Studebaker Commander ? Year and Model (Help)

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and really not sure what I am doing, but thought I would give it a try and see if I can get some results. The rear end and front axle under the rig are for moving it around only and are not part of the car.

I have attached pictures of a Studebaker Commander 8 that I have owned for 20 years. I am now getting started at rebuilding it and I need help identifying the model and year of it. I do not have the engine and the tag on the frame behind the left front fender is gone and the drivers side door pillar tag is so bad you can not read it. I have found in my research that the bumper style was used on 32 & 33 Studebaker's. The other thing that is different on this model is the straight up and down line between the front door and door pillar, most of the Studebaker's of this vintage have sloped front door to pillar line. I want to get this rig titled before I get to far along on it, so any help in identifying it would be appreciated. For those of you out there that might know of parts for this vehicle after identifying it, like grill shell, hood, running boards and other misc. parts, I would like to hear from you.

Thanks In Advance for your input.

The dash certainly looks like 1928, but the bumpers are more like 1930 or 31. Obviously, the wheels are later... We would need to see a photo of the engine. 1928 Commander would have the Big Six engine..

Frank

This is a 1931-32 model. It has a cadet style windshield sun visor which was only used during those years. The vertical door line is correct for those years and the bumpers are also correct. Is there no body tag on the passengers side of the firewall under the hood? If there is, the number 70 would identify it as 1931 and 71 as 1932. If there is no tag, measure the wheelbase. Commanders were 124 inches in 1931 and 125 in 1932.

Terry

Thanks Frank for your info. The axles and wheels are not part of the car, they are for moving the car around while I am working on it and the engine is not with the car, but it was a straight eight. Thanks

Larry

Thanks Terry for your reply. I went out to check to see if it had a tag on the firewall and it did not have one. Your information about the wheel base helps me out, but I have to get the correct axles under it and bolted in right before I can determine the correct wheel base. I have measured it with the temp. axles and I believe I came up with 125" wheel base, so that would make it a 32 I guess. I wish now that I would have picked up the straight eight motor that was with the car, but I did not and I doubt that it is there now after 15 years. I do have the transmission that was in it, would it have any numbers on it that would tell us anything?

If there is anything else I need to get you folks to help me to identify the year, let me know and I will get it to you. Thanks again for your input.

Larry

The correct transmission has a button in the centre of the gear shift knob to select the freewheeling feature. This was common to both 31 and 32. The 31 transmission is unsynchronized; the 32 trans has synchromesh on 2nd and 3rd, so taking the top off the trans would establish the year.

Terry

Thanks again Terry. I will go out and check this out, but I will probably get someone else to help me because I'm not sure that I know what I am looking for inside of the trans. I have a son that has rebuilt manual transmissions, of course they were much newer than these trans, he will know what to look for. Thanks Again and I will post what I find in a couple of days.

Larry

Terry I went and looked at the transmission and it appeared that it did have a button on the top of the shifter, but it is all gone now. If someone can look up the numbers on the side and top of the trans. I copied them down. The top of the transmission cover has the number T-75-148 (2) and the side of the trans has the number T-75-1 and below this number is W.G. Co (N). Do not know if this will help in identifying the trans. but I will take some pictures of the trans, and post them if needed. Let me know

Larry

WG stands for Warner Gear. T75 is the model number of the transmission. The -1 likely means that it is the first revision to the T75 which might refer to the synchromesh, making it a 32 transmission. The same transmission was used by Pierce Arrow. Freewheeling was pioneered by Studebaker.

Terry

The body design features if this car say it is a 1931 Series 70 Commander, built betwen July 1930 and September 1931. The '32 was quite different with a more sloped windshield and no visor. Without any identifying plates it is hard to be more specific. Something I don't know the answer to is whether Studebaker stamped the chassis or body number on the rear of the chassis in the manner that Chrysler did. My son found this on his 1925 Chrysler - http://forums.aaca.org/f230/1925-chrysler-speedster-363367.html - see post #22.

I will still pull the top off of the transmission and check to see if it has synchromesh on 2nd and 3rd and maybe that will tell the story. Thanks Again

Larry

Thanks for your input. I will check out more pictures of the 30,31 and 32 Commanders and look more closely at the windshield area to see if I can see the more sloped windshield on the 32. I will also check out the link to your sons 25 Chrysler body number stamp on the chassis. Thanks

Larry

My interchange manual says that a T75 transmission was used on the 1931 Commanders. The 1932 Commanders used a T81.

Thanks Commodore, that is good info. I think we are closer to solving the year of this Commander. I am going to check on a couple more things and maybe we can put this ? year and model of Commander to rest. Thanks Again

Larry