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Opportunity to buy a 55' Studebaker Pickup

Bama67

Bama67

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Hi all,

I want to start out by saying that I need another project like I need a hole in the head. But I have the opportunity to buy a old Studebaker truck.

My grandaddy knows that I love old iron as I already have a 67 Chevelle and a 73 K5 that I am currently working on. So he called me out of the blue and asked me if I would want a 55 Studebaker pickup. He is a 84 years old and still buys and fixes cars, but he only deals with newer stuff. He said he didn't want it, he is to old to be riding in a old truck when he could be riding a new Buick. lol. But a guy he grew up with called him up and asked him to take his truck. It is "supposedly, Pawpaw hasn't seen it" almost fully restored, all it basically needs is a windsheild and paint, body work is already done. His friend got it about 8-9 years ago when another friend of his was frame off restoring it and died during the build. He had even sent the bed off to be restored in Memphis. And then the widow sold it to him. It has been sitting in his shed ever since and he hasn't done anything to it other than go turn it over ever month or so to keep the motor up. It is a original V8 with overdrive truck. My grandaddy told his buddy that he didn't want to deal with it, but I might. His friend doesn't want it to go to just anybody. He was gonna give it to my grandad, but he would sell it to me for $2,000.

The thing is, I know they are rare, hell I have never even seen one. And it doesn't sound to need much at all. The only thing is, is that parts are VERY hard to come by. There are no LMC catalogs for Studebaker trucks. ha-ha. The truck is about 500 miles away, so I can't just hop in and drive right over and check it out. I would like to get it, especially if it is what he says it is, but I don't know if it is gonna need small things like rubber moldings and such that would cost a fortune. And I don't have money to burn. I also would hate to buy it, then turn around and sell it and make money off of it, it seems like the wrong thing to do since it means so much to the old guy that has it.

Sorry for the long post. What would you guys do? Don't have a 55 Studebaker pickup windshield lying around do ya? ha-ha
 
There is a huge studebaker following on the web, I know a guy here locally that does studebaker weather stripping, another guy who has several old studebaker pickups.

They are cool I would definitely pick it up
 
blazinzuk said:
There is a huge studebaker following on the web, I know a guy here locally that does studebaker weather stripping, another guy who has several old studebaker pickups.

They are cool I would definitely pick it up
Click to expand...

Thats the kinda stuff I was wanting to hear. Yeah, found out on the web that the Avanti and and other cars have a cult-like following, not alot on the trucks though. This kinda stuff will help me convince the wife too, I can say "look here babe, see, everybody thinks I should get it. It's gotta be a good deal" lol
 
Well, I found a new windshield for it online for $300. That isn't as high as I figured it would be. Maybe it won't be to hard to find things for it.

I am starting to get excited to go look at it, but I work offshore in Louisiana, near where the truck is located, so I am gonna go check it out on the way home.
 
i would love to have a Studebaker pickup...$2000 sounds like a good price to me...
 
Once you get to know those Avanti guys alot of them have other Studebaker projects, it seems if you get to know one guy who is "in" the Studebaker crowd they seem to come out of the woodwork
 
One thing you need to realize, owning something like that is not quite the same as an old K5 or something like that.

You will be owning a piece of history that can never be replaced. You want to take a little more care when dealing with something like that.

Also, there was NO galvanized metal in those cars. They never heard of rustproofing.
A friend of mine owned a couple of beautifully restored Packards, and I think a Studebaker.
They were parked in his garage when a hurricane came calling.

Since he lives way on the North side of the bay, and there had never been a storm surge that reached that high, he left them there.

We have a barrier island that slows and stops all but the highest storm surge from entering the bay.
This time, a freak surge occurred in the bay its self.
Some salt water came up in the garage, and more sprayed in through a broken window.
He was back the next day, but despite heroic efforts involving fresh water flushing, and lots of drenching with oil, all the cars basically rusted away within a week.

J.
 
Wow, that really sucks for your friend. I have a couple of weeks before I can check this thing out and I am really excited to check out something I have never seen before.
 
