Customs My new project! 1959 Roadster

It has 53 Studebaker hubcaps on it, so the notion that they drew styling from the 53 Studebaker seems quite likely!

 

CAR WAS PICKED UP CHRISTMAS EVE! IT IS ON THE WAY. They are saying arrival on the 28th? I doubt it highly, but fingers crossed.

 

Nice catch on the hubcaps!
Merry CHRISTMAS to one and all!

 

I know, I am really hoping when she shows up, that if I look under the trunk, the old lines are all still there. Seems kinda foolish, structurally, to have gutted all of that old-school body anyway. We will see in about a week.

 

Interesting... the notes suggest 1953 Studebaker Headlights, 53 Ford Windshield (although I think the one on mine is a 55/56?), and 1952 Willies Taillight assembly

 

Okay! Pics! It got here! I cleaned the hell out of the car and threw away about 30 pounds of wood, rust, dirt, and grime! Anyone git thoughts on a rear tail assembly for that blocky -ass looking palooka that is there now?

 

So have you looked over that rear section and determined if it is just overlayed an earlier body section yet?

 

I would try to recreate the rear on this one, or at least close to that as it looks real good!

 

Loud Bang! Yes, there is enough left. He did not cut the actual humps out. Thing is, they are really mangled and it is a compound radius rear. I/ need to get the frame out from under it.

One thing that is a great relief is the fact that the frame is not rusted! When the seller sent the pics that I was gauging from, there was a rusted piece of the floorboard jutting out in the foreground, this made it look like the frame was all thinned out and shot. Upon closer inspection, the frame is actually pretty darn clean all the way through. The rear and tail all around the trunk are just C channel, so I will box all that in and gusset the cross members.

While I have always been a SBC guy, after pricing long blocks online this weekend, I have come to the conclusion that a long big block can be had for an additional 650.

Yes, it has oval port heads and it is basically your garden variety Suburban 454 family gas guzzler, but popping the hood and seeing those wider valve covers will be well worth the extra 8 or 900 bucks at the end (pan, valve covers, etc.). T 400 trans seems to be the route with the big block, as getting a Rock Crusher or t56 is a little steep for me.

I wanted a stick, but thinking of this thing as a long and low cruiser, I can also see a long black or red tuck and roll bench seat with a stalk hanging off the tree for the shifter assembly.

Pork

 

If you ask me (you didn’t), I wouldn’t go the BBC route. When I was 19 I would have put a Hemi in that sucker but over the years I’ve noticed that the fiberglass sports cars that were most successful and had long lives had balance. I would build it like it was 1959-63. A 283 or 327 with a 4 speed, maybe a Cad and a 4 speed if you have the budget. Even a Nailhead. I would definitely go with a 4 speed, an automatic kinda takes the “sport” out of sports car.


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Bob,

I def hear that and I am with you on all points. I like the small blocks b/c I know them fairly well and have a whole basement full of parts. Hell, even if I did the Mexico 350 long block for 1400, I have just about all the parts. The guy was just selling a Hemi and auto trans on FB, but it was gone b4 I got to it. The thing with engines is, they all need to be gone through and then often rebuilt and the small block and nailheads are ubiquitous nowadays. It would be cool to find an old Olds or Buick Engine as well just so it is something different.

I was just saying that you can get a reman 350 from 1400 to 2 grand all day long, but the big blocks are like another 5 or 6 hundred (long block) my thought is: if I am going to go for new, I might as well go for the granddaddy. Yes, a period-correct 283 or 327 would be "right" but with a modified PVC in the manifold and low finned valve covers, 90 percent of folks wouldn't know the 350 from a 283?

Now. a 348? 409? Ha ha!

 

Something with this vibe and look:

 

1965 Corvette

 

Agree completely, that ass is the entire car!

 

Seat idea:

 

From 1964 to 1966 Thunderbirds had these back seats! Now that would look flat out awesome in the Victress, but up front.

