Features WOW !!..50's Custom Studebaker survivor found !!! Help ID her...

Bobby, would you mind a Stude lover swinging by to see it in person?

 

CUSTOM!!!!!!!!! Since it doesn't seem to be anything famous,i'd change it up a little ...
The rear glass makes it look lika a booth at a bar! I would put a wrap-around seat back there...

 

Update: So far, no one on the Studebaker Drivers Club forum recognizes the car, but the feedback is all positive! I will let you know any info that comes up.

And I think keeping it as close as possible to this version would be way cooler than anything else you could dream up. You can't say it's not unique!

Good luck with it!

 

Wow, that is one wicked Studebaker! From the rear it looks like a 1930s station wagon with those windows. I just had to do a quick photoshop of it with some brand new firestones and a little lowering... I like it in a twisted sort of way. The car looks like something that could have been featured in those first custom trend books. I will keep my eyes open for it in the future reading through my old books and magazines.

 

Thanks Super, that looks much better

 

Bobby, I think it would be a shame to cut the top off. It survived this long, and it looks pretty cool, especially with the photchopped wide whites. It deserves to live on, not be cut up to look like every other prewar cut down roadster with a European influence. I know the roof is late '40s but think of the art deco potential inside with that configuration.

 

That looks cool lowered with the WW!!

 

Ditto....

If you do leave the roof, It needs some door frame around the window. that hole is way too big....

 

Leave it as is (custom) and just refine some of the details.

 

I'm down for restore to "as new custom" state.
That doesn't look like too bad a color either...
Fixing the door frame/front window opening so it lines up better with the back window would help the look too.
Just took a look at the first pictures; repositioning,the headlights, lowering them at least, would help too.
Sorta make me think...what would Posies do....?

 

I'd take a good hard look at the lines, and fix where the original design goes off the mark. As 'Plowboy' mentioned there's a need for improvement at the window opening. If you look at the upper rear window line and continue that line around the turret top the side windows should have the same line. They don't, the line jumps up at least a couple of inches! 'Plowboy' thought maybe doorframes would be the answer. I'm thinking either that or adding the 'missing' metal back into the roof at the top of the window opening. This would have the adverse effect of lowering the headroom for entering the the vehicle, so maybe 'Plowboy's' right about adding a windowframe, as that is attached to the door and keeps the opening taller.
This bodyline is just one line, but it's an important one! If a bodyman with a good eye for design were to go over this 'Kustom', I'm sure there would be a lot of room for improvement. It would probably be less work to fix than to start over, but not by much! However, the vehicle's place in history is worth something to some people. If it was me, I'd probably chose to start from a blank sheet of paper. There's just too many things that I would 'need' to fix. This kind of early 'Kustom' was a neat attempt at designing something special from existing parts. I refer to this kind of 'Kustom' work as 'Body-blending'. Many of the early 'Kustoms' were a bit lacking in the planning stages, which lead to some rather 'off the mark' designs. They weren't completely awful, just didn't ring true for continuity of the design.

Just my opinion ... and worth everything you paid for it! Ha

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

Can you picture this thing towing a vintage Airstream? Or even that old travel trailer with the portholes in the background of the above picture? Or even a nice, polished teardrop?

 

This is what I love about Studebaker guys, They are always just pleased when they find another Stude is headed back on the road. And the wouldn't care what power train ends up in there as long as it gets rolling down the road. Great find don't change it much.

 

There ya go....thats it. That is what needs to be done.

 

I like it a lot but get those wheels off of it as soon as possible. It would be too much work to change it back to a roadster - leave it as is with minor corrections where necessary.

 

Since you asked, if it were mine, I'd try to turn it for a fast buck. If it has history that you can document it might be worth something. Otherwise I'd dig a large hole and push it in. Just plain ugly to me.

 

bumber ethir needs to go or be sucked in more. either way great find

 

or add a slight chop if it dosent have any history

 

I dont know why but something tells me its
made in the 70s

 

You know I have been looking at this fucking car all morning and I am at a loss for words really. All I can say is that is pretty crazy looking and I love the rear window. I can sort of see some zany Hollywood actor having this thing built in the late 40's or something. Not sure what it's fate is but at least it's in good hands. Nice score.

 

i like the chop idea... i think it could do the car some justice, and you could get rid of a little of the "hump" in the roof



btw sorry in advance for the shitty ms paintchop

 

So ugly, i love it.

 

I leveled out the window and pulled in the bumper a few hundred feet closer.

 

Custom defenitly, I like it, true it ain't perfect but it'sone of a kind, and almost there, and leave the roof on too. It's got a slightly nomad look from the rear.

 

I really like the rear window but it seems alittle like an airplane cockpit.

 

I'd love to get turned loose on that...I love it! The Ford 170-200 six appears to have a mercruiser valve cover on it. I'd have to dump the engine and go with a modified stude V/8 like has already been suggested. I wouldn't change the top or rear windows but it needs a ton of "clean up"..

 

Someone spent too much time at the Playboy mansion...

 

This is it! Awesome find man!

[/QUOTE]

 

The faux spare on the back appears to be a '59 Plymouth "FliteSweep" trunklid piece, fondly nicknamed the "toilet seat". Judging by that and the engine this was probably built in the later 60's when stuff like that would be easy to find in a junkyard.

I wouldn't be too eager to cut it up or make any major changes until it's history could be found. Some wheels and some mechanical work to make it road worthy would be on top of my list if I had it.

 

ok...

I couldn't resist.


For those who cant read my chicken scratch, here's a breakdown of how i would attack it...

Roof:
-Chop it 3" in the front, 3.75" in the rear
-Add door frames to close in the space, and make it feel like less of a disconnect between the later era roofline and the earlier body style
-Lean the b-pillar forward
-I've left the angle of the back glass alone to save some aggravation. They're just cut down.

Body:
-Lower the headlights (and consider smaller buckets). Right now, they sit so high that they scream dune buggy instead of classy bitch.
-I figured I'd add some kind of venting to break up the nose. My thoughts are something along the lines of the 41 Buick style hood side vent, but running the length of the hoodline.
-Skirts that follow the shape of the newly extended and re-shaped rear fenders.
-Ditched the pedestal TL's for something a bit more streamline.
-New rear bumper is shaped to follow the rear contour, with exhaust cut outs at the corners.


The whole point of my redesign is to make the car feel a bit more ...designed. Right now it kinda feels like a mishmash of stuff, and the hard section paired with a unchopped (or at least high on that car) roof line looks weird and disconnected to me.

and so we have..."the Dictator"