It was quite a surprise to have Sam walk up and introduce himself to me at the show!

Here’s Sam with the car he helped design and build…

Just by accident, I met the son a few years ago. Great guy. He gave me tons of pictures of the house over the years and even the original paperwork when his parents purchased it ($20 a month for 10 years).

These pictures were in those he gave me. It’s him and his “new” custom he had just purchased in California. It was 1958…

I was out cruising the Ute today and couldn’t resist taking a few in a similar spot…

Both are 53’s, both were customized in ‘58, and both have “lived” at the same house…only 50 years apart!

A couple of weeks ago, I started into wiring it, getting it running, and working out some bugs. The biggest issue was that dummy me had put the clutch disc in backwards . A real rookie mistake.

It is now running good enough and driving good enough that Brian Curtis and I took it out for a photo shoot in several different locations.

Here’s a short video…

Here’s a few of what I took. Brian is the REAL photographer and his will be much better than these. Also, my batteries died before we got to the harbor, and the venues there looked real good to my untrained eye. I’m anxious to see Brian’s pictures.

It was a FANTASTIC 5 days for a car guy . My only regret is that I didn’t get to meet everyone from the SDC Forum that attended the show and didn’t get to spend enough time with those I was fortunate enough to bump into.

I’d have to say that the Ute was well received. It was quite an honor to be staged alongside such milestone cars as Ala Kart, the Sam Barris Mercury, the Glass Slipper, Blackie’s 1955 AMBR winning roadster, Roth’s Outlaw, Tommy Ivo’s nailhead powered roadster, and a host of other cars I only dreamed of SEEING in person…let alone PARKED NEXT TO . The Ute drew as big or bigger crowds than any of the above.

I got to the FairPlex Wednesday afternoon, dropped the trailer and picked up Brian Curtis (TW Custom and Modified Editor) at the airport. Brian and I unloaded the car and found our assigned slot. I don’t think I was much help. I mainly just stood there with my mouth open checking out the top hot rods and customs from the 50’s that surrounded the Ute…

Thursday morning, I picked Jon up at the airport and got him and Brian busy detailing the car while I did “important” stuff …

By noon, we were done…

…and spent the rest of the day looking at the 600 or so BEAUTIFUL cars there. Oddly enough there was only one other Studebaker…a modified Avanti. There were a few more that showed up for the outdoor show on Saturday and Sunday, however.

There were a couple of very nice Studebaker powered cars, however. This one won the Jalopy Journal award as voted on by the members of the H.A.M.B. forum. It was one of my favorites too…

Here’s a few more…

I toured the NHRA museum on Saturday. What a great collection of hot rod history . Here’s the Gale Banks Stude…

The Cad powered, dark blue Model A coupe that was featured in Rod and Custom several months back was there. The Cad motor in this car was the inspiration for how we ended up doing the motor in the Ute…

This one has nothing to do with Studebakers, but I took it for Keoni. I know he wanted to be there…

One of the high points was getting to spend some time with Lee Talbot…the original builder of the car in 1958. Lee is just fun to be around . He’s got more energy, more car stories, more smiles, than I’ll EVER have. He was there with car buddes and his son, daughter, and the grandson that has Lee’s hot rod ‘29 Ford that Lee built in the 40’s. On Sunday, Hot Rod Deluxe wanted to interview Lee and take some pictures of him with the car. Just about the time we were finishing that process, Hot Rod Television showed up and did a short feature on the car and the story…

That’s Lee and me on the right and Jerry Pitt, editor of Hot Rod Deluxe doing the talking.

