Brian in Oz

Many thanks, studeboy and studeq--I've sent pms to you both. I can't help thinking that this mascot would cause serious road safety issues to any pedestrian who got in its way! I've hunted unsuccessfully for the patent drawings at <http://patft.uspto.gov>.Has anyone been able to access them?

I'm in the process of casting an Atalanta mascot in bronze for my GB sedan, working from photos and a worn-out original which has the screw-threaded base. Can someone please supply a drawing or photo of how the bayonet fitting looks, because I have a 2¼-inch-diameter opening with a quick-release cap. Also, because big dollars are involved, I can make a few more for sale if anyone is interested. I understand someone was making them in the US, but I had no luck in contacting him. My pic is of the early wax model, which is still being refined. Cheers.

Slightly off topic, but your pics brought to mind the quandary I have over restoring or replacing my 1928 GB wire-wheel hubcaps (pictured). What a sorry sight they are! Please, can anyone advise me. I've thought about making some woodblock moulds on which to hammer them back to shape. I don't know whether they're aluminium or some sort of alloy, but they can sure take a lot of punishment! Brian

Hi, folks. Is there any update available on the diaphragm replacement problem? I have the 2-trumpet horn on my GB Stude and need both diaphragms. Can any other materials work? Can they be cut out with scissors? Does Bill Randall have parts for sale? Cheers Brian

Thanks, Terry and Dave. Yes, Dave, the GB will be motoring to the Freo meet at Easter. Even if the seats and trim can't be finished, I'll still roll up. Now doing the roof... Cheers Brian

This was installed by Needhams, the Sydney Studebaker dealer, in the 1960s when the original intricate filter tank cracked up. It takes a canister cartridge of 10.5cm diameter and 12.2cm depth. They said it was from a later-model Stude. I don't know when the last canister was inserted--my 1928 GBW's been off the road since 1975. What replacement cartridge should I specify, please? Cheers, Brian.

It's a new one on me, Robert. To look up interchangeable parts, I have for many years consulted a facsimile reproduction of the 1931 Chilton Automotive Multi-Guide which has 392 pages, mostly crammed with small print. If you look at Amazon or Abe Books here, you'll find that copies can be obtained for less money than the advertised CD. Cheers Brian

Hi, Robert. After getting a few rather hefty local quotes, I counted myself lucky to find an A-model-Ford supplier a coupla thousand miles away in Victoria who carries Denman tyres and 600/650-20” long-stem tubes ($45 each) and heavy rim flaps ($32 each). The postage for 5 tubes and 5 flaps was less than $50. I didn't need tyres, having squirrelled away a set of 5 new ones in the 1980s. The flaps are too wide for my rims and will have to be cut to size with a Stanley knife, but the spare rubber could come in handy elsewhere. Cheers Brian

Please put me on the list. I'm in the market to buy interior handles and a couple of exterior ones. Email <jenks@iinet.net.au>jenks@iinet.net.au Cheers Brian</jenks@iinet.net.au>

I am now well into replacing the sills and floor, having learned a lot and made a few mistakes! Check out the pics I'm posting here. I had to buy and set up a 14-inch bandsaw. I already had a router table and small table-saw, but had to get a larger circular saw to cut through 60mm thickness on the table. Does anyone have advice about whether the sill joints should be glued or just screwed together? I've seen conflicting opinions in the literature. My hunch is that glue should generally be avoided, to let the timber 'work' its way into its happiest position. I've seen no glued sections in the original bits I took out. There's to be an Australian national Stude meet in April 2011 at Fremantle, which is very close to where I live. So, guess what, I've already registered to be there, and now have a real deadline to work for! Cheers, Brian

The 1927 body would be pretty much identical to the 1928 GBW2 I'm working on. I'm just starting the serious woodwork from sills up, including top deck. During dismantling I made photos, took measurements, etc, and will continue in that vein to produce drawings, patterns, workarounds, etc. I'll keep posting at this site. I've bought all the books I can get, including a reprint of the old Fisher Body Manual which is very helpful for understanding things. Also see my progressive albums here. I'm not a professional, just a very stubborn amateur, but have the time and patience to work things out. Cheers Brian

