[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

Some photos - cover plate after overnight in Evap-o-Rust, scotchbrited & painted. The section of harness fed through the cover plate. Cover plate in place. Branch looping under - just the way this harness was made. Plenty of length there.

 

Front light wiring & closer up. Still need to put the horn relay back. Routing at the terminal block wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I was working with the lengths & terminals provided.

 

Gauges going back in. With the gauges out, took the opportunity to go over the panel with Simichrome to shine it up some.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

Thanks - I got a headlight switch out of the parts car. Today finished cleaning up & repainting the firewall cover plate. Got the harness pulled back out and strung through the cover plate, then harness back in place and firewall opening closed up. Made the connections under the hood for front lights, solenoid, ignition coil, temperature gauge, and generator. Will need to get under the car to pull the remaining old wiring for the transmission overdrive, the high/low beam switch, brake light switch, and the harness to the rear lights. It's looking like the harness I have was for the automatic transmission, given that there's no overdrive wiring, and the start switch lead ends up behind the dashboard, so I might need to make a few wires. Got the instruments back in - connections for AMP, Temp, oil pressure, fuel gauge, and the gauge pod illumination. Got the dash courtesy light leads rebuilt, that light socket cleaned up and reinstalled (it's just above the speedometer, and lights up when either door is opened).

 

Swapped out light sockets for the instrument illumination - the stock lights use a smaller bulb on a very deep socket to get the light source up inside the gauge, so the light is reflected back down onto the face of the gauges. Pretty easy to cut the lead, drop the supplied socket off, thread the lead through the original socket, and solder the lead back together. Moving on to the speedometer - it's got the high beam indicator light, turn signal repeaters, the gauge illumination, and the speedometer cable. This harness has both right and left turn signals with the same color of wire, so I may be swapping things around when there's power. There's also a circuit breaker on a separate bracket between the 4-gauge pod and the speedometer - seems like that's the "fuse" for several things.

 

Connected up the ignition key and headlight switch. Can't figure out which terminal on the headlight switch is for the gauge illumination, but I can work that out when there's power.

 

This is going a lot quicker than the '51 Buick, but that car was missing all of the original wires under the hood, and I remade those wires from raw stock and the wiring diagram rather than having a harness kit. Since the Buick ran the rear lights from the right side of the dashboard, across the right-side floor, around the front seat, along the driveshaft hump, then under the backseat and into the trunk, there was a lot less going down the firewall than in the Studebaker. Studebaker runs the rear lights down the firewall in the engine compartment and back along the frame from there. This harness kit has been pretty good - a couple of terminals to cut off and switch for different ones, but overall seems to be fitting pretty well.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

And then there was this worldwide pandemic, and the economy crashed, so I think this car is trying to stay with me...

 

Got the starter back from the rebuilder. Decided to swap it in to see if it works better than the one that's on there. Got it mostly into place and decided it might not be right for the car. I didn't take a good picture before I sent it off, so I'm not sure the same one came back. The end that goes into the bellhousing looks a lot bigger than the one that I got from the parts guy. He said the automatic transmissions had a different end to engage the flywheel, so I backed it back out and put the smaller one back. In looking at the Studebaker shop manual, it looks like the one I have on the car is for the 6-cylinder, and the one I had rebuilt looks correct for the 8-cylinder, which this car has. Regardless, trying to start the car after all this, hitting the start button just caused a click from the solenoid, and nothing further. Opening the door, the dash light was shorted. I'd seen this before (recently) - jiggle the bundle of old crap wires by the solenoid and the short might clear. It didn't after a couple of tries. This rats nest of multiple generations of wiring add-ons finally brought the car down.

