Steering Wheel Repair for the Home Studebaker Enthusiast

If you're working on an old car, you're likely at one time or another to come up against a steering wheel from hell. One that looks like the bad boy above (this particular vision in plastic was looted from from a '61 Studebaker Lark 4-door. The rest of the car looked worse).

So what do you do with a beast like this? Paint is easy enough, but what about the cracks? Several companies make kits to restore steering wheels (like this one from Eastwood), and some companies will re-cast your wheel -- they break off all the old plastic and mold new plastic onto the wire frame. Schrock Brothers are one such company well-known in the Studebaker world.

But most of us don't need a re-cast wheel and are willing to take on the process ourselves. But even though the kits you can buy are well-documented with detailed instructions, there's a bit of trepidation involved in breaking out the tools and cutting into your wheel, no matter how unlovely it is.

Tool Dude Tony, also known as Dudorino on the SDC Forum, has posted a YouTube video showing just how easy it is to do this job yourself; he illustrates on the wheel from his own '57 Hawk (seen in the vid). All you need are a few common tools, some two-part epoxy, and a little time, and you can have that wheel back in presentable shape in no time.

It's been noted in this Forum thread that the POR epoxy that Tony uses in the vid is suitable only for hard plastic wheels, as it cures rock-solid. If you have one of the flexible wheels, 3M #8081 Panel Adhesive is recommended as a filler, as it solidifies but does not harden.

Now there's no excuse for that lousy cracked wheel! Git 'er done!

Adjusting Idle Mixture on the WCFB

Idle mixture is an important setting on a carburetor, and most people don't know how to do it. What you're trying to do is set your carburetor's idle circuits for the most efficient operation with the least fuel.

There's no better tool for doing this than a vacuum gauge. It can also tell you a lot about the health of your engine; it's really an invaluable tool. For a great walk-through of how to use a vacuum gauge for diagnostics, check out this tutorial from Greg's Engine & Machine, of Copley, Ohio.

But for setting the idle mixture, there's nothing like actually seeing it done. Here's a short video tutorial I put together, showing idle mixture adjustment using a vacuum gauge on my '63 Lark with 259 and WCFB 4bbl. As you'll see, it's simple and fast - all you need are a tach, vacuum gauge, wrench and screwdriver.

Now go get 'er done!

Where can I find Studebaker parts?

Yeah, it's true - there hasn't been a Studebaker made since 1966. So it must be impossible to find parts, right? Wrong!

Check out this video taken at the recent (August, 2012) Studebaker Drivers Club International Meet in South Bend, Indiana. You'll see thousands of parts, mechanical, body and trim, plus interviews with parts vendors and reproducers who can find or make nearly anything for a postwar Stude.

If you're looking for Studebaker parts, as the video says,  your best bet is to join the Studebaker Drivers Club and avail yourself of all the resources available there. But if you're not the joining type, that's OK too - check out StudebakerVendors.com for a big listing of who and what.

Keep those Studes running!

New distributor in and working!

It's in! And working beautifully. I dropped by NAPA this morning and picked up their one (1) Champion H14Y spark plug to replace the one that cracked yesterday, and after work I popped it in, hooked up the battery and hit the switch. Presto! Or should I say Delco. A few minutes fiddling with the idle speed, dwell setting, and getting the timing set and Barney was ticking over with a nice, steady rumble. Terry said it sounded so good she thought it was my Pontiac!

Next step: Get it over to Vista Brake to have the binders gone through.

Lotsa Larks!

It's always cool to see a young person driving a Studebaker (as opposed to the old farts like me that you usually see in the driver's seat!), so I wanted to share this neat video posted by Dave Arnold on the SDC Forum, of his daughter taking her first drive with her temporary driver's license -- in his shiny black 1960 Lark convertible!



I'm not sure my heart could handled that ride if it were my son in the driver's seat! (Of course, that's the plan for Barney... just don't remind him of that!)

Take a ride in a Golden Hawk.

One of the Studebakers that people remember most is the Hawk, specifically the Golden Hawk. Goldens were produced only for 3 short years, as 1956-57-58 models, yet they made such an impression that when you say "Studebaker", that's what comes to most folks' minds.

Sure, all Golden Hawks are special; they were the ultimate offerings of performance and luxury from Studebaker. Based on the seminal hardtop coupe body created by Bob Bourke for the 1953 model year, they were classy, stylish, sporty and fast. But the 1956 models were extra special: for that year only, you could have a Hawk with the big-cube Packard 352-cubic-inch V8 - a rocket ship if there ever was one. And although there was a full nest of Hawks in that inaugural year - Golden, Sky, Power and Flight - the Golden was the only recipient of that big Packard engine. And only about 4,000 were built, in Studebaker's South Bend and Los Angeles plants, making the Golden a rara avis indeed.

Frank Ambrogio has been in love with "56J" models (shorthand for the factory model code that designates these birds) for a long time. In fact, he began the Golden Hawk Register, to track known survivors - running or not - in 1989. His site also features technical information, manuals and authenticity guides, and personal stories, including the tale of how Frank found his first Golden (he owns two) under a pile of garage dung in 1983.

As these cars have become both rarer and better known, some folks have tried to fake them. So Frank has put together a series of YouTube videos showing what to look for when scouting for a potential purchase; very useful -- you can find them by searching YouTube for username 56shgor. What's excited me, though, is Frank's recent posting of a ride-along video in his manual-transmissioned 56J. It's a great ride, and you really get the feeling of the power and grace these cars posessed. Frank's a pretty funny narrator, too :) Take a look:



If you're interested in finding out more about these wonderful cars, check out the Golden Hawk Registry pages at www.1956goldenhawk.com.