Hi, Pete. Your pic of the '53' model is really a 1930 six! Wow, but be careful of those fat-finger errors! My missus successfully blocked my car restoration for a while by having a new wooden floor in the house and making me divert to building a big bookshelf unit with the leftover boards. However, it helped me (a rank but stubborn amateur) set up a table-saw and router, and gave me practice in getting accurate cuts on a job where mistakes mattered little! My latest pics of the Stude (phase 2) are here, with some indications of the really tricky carpentry ahead! Cheers Brian

Hi, Pallidan1. Like you, I asked the museum for body timber drawings for my 1928 GB which is probably almost identical to yours. I got the answer that 30ft-long panel drawings could be bought, which I declined since they wouldn't fit on my garage floor, let alone my dinner table. Let me give you the benefit of my experience, plusmy thoughts and decisions thereafter. If the top deck is rotten, so too will be the bottom deck. You have to lift the lid, so be prepared to replace all the timbers together. Spend the first 3 months on taking photos, making drawings and in general documenting what is dismantled and what you have to do as carefully as possible. If necessary, get good advice from folk who know more than you about such things. It is well worth paying for such advice, especially from highly-skilled woodworkers (who will also have special tools, etc, which you can have recourse to when the going gets tough.) Buy a copy of Don Marsh's 18-page book "Tips on Auto Body Woodwork". Don't worry about cost--it is the essential information. Take Don Marsh's advice and buy a copy of the Fisher Body Service Manual 1926-31 for closed-body models. This cost me about $100 including postage from the US to Australia but it gave me priceless understanding and confidence that I could tackle the job myself. When you have taken the top-deck timber off, use the steel brackets at the tops of the door pillars to anchor scrap-timber bracing, so that the body is held together and the exhaustive measurements you've made are retained. as a pattern for the work ahead. Keep taking photographs and detailed notes at every step. Buy the best available products for rust-conversion, anti-rust priming and timber preservation/restoration. You will meet corrosion at every step (though I have yet to find unmanageable rust in my Studebaker--I dips me lid to their craftsmanship and metallurgy.) Make a careful study of what timber to buy and what qualities of grain, etc, to look for. As a Western Australian, I decided to use local and regional timbers matched to the conditions rather than go for a perfect factory reproduction in American Oak which sadly falls to pieces in our climate. The machine tools I have found invaluable, to date, are my variable-speed drill with a variety of cleanup attachments like nylon brush. wirebrushes, etc; a small angle-grinder with flap disks which clean metal or wood with amazing speed; a table-mounted router for cutting lap joints; and a belt sander for speedily shaping curved edges. On good advice, I have also invested in a medium-sized bandsaw which handles the curves but can also do accurate straight cuts. If (like me) you're new to this, practice making cuts, joints, etc on scrap timber until you can turn out the perfect final piece on the chosen timber. Good Luck! I'm ready to share info with you. I haven't yet got up to the top deck, but here are some early-days sill pics. Cheers Brian

What's this. then? In case anybody was about to ask how to get five big 20-inch wheels to the sandblasters, here's how it's done. Simply pop them in the trunk of the Humber. In fact, get rid of the spare, and there's room for at least ten wheels. Let the neighbours jeer as they will, there's nothing like a battered old 1960s Humber Super Snipe for carting timber or anything else. But I wonder how many Stude fans know that Studebaker's Delmar "Barney" Roos helped design Humbers and other UK Rootes Group cars before opting to return in WWII and show America how to build a Jeep? The same guy not only designed the 1928 President Eight engine but also tweaked the waning mighty old Big Six to make it easier for me and others to work on. Many thanks, Barney! And what a photographer! If you haven't previously seen it, check out his Great Fire Engine Picture (1910) Cheers Brian

