model identification

I'm new here and considering the purchase of what I think is a 1937 Studebaker President business coupe (3 window). I found the serial number on a plate attached to the left(driver side) frame rail behind the front wheel. The best I can tell it is 7117995. The last digit could be a 5 or a 6. In the engine compartment on the right side of the firewall is a tag with 37CQ-1 with 678 under the first part. I counted 8 sparkplugs on top of the flat head.

Would someone point me in the right direction of decoding this serial number and confirming whether this is a President or Dictator.

I believe this to be a President based on two things, a) the inline 8 cylinder the vin starts with a 7 as opposed to a 5 for a dictator. Unfortunately I didn't measure the wheel base.

The car is in a wooded area unprotected but on private property. The wheel/tires have sunk into the mud almost to the hubs but the tires all still appear to have seated beads. The interior is gone and the floor pan is missing, not just rusted, it looks like it was removed. I can see the frame rails and they are not touching the dirt. The passenger window is broken but all the others are in tact and functional. Other than the mentioned the car appears to be very complete. The headlights & glass, turn/brake lights and lenses are all there. Don't know what all is missing externally from the engine but looks like its all there. Tranny, and associated linkage, and pedals are all there. Window cranks are missing. Dash gauges, radio, glove box door, etc... are all there but operability is questionable. Bumpers are there and straight. The body sheet metal and what I can see of the frame appear to be in very good condition with little body cancer. The metal is oxidation rusted but otherwise good. Door bottoms, sills, rockers look to be cosmetically all there. The question is will the metal disinigrate when cleaned up...

Thanks,

TJ

I am not an expert on the late 30s models, however, I will give what information I can.

You can look at this website for serial number information:

http://www.theantiquestudebakerclub.com/indentifycarsall/dataasheet1934thru1946.htm

Based on the frame number 7117995 your car is a 1937 President (series 3C) which should have a 125 inch wheelbase. The engine is a 250 cid for 1937. The engine numbers started with B-15,501 and up. If I recall correctly, the engine number is stamped into the side of the block above the center of the water manifold cover on the driver’s side of the engine. It might require using steel wool to clean the area of rust and scale before the number can be read.

The body tag, 37CQ-1 indicates this is a President, Regular series Coupe.

The number 678 indicates that this is the 678^th President Coupe body produced that model year.

Awesome, Thank you very much for the info!

TJ

Great find, there are probably less then ten of these cars in existence and several of those did not start out as President coupes. The President coupes are so sought after that some owners have successfully married Dictator coupe bodies (President and Dictator bodies are the same) with the longer President straight eight chassis. I happen to own one of the few originals of which there are no more then seven or eight survivors. Restoration of your find should not be taken lightly parts are really scarce, especially internal engine parts. Rod and main bearings are virtually nonexistent, pistons have to be custom made and unfortunately 1936/1937 crank shafts have a tendency to develop cracks, about half of then I have found have been cracked. They also used aluminum heads which tend to have deteriorated over the last seventy seven years, go figure.

The staid portion of the floor only covers about two thirds of the floor area, from back, to just in front of where the seat would have been bolted in. The front part of the floor is in three section and outboard sections are screwed down to a flange running along the area of the kick panel and in screwed down in the center to the transmission hump section, which is also removable. I have some rusty patterns which I anticipate replicating. Let me know if you can use a set. The seat has a wooden frame which contains a long screw mechanism operated by a chrome handle which allows for several inches of seat adjustment.

The car needs to be saved! If you have the chance to bring it back I sincerely doubt that you will be disappointed.-Bill

Wow!! I have discovered that the Presidents were fewer in numbers than Dictators but only ten or less survivors out of 9,000, time has not been kind to this model! I absolutely love the lines!

That being said once I get the car out of the trees and on a trailer, what is the first step I should do to clean cobwebs, mud, and moss off and out of this thing? I was considering my pressure washer. The body is so complete and in good shape and given the rarity I think I would leave it as original unrestored, but I would need your templates to recreate the floor so I could put a seat back in it.

Buffalowed, shoot me your email and I'll shoot some pics to you. As stated above everything so far indicates a President, only thing I have not verified is the wheel base as being 125 in vs the 115.

Thanks!

TJ

How about a 39 Commander 2 door sedan 4124479 What month was it built?

How about a 39 Commander 2 door sedan 4124479 What month was it built?

Sorry, Kenneth the serial number doesn't tell you anything like that.

Terry

The actual number of 1937 President coupes assembled was 971. A complete breakdown of all 1937 production by series and body style were included in my article in the May/June 2007 edition of The Antique Studebaker Review. Another significant article on the '37 President Coupe is in the Jan/Feb 1996 issue of the Review. I do have back issues of these magazines available. If you are not a member of the Antique Studebaker Club you should be. Most pre WWII Studebaker owners are members. I generally hesitate to use the word rare when referring to Studebakers. Compared to what I ask. To Fords and Chevies I guess so. However there are quite a few years and body styles for which there are no survivors. I am including below eight photos from my collection of '37 President coupes that I am aware. Would like to see any others.

Kenneth, you can get the production order for your car from the Studebaker National Museum. Here is mine. You can get some idea of the timeframe from the casting and date codes on your engine. Here is my cylinder head:

The T-11-28 is a date. T is 1940 (so I would expect S for 1939 and R for 1938 but who knows?) So this was cast 11/28/1940. There is one on the engine block as well (mine was cast 12/9/1940). My engine and spare engine also both have dates stamped on the machined area where the manifold bolts up towards the back of the block. But they are Champion engines so yours might be different. I assume this is an assembly date but could be a machine shop inspection stamp or something. Note that 12/11/1940 is also the ship date listed on my production order for whatever that is worth.

My engine and spare engine also both have dates stamped on the machined area where the manifold bolts up towards the back of the block. But they are Champion engines so yours might be different. I assume this is an assembly date but could be a machine shop inspection stamp or something. Note that 12/11/1940 is also the ship date listed on my production order for whatever that is worth.

I have also found those stamp dates on motors going back to 1929. But not all motors have them. I assumed they were assembly or machining dates.