We've got a new President

Well, not me, but fellow Studebloggers John & Tracy Smith of Arizona recently traveled out to the Left Coast to pick up a beautiful "new" 1957 President sedan. It's their first President, so they've named him George (first president... george.. get it? get it?). Here's a peek at Tracy's first drive:



Just goes to show that you don't have to be an old coot to love Studebakers, and also that you can find some really nice ones out there if you put your mind to it! Read more about John & Tracy's Studes on their blog.

It's ALIVE!!!!

Today was the day Barney came back to life!

We had a couple of false starts. I tried to start him up last Saturday after filling up all the fluids, but the new Sears battery I had was defective... The solenoid just clicked when I tried to turn it over. So, after getting a replacement on Monday, I turned the engine over once without the coil wire - just to make sure it would turn! (I'd worried myself silly the two days before thinking about what could be wrong besides the battery. Engine too tight... bad head gasket let coolant leak into the cylinders and hydro-locked the engine... bent pushrod...)

The week has been busy at work, and the couple days I'd wanted to try to start it were filled up. Today, I vowed to put the spark to work.

As you can see from the video, it took a few tries, but that's to be expected. Once he got running, revs came up smooth and strong to about 1,500 RPM; the duals were both blowing hard and sounding good. That's when my wife noticed the leak: gas pumping out of the 90-degree fitting on the output side of the fuel pump. I shut him down and disconnected the battery, careful not to make any sparks...!

Tomorrow I'll fix the leak and re-clock the distributor (when it's rotated to the proper position to run, it's about 90 degrees off from where it should be, and the vacuum advance is hitting the firewall - d'oh!

B-I-G thanks to my lovely wife Terry for encouraging and supporting this project and being a cheerleader whenever I got discouraged. And to Bob Kabchef, Bob Palma and Rich and Dave Gahlbeck and everyone else on the SDC Forum for answering my questions, no matter how stoopid they were :^) And to my buddy John Dick, who pitched in and helped time after time.

Wait for the kicker.

Recently Jim McCuan, one of the regulars on the Studebaker Driver's Club Forum, acquired a pristine, 7,900 (yes, seventy-nine hundred) mile '63 Avanti with the supercharged R2 engine. (The car was found on Craigslist Seattle by another Forum member; if you want to read the car's whole story, click here.)

Anyway, Jim just put a video on YouTube; he set his camera beside the road and captured a few high-speed passes. Listen to the sound of a low-mile, blown Studebaker winding up and watch it get plenty of rubber! (Oh, and stick around for the surprise ending.)

1963 Standard TV Introduction

My post about the introduction of the Studebaker Standard has brought a couple of interesting comments. Warren Webb of Riverside wrote:

Boy do I ever remember the introduction of this model! I was watching "Mister Ed" & heard at the beginning of the show the teaser that Studebaker was introducing a new car. Wow, I thought, could this be a follow up to the Avanti? Perhaps a new Hawk? I don't remember the show, but when John Cameron Swayze announced the introduction to the "new Studebaker Standard" I was really disappointed. Now, as the years have gone by, along with Studebaker's demise, I often think why did they do it that way?

Good question. The history of Studebaker is filled with "what if?" questions. What if they'd built the '53 Roadster? What if they hadn't given Lark franchises to Big Three dealers in '59, just to see them drop the Lark when GM/Ford/Mopar came out with their own compacts the next year? What if they'd built the Sceptre, or the other Brooks Stevens prototypes that were done in '63?

Interestingly, the John Cameron Swayze commercial Warren refers to has been posted on YouTube. Here it is:

Also, Heather writes:

This is an interesting story I haven't heard. I wondered why parts for my '63 Cruiser are so hard to come by. All is falling into place now! Strange to contemplate a car without carpet, and it sounds like a noisy, unpleasant ride.

Yes, 1963 was a real transition year - lots of one-year-only trim and soft parts - and not a high-production year either, although they did build a lot of "inventory" cars at the end of the model year in order to keep production lines running.

In fact, Bob Palma theorizes in the October 1993 issue of Turning Wheels that one of the reasons the Studebaker board shuttered South Bend in December of '63 relates directly to this unneeded, last-minute production of '63-model cars. Because dealer lots were so full of unsold '63s when the newly restyled '64 hit showrooms, dealers offered "fire-sale" prices on last year's model - torpedoing the sale of a new '64, and causing the sales slump that finally prompted the board to close US production lines.

A cautionary tale for US automakers today if there ever was one.

Marshal the troops!

Here's a great video of a 1964 Studebaker Marshal police cruiser - one of only 20 made - taching it up at the Chicago Emergency Vehicle show. It's owned by SDC member Joe Fay of Naperville, Indiana. Here's what he has to say about the car:

This Marshal is one of the twenty experimental models made just before the South Bend closure. Each one was equipped with a R1 engine, roll bar and a special bench seat. These cars were all used in a program that would loan out the vehicle to selected cites or states across the US. Each car was then specially equipped to the designated test city/state.

The test program fell apart (about the time of South Bend closure) so many of the vehicles did not make it to there intended test city/state. The Youtube Marshal was designated for State of Kentucky, but was actually delivered to the State of Indiana.

It was field tested at the Charlestown barricks and serviced at Sellersburg Motors. It then went back to Studebaker where it was later sold the The City of Phoenix (can't confirm, but pretty darn sure). In 1983 it was donated the the Studebaker Museum by the estate of an Arizona SDC member. It was sold at the museum auction at the SDC show in 1997.

Of the twenty R1 test vehicles about seven survive.

Lots more pictures and details about Marshals here.

The Swingin'est Wagon That'll Ever Be.

Whilst browsing Youtube, I found this cool commercial for the '63 Wagonaire. You don't see Studebaker commercials that often - enjoy!