 

Thought about trying to pick through the rats nest, and between the crumbly insulation and bits of bare wire showing through, I figured its time to break out that wire harness kit that I'd found in the parts car. Here's some photos. 3rd photo - almost none of those wires in the middle are stock - mostly added to patch and bypass things over time. Got the original wiring out from the engine compartment and from behind the dash. Got new wires in for the headlights and front marker / turn signals. Got the new harness through the firewall, then realized I need to thread it through the firewall cover plate, so it will come back out tomorrow. This will be good when its over because the gauge cluster didn't light up and the headlights were rigged to an add-on headlight switch below the dash, among other things. Weird thing about this vintage of Studebaker wiring - there's no fuse panel & no fuses. I'm not sure where the smoke is supposed to come out.

[1991 Mazda Miata Base]

Not much to say about the Miata. Considering wheel/tire options, but working on keeping the Studebaker going so possibly it might be sold.

 

Also working on even bigger project of possibly moving to a place with more room for these projects. Had two that we could live with for sale around here recently - one was on the edge of our price range, but the house had many add-ons over time that resulted in wasted space and a layout with rooms that just weren't usable for us (but 3 1/2 acres of land and two 24' x 36' workshop buildings), and another with an older house that we could live with and one workshop building that could be a 4-car garage but for electrical risers in the middle of the floor and only a single-wide roll-up door. Made an offer on that one, but didn't get it.

 

My current thought about a Miata project wouldn't start with this car, since it's a nice original NA. There's a kit for the NB that converts a 2.4l front-drive Honda engine to rear-drive and gets it into the Miata. This is 240-ish hp and drops about 50lbs from the car. Sure, then you get into brakes, wheels & tires that are instantly inadequate, but so it goes. kmiata.com

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

Some interest, but nobody showing up with money. Starter died in February. Pulled that & sent it for rebuild, then realized I wouldn't have it for the once every OTHER year Studebaker-only show in Tucson. So called the local Studebaker parts-pile guy, and he had the starter I needed. Got that on & going with 6 days to the show. Made the show today. Parked across from another 1952 Commander Starlight Coupe that drove down from Phoenix (see first photo). Same guy who sold me the hood emblem. Need to sell at some point because I've got an idea for another project, but no more garage space...

[1991 Mazda Miata Base]

Been a while, but I got to cleaning up behind the firewall in the wiper pushrod area. Someone's been using spray-on grease in there for a while. Didn't get a before photo, but it cleaned up well. Also did a couple of the hoses and black plastic parts around the engine. Need to get to the hood prop base (also greased like crazy) and other dirt collection areas under the hood.

[1991 Mazda Miata Base]

Pulled the shipping hooks front & rear. On the rears, the 2 nuts at each location go back on because they hold other items. These hooks are not for towing or recovery - they served to secure the cars to the ships' decks for transport from Japan. Saw a video where the guy was claiming massive weight savings from removing these. I weighed them - 1 lb, 8 1/2 oz for each of the rears, 1 lb, 7 oz for each of the fronts, and 9 oz of bolts for a total of 6 1/2 lbs removed. I'll hold onto these parts in case there's ever a need or desire to put them back, but I don't need to drive with them. I may add a front screen for debris protection - there's 2 styles. One with cutouts to work around the hooks, and another that needs the hooks out of the way.

[1991 Mazda Miata Base]

Attempted to clean the rims today. The paint isn't in so great shape, and they won't really clean up. With the numerous aftermarket (or stock) options, I don't know that I feel very strongly about making more investment in these tired steel rims. They're 2 different date codes - two with 1990, two with 1994 - so something happened along the way. The rim date codes are split diagonally (right front & left rear). The tire date codes are split front/year, 3 years apart. They'd put "tire blackening" goop on the tires, which was smeared all over the rims & along the fenders. Might just go the low-cost-enjoyment route & have the no-tread rear tires replaced & not think about improving the rims for a while. Space-saver spare has a hole in it, so I'll be replacing that.

 

Repainted the wiper wing (or whatever it's called). Got the emissions done yesterday. I'll get the license plate this upcoming weekend. Full-time job & all that.  

[1991 Mazda Miata Base]

Thank you, John & Harriet Cole.