Here’s another shot…

Sunday night is generally a gong show as 600 cars try to get into their trailers at the same time . Jerry Pitt arranged for a special staging area for our trailer behind the NHRA museum which made the process easier for us. Monday AM, I met Jerry and the photographer at his hotel and followed them to Bobby Walden’s Speed Shop where the pictures would be taken. BTW, the photographer was Wes Allison who is one of today’s most famous automobile photographers. There probably is not an issue of any major car magazine that doesn’t have some of Wes’ pictures in it. Wes also works for the major car companies. He is on his way to Detroit today to do a shoot of a concept car for GM. Great guy . Here’s few pictures from the shoot…

Wes explained to me that the background is interesting, but “busy”. For the magazine, he will change the background to black and white so the car stands out in color. Here’s a shot I took right after he took the same one.

Coincidentally, Robert Iannello from www.benchrace.com was at Bobby’s shop when we pulled in. He had been trying to find me at the GNRS to get permission to also shoot the car. Generally, car magazines want an exclusive. For example, Rod and Custom also wanted to shoot the Ute (thanks to Kevin from the SDC forum ), but I had to turn them down since HRD has been so good to me from the start. Rod and Custom and HRD BOTH ran Orbitron this month and they were not very happy about it . Anyway, Jerry didn’t feel that benchrace was direct competition and felt it was OK.

After the 3 hour shoot at Bobby’s place, Robert and I took the car into the industrial part of Pomona and took some more pictures. They will look something like this on benchrace…

I got out of Pomona about 3 PM…over the snow covered grapevine just out of LA , hooked up with Mr. Biggs for a few minutes (too few), and back to San Jose about midnight.

A great car experience for sure! Thanks to all on the SDC Forum that helped make it so. I took over 300 pictures, so I’m sure to bore the group with more when I get home and have some time.

Here’s the stainless strips in the bed and carried through to the package shelf in the cabin…

The engine is all wired and ready to go, but not fired. At this point I don’t want to deal with the oil and water leaks I might have, sync’ing the carbs, and burning the paint off the exhaust ports. A drive will have to wait until after the show…Well, maybe until I get home. Hot Rod Deluxe wants to do a photo shoot the Monday following the show in LA.

I’m half thinking about not displaying the kart in the bed…

I leave for my daughter’s in San Luis Obispo Sunday and will be in Pomona Wednesday night. They have given the 60 special invited cars permission to unload Wednesday night.

If Brian Curtis’ plane into Ontario is on time, I’ll do that (I’ll need Brian’s help.

I’m at my son’s house in San Jose, madly trying to cram two weeks’ worth of finish up work into one!

Today, I installed the stainless strips in the bed…

I

I also got the residue from color sanding and dust off the chassis…

The dash is coming together…

Still too many items left on the punch list…

First one he’s ever done.  VERY nice work.  The perfect finishing touch for the interior.

If you want one for your ride, contact Ed at…

www.glassmtn.com

Here’s a few quick pics…

Howdy saw a little ding in the stainless strip on the left rear quarter and couldn’t stand it. He took off the strip and sent it to his stainless guy to be made perfect. The strip is not back on in that last picture.

Here it is going on the trailer at Howdy’s and coming off at my son’s house…

Lately, he informed me of the Ute on the cover of another magazine in his collection…

Here’s the Ute…

Howdy talked me into some changes to my original plan. Should be about 3 weeks for him to do the job.

It is frickin PERFECT. If you looked up “show chrome” in the dictionary, Jerry’s work would be there.

I also received the following from the GNRS along with a note that they have ripped up my check for the entry fees…

Dear Twice in a Lifetime invitee,

As one of the 60 invited vehicle owners you will be our guest for the weekend. You will receive Show credentials (2 set up day passes, 2 three day passes, and a weekend parking pass and the show gift package), a commemorative commissioned Dave Bell 60th anniversary poster, and a one of a kind Suede Jacket with the 60th Anniversary Logo embroidered on the back (see logo above) and your name and the first year in the GNRS embroidered on it.

Yea…I’m stoked

This is how the Ute’s turned out…

Not as good as Matthew’s, but acceptable.

The good news is the hood gaps are spot on perfect! That must have been an coincidence more than skill because some have been just terrible no matter how hard I tried.