I really like that it is half buckets, half bench seat if you know what I mean..

 

Hey, pc;
Couple of thoughts: Ditto thoughts on the fat-block. Unless you get "aluminium" everything, that'll be so nose-heavy it won't be funny. Nor cheap unless you're very lucky finding older parts. Or fun to drive. Although a fat-block doesn't need revs to "git" due to the low rpm torque, so gear accordingly. Amusingly, my 1st choice would be a Stude v8, but that has the same weight issues. ;( . 2nd choice would be a modified Stude champ 6. Small, fairly light, & responsive to hop-ups, no different than back in the 50's. Might be worth looking for an older website of Turbo Stude. 3rd choice is a bit esoteric, & harder to do correctly, but in the early 60's AMC/Jeep had a aluminum-hemi-headed ohc roller-rocker straight 6 based on the Kaiser(& same as Continental, iirc) 6. Designed for the military in the J-10/J-15 trucks. Didn't do to well here, but kicked ass all over hells' half acre in Argentina after Kaiser moved his car-mfrg down there. So lots of info, if not hop-up parts, are available. Why that mill? If not Stude... , it's a relative time-piece, interesting, rarely seen, attention-getting well-built engine. If more power is wanted for them, turbos, blowers, etc are available. Probably almost as easy to make & of course adapt other speed-parts as find/buy them, although stuff is available for Studes. BTW, fwiw, the smaller engine, the lighter the trans rearend, etc will be needed. Usually cheaper, too. Although power-adders often require upgrades. Even so, an early hd 3spOD + proper rearend gearing would work well in that car, or a less-than-a-t56 would be needed, saving some cubic coin. & it'd be "period". I'd be looking to create balance parameters similar to the Cobra, but think ~45% of the weight on the front wheels would work really well. No more than 55%. Need engine setback, not sure how much you can do on the new toy. Glad your frame is good. If you're going to cleanup the frame 1st, good move, but mount the body solidly to the frame before you start cutting/hacking/properly repairing the body. & brace it as needed, like or better than cutting a steel body. Holes fill easily. You can move f/g w/heat lamps, light pressure, time, but it's easier to cut/glass/finish once. Think of f/g as liquid metal that you coax into position over a form prior to becoming solid. See my comments on using pink foam. You can use the florists' green foam, but that isn't cheap. It's just a faster way to a form than Roths' plaster/spitwad versions, & less messy. There are a few decent videos on glassing custom bodies, if you're interested. At least one is on John's T-bucket site. Looks like you've got a good start. Wraparound seats are cool, but be careful of how thick the "wrapping" gets - you'll lose a lot of interior room. I'd be looking at a lot of the T-bucket guys' comments on interiors - not for style, for getting usable interior room. More than 1 trick to gaining much-needed elbow space.
Marcus...

 

I would go with a 283 in that or if I wanted to have a unique ride I'd find a 215 baby Buick nailhead!

 

Mmmm, 215. Also very good choice.
Marcus...

 

I've got a 215 Buick in my Morris Minor and they can be a good choice for a light weight car. They are dimensionally fairly large if you're looking to fill up the engine compartment and they dress up nicely.

 

Wow! Very pretty and clean compartment.

 

There are few things more classic than a 327 or 283!

 

Funny how hard it is to come up with cool and different engine combos. There is a guy who has an early 80s Buick station wagon with 37 thousand miles on it. He wants 1500 bucks and I could get the engine auto trans and rear all suited for one another, plus prob bid it at 12 and fall in the middle, It is a big 401 (does that sound correct?). With that I could pull it scrap the rest and just throw gaskets and a water pump and paint and have a big block Buick.

 

It's fibreglass, do some cutting and gluing and Bob's your Uncle , longer doors!

 

Correction on the engine; 403 Oldsmobile, trans and rear in station wagon 1500. Does anyone know anything about the 403 Olds engines?