Hi, guys. Some more pics of the 1928 GB-W2 are up in my "Phase 1" album. Here are a couple of samples. The wire wheels are off to the sandblaster and the seats to the upholsterer. The album pics have captions. Just this morning, I managed to score a slightly battered Atalanta (Series 2) radiator cap on eBay (search 290420217317)! I'll have to learn how to reshape and recast it into some more durable alloy. The car was originally fitted with a Series 1 Atalanta --stolen by a :mad: collector-- which I'm still very anxious to replace. Cheers Brian

Hi, all. Stude fans can see more pics of the 1928 GB-W2 in my "Phase 1" album. Here are a couple. The wire wheels are off to the sandblaster and the seats to the upholsterer. The album pics have captions. Cheers Brian

That Barrette clasp looks nifty, and also a bit fiddly, but it must have been seen as a desirable safety feature. Only once did my rim come apart, as I've related, and I'm sure it was my own fault for not carefully socketing the snap ring in. Both components have to be squeaky clean and free from rust. (A lesson well learned.) There is no warpage, but the rings are pliant enough to be slightly twisted by hand, as I did for the photo. It's now straight again, lies flat and doesn't appear distorted. I guess I'll review the situation when the wheels have been cleaned up and powder-coated, and the new tires go on. I'll certainly take on the idea of hard-chroming the snap rings. Is there any special advantage in locating the join right next to the air inlet, as in your pic? At the very least, it comes under close inspection every time the tires are checked. Cheers Brian

Hi, Dave! Yup, that's definitely on--speshly since you were the first to know about the project. You can also feel free to lift any of my content from here. What's the deadline for next issue? Cheers Brian

Like this, you mean? URL for the album Surely the point of posting an album is to make a mass of pics quickly accessible, so that only new and interesting ones needed to be posted in the thread?:confused: Cheers Brian

Greetings, Terry. Yeah, the central and northern parts of Perth copped a very bad convergence of storms, with hailstones punching through windscreens like bullets and turning hundreds of today's tinfoil cars into dimpled write-offs. However, it veered away from my neck of the woods on the south-western coast below Fremantle. We had our first rain since October, and some light hail, but no damage or flooding. When I bought it in 1964, the Stude's original body colour was a dingy-looking mid-green shade, peeling and rusting in many places. Having no money or garage for many years, I preserved it by brushing on a heavy coat of yellow zinc chromate primer followed by black oil enamel, while it was standing in the street in Sydney's Rocks area. It actually looked very flash for a car which had cost me only 25 quid ($50). (Below: Here we are on a run to Melbourne with my daughter Nic --now aged 45-- and her politically-incorrect golliwog. Then I had the car professionally stripped and painted a few years later. Thanks for the info about the fuel gauge. I've always got along well with a length of dowelling to shove down the filler! My front seat is definitely not adjustable (but the steering wheel may be). The accelerator is located between the clutch and brake pedals, which has never worried me. Cheers Brian

Hi, folks. I've posted here an album of pre-restoration pics of the Stude. It's a right-hand-drive Regal Sedan, assembled at the Walkerville, Canada plant. (By doing this, Studebaker could advertise its cars as "British-built" and qualify for reduced tariffs in British Empire countries.) Now, all I have to do is get on with the job. Cheers Brian

As promised, I'm documenting progress on the woodwork and trim of my favourite old car which has been languishing neglected for 35 years as I (phew) helped bring up six kids in Western Australia. An album of pre-restoration pics can be found here. Cheers Brian

Better still, just google "anti-stall inc". For instance, there is a detailed description at the Canadian Patents Database. Cheers.

Do you know anyone who can read the Czech language? If so, 'czech out' the document here. There must surely be some info at the US Patent Office, too. Cheers Brian

Thanks, Stude8, I see it all now! My GB's wire wheels are a different story. The owner's manual shows how to prise the locking ring apart with a lever and, yes, with a foot firmly planted on the deflated tire! This system generally works well if the rims are kept clean and rust-free. It has presented the occasional problem, such as when one popped off on a busy highway at 50 mph. I heard the 'sproing' and wondered what was happening--then saw the locking ring overtaking the car! :eek: Cheers Brian