In this picture, the Ute is loaded up on the trailer to go to the muffler shop today. It gets a simple 2″ exhaust system. Aluminized crush bent pipes, short turbo type mufflers, chrome pencil tip exhausts barely poking through the GT Hawk rear valance. Pictures tomorrow.

Brian Curtis came over yesterday and we bled the brakes, found and fixed all the leaks, installed the emergency brake system, throttle linkage, drive shaft, loosely put the front sheet metal together and maybe 10 other things. It helps to have another pair of hands…especially an expert pair like Brian’s.

It’s looking more like a car…

The paint’s not buffed out yet, so the rest of the sheet metal assembly will have to wait for that.

Dash is in…

The green top part ties in exactly to the painted sill on the doors.

You can barely see BondoBill’s S/N decal on the door post. The devil is in the details .

Still looking for a 53-55 C/K V8 shroud.

I thought I had rounded up all the clutch linkage parts, but ran into two problems.

The trans is not drilled and tapped for the bolts that would either mount the trans in a car that didn’t mount off the bell housing, or (for our Studes) would mount the bracket that holds the clutch operating cross shaft. I’ve not seen one like this, but there must have been SOME Studebaker application that did not need these holes drilled and tapped

I figured I would drill and tap those holes once the engine and trans were installed so I could mock up the clutch linkage in position to insure I got the holes in the right location.

The second problem is that the bracket that bolts to the trans and holds the cross shaft is too short from where it bolts to the trans to where the ball socket for the cross shaft fits into it. I’m guessing I got one for a sedan and need one for a C/K…

Bottom line is that I need the correct cross shaft bracket (I BELIEVE that is all I need, but I’ve been wrong before…three times already today )

Does anybody have one for sale?

Thanks

I couldn’t help kind of setting it together. The carbs are old ones (the ones going on it are apart at this point). The oil pan will be replaced with a later style one I have that is also freshly gold painted. The intake needs to be shined up a little. I love the old skool Edmunds air cleaners .

The car is at that stage where the shiny, as shot paint, has been sanded (1500) and looks like H E double hockey sticks . I will go over it again with 2000, then buff…

Making progress on assembling the chassis. With a few minor exceptions, it is essentially done…

It’s a little strange that BOTH were twisted since the car has an open rear end (factory 4.56/1).

Although Lee had a Supercharged Golden Hawk engine in the car, I don’t think it would have done this kind of damage to the axles. When I got the car, it had indications that a brand x engine was installed sometime after Lee sold it. It must have been a little TOO big OR someone had sidestepped the clutch at 4,000 RPMs too often.

I’ve got one good extra 44 axle in inventory, but need another. Anybody near this corner of the US have an extra?

…but even they aren’t quite right…a little too blue relative to the actual.

Here it is set up in the booth…

Everything in sealer…

Color going on…

Here’s the three stages in the engine compartment.  Sanded primer, sealer, color…

Here’s a short video of the first color on the left rear quarter…

The color is a lot more “minty” in the pictures than in person.  Might be all the florescent lights in the booth.  I’ll try to get some pics in the natural light when I bring it home today.

Are the tires indexed correctly on the wheel and aligned so that the valve stems are placed at bottom as the vehicles rests on the ground?

Can the judging team touch any part of the vehicle with white gloves and not find any dirt or grease or sooty exhaust?

…and on and on.

I don’t think going this far is my cup of tea, but it will be a blast being there with the Studebaker even though there might be some soot in the exhaust pipes .

This car is going to be SOOOO straight…I shoulda painted it black

I’ve had a change of heart on the engine color. Now leaning towards Oldsmobile Gold. The Kart will still be red.

Actually it is 1953 Studebaker Chippewa Green. Same as the lower color on Jeff H’s beautiful ‘53…

The interior will be cream and the Chippewa Green vinyl done in a 50’s style.