I personally hate the looks of all the studebaker line, cars and trucks. From the sounds of it though for 2K it sounds like a good deal. Is the bed back with the truck or did that get lost while it was out being repaired and the old guy died?

I know of a guy here locally that probably has every part you would ever need for it. The place is called Don's Antique Auto Parts and he is located in the Niles district of Fremont. His phone number is 510-792-4390 and yes his name is Don as you might have guessed. :D

If you haven't already looked on the internet for a pic here is a front shot of a 55 Studebaker truck.
Stud55d.jpg
 
4X4HIGH said:
I personally hate the looks of all the studebaker line, cars and trucks. From the sounds of it though for 2K it sounds like a good deal. Is the bed back with the truck or did that get lost while it was out being repaired and the old guy died?

I know of a guy here locally that probably has every part you would ever need for it. The place is called Don's Antique Auto Parts and he is located in the Niles district of Fremont. His phone number is 510-792-4390 and yes his name is Don as you might have guessed. :D

If you haven't already looked on the internet for a pic here is a front shot of a 55 Studebaker truck.
Stud55d.jpg
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree with you there. I will admit the same year ford or chevy is better looking to me, but at least you wouldn't see one very often. And he does have the bed back with the truck. Thanks for the info too, I am sure this thing is going to need more than what I have heard.
 
rjpastor said:
Both Egge Machine www.egge.com and Kanter www.kanter.com have engine, suspension and brake parts for Studebakers.
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The quality of Egge's engine parts has went down hill over the years since the old man died. I used to buy ALOT of parts from them for the old flathead fords i built. I have also used Kanter Auto Products and they have top notch quality parts and service. I started using Kanter after the quality issue with Egge Machine.
 
Thanks alot for that info man, you guys are making me feel alot better about this thing. Those last places do have alot of stuff. I did notice a rebuilt kit for the original v8 is a hair under $2,000, the same kit for a Small block chevy would be like $300. Whoa.
 
Bama67 said:
Thanks alot for that info man, you guys are making me feel alot better about this thing. Those last places do have alot of stuff. I did notice a rebuilt kit for the original v8 is a hair under $2,000, the same kit for a Small block chevy would be like $300. Whoa.
Click to expand...

If you buy a master rebuild kit from Kanter they give you EVERYTHING, they replace pushrods, rocker arms, rocker shafts (if so equipped) complete set of springs, valves, and guides basically they don't skip anything like alot of other places do. On the other hand the rocker arms, pushrods are a hard part meaning they don't get replaced unless your are bad so if they aren't needed you're paying for much more than you need and is a waste of money at that point.
 
My brother had two "Studes",a 41 Champion Bussiness Coupe that looked a lot like a Willys coupe,and a '42 Champion...he was surprised how much NOS parts were still around for both,and he found plenty at Hershey and Carlisle PA swap meets for them..he even found out the local Studebaker place in his town was still there,owned by the same man (who recently turned 90!) and the place still had several cars in the basement and 3 floors of parts,he bought a lot of new stuff from him..

There is a place in CT that specializes in Studebaker engines,and has some hi-performance parts,my brother bought a high compression cylinder head and a hotter camshaft for his 170 cid 6's there..they advertise in Hemmings..

A '55 Pickup with an original V8 is rare,the only V8 Studes I have seen were an Avanti,and the '57 Hawk we had at the junkyard--and a few later Lark's from the 60's,some of which had 327 Chevy's factory!..:D

Though their pickups might not be as classy as a '55-'57 Chevy or GMC,they are still highly collectible and pretty cool trucks..we had a '57 Stude Trans-Star 1 ton at the junkyard that was a cool looking rig,too bad it was rotted to death and not worth restoring..


If you want to see the coolest truck Stude ever made,look up a 1939 Stude pickup online..looks factory chopped and slammed,would make an ultimate rat rod truck!.
Saw one for sale once years ago in NH at a swap meet,guy wanted 2 grand for it..it was sold at 6:20 AM,20 minutes after I looked at it..guy went home smiling with 2K in his pocket at 7 am..
 
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