The hood bolts to the Studebaker hinges, you need to trim the sheet metal where the '55 grill bolts on. I'm pinning my hood closed. Also the bumper is wider, to fit around the '55 turn signals.
My (not so much progress.....) landspeed race car project is a 55 Stude Commander coupe. Mine has crunched front end and the 1 year only 55 stuff is pricey and not so nice looking to me. My plan is fiberglass front end, it is a race car after all. Others already answered the question that the 53-54 front will bolt on in place of the 55 front. That mock-up insert does not look too bad though.
Bob Bourke, who designed the original 1953, offered several designs for the 1955 that he preferred over the chrome snout. Some are on display at the Studebaker museum in South Bend and some are shown in the books about Bourke. A little searching on the InterWeb(tm) turns up plenty of his and other's interpretation of the directions the '55 could have taken. Maybe one of them is the one you want. https://www.google.com/search?q=bob bourke 1955 designs&client=firefox-a&hs=HqL&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&channel=np&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=rm4GVKXlE8_KggSt2YHIBA&ved=0CCkQ7Ak&biw=1920&bih=958
The Stude shown above is currently listed on Tucson Craigslist. I have no idea what the bumper/grille is from but it obviously has been narrowed. Definitely food for thought, I kind of like it.
Reverborama, I went to the link and that was neat, but the powdercoated grilles still exude that catfish thing. Some look good when they are body color. I am not sure how much grille opening I have a ability to clutter as far as airflow to the radiator, which is angled to deal with hood clearance. I thought about using some wire mesh from air filters, but kind of like the Newport grill in a way. Owner will decide if I get it set up . Thanks to all who rerspondd.
Please, anything at all but the 2014 Dodge Ram grille you mentioned. Putting modern plastic grilles into old cars never looks good. The Newport eggcrate actually isn't bad though. If what he really wants is 53-54 stuff, put that in there..
The chance of finding a good hood, fenders and Grilles even in this area, are slim. The owner's brother has a large number of 50s-60s cars.but no such critter as a 53-54 usable. I also have discussed other grill styles that his brother has in Olds, Mercs, and such as what he has. I go out there from time to time and notice something wild every time that I had never paid attention to.
The 53/54 front end will fit "IF"...the 55 has a flat windshield...! Otherwise, it'll take a LOT of work to fill the void. The fenders are different flat to curved windshield. The fenders are longer with the curved windshield thAn the flat windshield body. Needs to be that way to make up the difference from the front of the windshield to the door opening per the two body styles. The hood may fit without work. Mike
Would help to know exactly which '55 Commander we're talking about. Is is a coupe, hardtop, 2dr sedan, 4dr sedan, wagon? All coupes and hardtops, known as C/K bodies, are flat windshield. jack vines
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