I know the seafoam green got other thumbs down and that it is not EVERYBODY’S favorite, but it just kept coming back to me. I think it will be beautiful on the ute (and that’s what count’s the most )

BTW, it was one of Lee Talbot’s (original builder of the ute in 1958) favorites when I discussed color choices with him over lunch a month or so ago.

All the body work is done. We DP40′d and K36′d it last night. It’s nice to have it all one color again . We’ll block out the K36, primer it again, block that out, then final paint.

The clubhouse is about 60′ long. We tarped off the last 20′ or so as a makeshift paint booth. It will work fine for the sealer and primer, but it will go to a pro booth for the color.

There is a vertical “shoulder” on the fender that the surround fits to…

It would be great if the grill surround followed the line of this “shoulder” on into the hood, but it doesn’t…

This is the surround just sitting in the opening. I can make it fit a little better and even weld up the hole if it ends up to be too big…the problem is with the hood matched nicely to the fender and the grill surround following the panel under the hood, it is impossible for the surround to follow that body line where the fender goes vertical.

I’ve dug out some old pictures of S2D and it looks pretty much the same.

I’m wondering if ALL 53-CK’s look like this or if there is a way to line up the grill opening with the body line on the fender.

If any body can provide any close ups of their ‘53-54 CK, I’d appreciate it.

Here’s the final, final, final tires, wheels and stance…

G78 15’s with 2 3/4″ white walls. ‘55 Plymouth caps. Stock 5″ Stude wheels in front. 6″ with 1/2″ less backspacing MoPar wheels in back. 

It sits 2″ lower in front (bottom of the rear of the front wheel well, to the bottom of the front of the rear wheel well)

The crate is a work of art! …but to be expected from Gord …

Check the rubber tube covered rope handles

It is nicer than the coffee table in my house, so Jon and I thought we should use it as such at the “clubhouse”…

Inside was the T86 and parts…all very carefully packed and secured. I think this package would have made it to Mars with no damage …

Thanks, Gord!!

What a great guy! Friendly, sincere, interesting, lively. He’s been a “gear head” since the early 40’s when he built his first hot rod…a ‘28 Ford roadster with a Riley 4 port head. He bought that car back 20 years ago and still has it. Lee has built many many customs and hot rods. He is one of those few people with artistic talent and fabrication skills. He has also raced cars at Bonneville and the dry lakes and been heavily involved in boat racing. He still campaigns a 392 Chrysler powered flat bottom drag boat.

Here is Lee and his wife Judy at lunch today…

Here’s another Stude he customized with Corvette tail lights…

Coincidently, he painted it the color that I am leaning towards for the Ute at this point…1954 Studebaker Azore Green. Lee gave me permission to paint the Ute that color

He is really stoked that the car will be at the GNRS in January of 2009 for it’s 50th anniversary appearance, and plans to attend.

Lee gave me copies of 15 pictures of the car under construction and completed. Here they are for any one that is interested…

http://s149.photobucket.com/albums/s66/ddstnkmp/Stude-a-mino%20old%20pics/

Here’s one shot of the finished car in 1958…

Here’s one of it under construction. That’s Lee doing the welding and his partner Sam helping…

He also told me about 100 stories about building the car. Just great stuff I never expected to learn when I bought the car.

Quite a day

In the meantime, I have been hunting for the right Kart to display in the bed of the Ute at the GNRS as was done 50 years ago at the Oakland Roadster Show.

I found it and bought it today…

It’s a Dart “A-bone” with two West Bend 820’s. Race ready.

I’ll probably end up blowing it apart and painting the chassis the same color as the Ute (WHATEVER that turns out to be )

The downsides are…

They aren’t $125 any more like they were back in ‘59 . It’s tough for a CASO to pay more for a Go Kart than I pay for most Studebakers

Also, I’m liable to get hooked on vintage Kart racing . That’s ALL I need…one more hobby

Anybody looking for perfection, contact Jerry (goes by Jerry Forrester here on the forum). You won’t go wrong.

