Studebaker Director/Dictator 1928

[Guest Timellini]

Hi!

 

My old man has a 1928 Studebaker Director, The European version of the Dictator. It has turned out troublesome to maintain the car as the local grease monkeys here in Europe do not carry much parts in stock for some reason.

 

We are interested in buying various spare parts for this car, most important the steering parts such as the tie rod ends seen in the attached photograph. Also the speedometer is currently not working.

 

I would appreciate it a lot if readers of this forum could pass me some links to website or companies where one could look for parts for 1920's Studebaker's. I am quite green when it comes to US antique car forums and suppliers and the hours I've spent googling for information has mostly lead to places that only have parts for Commanders or other newer model Studebaker's.

 

Thanks in advance for any possible help.

 

Best regards,

Timo Vuorinen (timellini@gmail.com)

[nzcarnerd]

That is a nice car. We have one the same but very scruffy.  Do you have the parts books and service manuals?  Try here.  http://www.faxonautoliterature.com/Search.aspx?c=2630  That might help you to know what fits.

 

Maybe your speedometer just has a broken cable?

 

Please post some more pictures of your car  - details of engine bay etc.

 

 

[Guest Timellini]

Hi. Thanks for the tip, your link looks extremely helpful. Gotta order some of these.

 

We really do not have any documentation available. We're in Finland and most cars of this era were taken in to use by the government during WW2 when the Ruskies tried to come for a visit. Only few came back in one piece.

 

This car spent the war era in a barn and government people came a couple of times trying to take it to use, but turns out they never had suitable wheels to put under it. The owner back then had taken them out and hidden them to some friend's basement in another village to keep his car safe (patriotic fella).

 

My father bought this in the 1960's and has had it even since. I will post a few photos more. Unfortunately I do not have photos of the engine bay as of now but can send later...

 

-T

[Spinneyhill]

The Australian DUFOR company supplied tie rod ends. I have 1956 and 1959 catalogues. The 1927-32 Dictator 6, GL, 53, 54, 55, 6 cyl; Dictator 8, FC, 61, 62 all used the TE5 ends, both female, one left hand and one right hand thread.

 

The specification for the TE5 was:  3/4x16 socket thread, 0.786 to 0.669" taper on the ball bolt over a length of 1¹/₈". The ball bolt thread was 5/8x18.

 

This tie rod end was also used on the 1936 Chrysler C7 (6 cyl.) and C8 (8 cyl.), Airstream and on the De Soto 1936 S1 Airstream.

 

The model TE5 won't be relevant in the US but the specification may allow someone to look up a chart for you to chose the right one.

 

If you can't get them from the Studebaker dealers, you may get them from a Chrysler dealer such as Andy Bernbaum. They may also come up on eBay from time to time, but they will be given by model number (if you are lucky) and you will need to know which model you want (e.g. Moog etc.). DUFOR didn't make it to the US as far as I know.

[rbk]

Use the search function on this forum to learn more about your car.

In 1928 there were three series of Dictator/Director models.The first series looked like the 1927 models except 1928 and later engines used mechanical fuel pumps.

The fenders were half crowned.

Later they used fully crowned fenders.

They changed the sun visor to the shorter "cadet" visor etc.,belt molding change etc.

I am not an expert on these but I remember posts on these three series.

Your looks like a third series car,

I stripped out one of these and have some parts left 

Robert Kapteyn