I checked my voice mail at my home phone yesterday and there was a message from Chris Talbot. Chris explained that his father, Lee Talbot, and his partner Sam Chakries are the ones that originally built the Ute for the ‘59 Oakland Roadster Show.

I called Chris back. He explained that they had seen the article in Hot Rod Deluxe on the car and that his Dad is STOKED that his old custom has surfaced. He gave me his Dad’s phone number. Lee is 80 and lives in Astoria, OR.

I gave Lee a call today. What a great guy! Sharp as a tack. A real car guy through and through. He has built many cars and recently repurchased the 28 Ford hot rod he owned when he was in the army 55 years ago!

Lee has pictures of the Ute when it was under construction and some at the ORS. We will meet in Olympia, WA mid July so I can get copies of all the pictures and hear all the stories.

Lee is super excited that the car will be in the Grand National Roadster Show for the 50th anniversary of its appearance in the predecessor of that show.

He told me that Sam Chakries still lives in Livermore and would also be excited to talk with me.

Neat deal

Also this trip I stopped in to see Howdy Ledbetter. Howdy did the interior on my black Starliner. Howdy is a Hot Rod Hall of Fame member and has done the interiors on many high profile hot rods and customs. He did the interior on the restoration of Ala Kart, for example. Howdy is a talented, friendly, down to earth guy that just loves cars. He’s agreed to do the Ute. It will be beautiful!

2009 will be the 50th anniversary of the Ute’s appearance in the National Roadster Show (Oakland Roadster Show). The show is now in Pomona and called the Grand National Roadster Show. I am lobbying to get the Ute into that show this coming February. Good incentive to get it done!

HRD is a spin off or Hot Rod Magazine. It is devoted to retro hot rods and customs. The May issue…

…has some of the correspondence I’ve been exchanging with the editors. Here it is…

The editors want to do a feature on the car when it is finished. Motivation to get my rear in gear and get going on it. It will get a ‘55 President V8, 3 speed OD with a Jeep top shift conversion courtesy of Gord Richmond. I’ve got the 2×2 intake with a couple of backdraft Stromberg WW’s set to go. Should be a neat old skool kustom in a few months with any luck.

Then Scott Rodgers from the Studebaker Driver’s club forum found this photo in the latest issue of Hot Rod Deluxe…

There was my car in the center of the picture of the 1959 Oakland Roadster Show!

With that confirmation, I got a copy of the 1959 ORS program from my friend Gary Minor…

There was my car.  #706! (700A is Ala Kart and 1959 would be the second year in a row that it won the AMBR trophy)…

I also tossed the wheels and tires that were on it and put on some 205 75 15’s on 4 1/2″ Lark wheels temporarily. At least they fit under the car .

The car is sits right now (front vs rear height), but is still about 2″ too high all the way around (IMHO). The rear tires need to get into the top of the wheel well. It will end up with taller bias ply tires than the 205 75’s (and wide whites of course), but the rear end still needs to come down some. Easy with some generic lowering blocks. The front will have smaller tires than are what are on it now which will help to keep the 2″ drop front to rear, but will probably need to be a tad lower on the springs also.

It’s much more fun working on a car that at least looks semi right .

The craftsmanship on the bed is first class…

I don’t know what the “Studebaker” emblem is from on the tail gate, but it is just right .

I need to detail the undercarriage, tear it down the rest of the way, block it out and paint it, and wait for Gord to get a break from work to deliver it’s new Stude drive train.

I’m a sucker for an outing to see a “different” Studebaker and this one was close…Anacortes.  I took Jon along to help evaluate the car.  This is what we saw…

It was actually attractive.  Fairly straight, no rust.  Real ugly wheels, tires and stance.  The guy wanted $9k for it with a worn out Chevy V8 and a 6 speed he intended to install in it.  I told him I’d think about it.