 

John, for taking care of this Miata for so long, and Harriet for allowing me to be the next caretaker.

 

Maintenance records back to February 16, 1991, sold in Springfield, MO, with 158 miles showing. For the first 60,000 miles or so, it's just periodic maintenance. After that, there started to be more things needing upkeep, including, right towards the end, another timing belt & complete transmission replacement.

 

The neighbor who was helping with the sale said that John had bought this at retirement as his hobby car. So it wasn't ever driven very much, as 3700 miles/year for 29 years shows. John knew exactly what he wanted, and he kept it that way. This is the BASE model.

 

No power steering.
No power windows.
No cruise control.
No alloy wheels.
No ABS.
No radio, speakers, or antenna.
No leather-wrapped steering wheel.

 

Defined as much by what it doesn't have as by what it does.

 

Here are the photos when I looked it over & made a short drive this past Saturday.

 

107k miles and 29 years on that engine.

 

Ok, so it's not one of the multiple sub-30k mile first-generation Miatas that you can see on the Miata-specific forums. Not sure where those are hiding anyway (hiding way out of my price range, for sure).

 

I'd been looking at NA (first-gen) Miatas for a couple of months now on the c-list. I could spot the good ones - reasonable prices, and 50-100k miles. They'd appear and be sold the same day. With a full-time job, I just couldn't ever get to any of these - and I was looking out at a 500-mile radius. They do show up fairly regularly - once or twice a month. Then there's the next tier -  100-150k examples, nearly all with some modifications.

 

Last week I had the idea to see if there's a website for a local Miata club. And there it was, an ad placed just the week before. But with key descriptions like "new transmission 2019", "new air conditioning compressor 2017" and "like new, always garaged & babied", and a very reasonable price, I thought for sure it would be gone. The local Miata club members must already have their cars. I left a message with the seller, and made sure I got out there within a couple of hours of him calling me back.

 

Anyway, I didn't want to post anything until the money was exchanged, open title in hand, and car in my garage. Ok, not the usual AACA restoration story, and I'm sure there's more to do here than it would at first appear. But hopefully it's not nearly as much as I've done on my 1950's-vintage cars.

 

There was a Miata advertising campaign recently, something to the effect of "when you were you" that featured memories of bad things that you did to that first-generation Miata, and reminding you that it's time in your life (30 years on) for another one. Made me think of the two Miatas I've had before this one. I'd bought my first one in 1996, a 1993 lease return, and it was my daily driver for about 3 years.

I had some epic adventures with that one - 2000+mile road trips with the destination being the Tail of the Dragon at Deal's Gap. I'd never been there before, and what little was on the internet back then made it out to be one of the ultimate places for a car like this. It was. I also have a photo of it at the Southernmost Point on Key West at about 6am, when I could pull right up next to that marker and get a picture with nobody else in the shot. And the bad things - at one point I installed a used Sebring supercharger kit which overpowered the brakes, clutch, and fuel injectors, and proceeded to drive it right into dropping a couple of valves. Pulled the head in the apartment complex parking lot, bummed rides to work for a few days, and sold that supercharger on to the next kid.

 

A couple more years without one, then I found a Black & Tan '94 via eBay. I was living in Connecticut then, and realized that a car like that is great in the summer, if you can afford for it not to be the daily driver. Which I could at that time. I drove that one all up route 7 - all over the state, actually, and up into Vermont & New Hampshire. It made the move with me out to Tucson in 2005, but I sold it not long after because I got into another project in the garage that needed the space. I only put a couple thousand miles on that one, replaced the coilover shocks & timing belt, and replaced more cosmetic interior parts than I thought I would.

 

14 years farther on, and here I am with the earliest Miata I've ever had. When I told my wife it was a blue one, she wasn't very keen on it. She'd seen too many that have faded to "light" blue. But this one makes the cut.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

Drove for a while today - got to the better photo spot, but need to pass by there again when the sun is lower...

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

Ok, got the front guards on & took it down the street for some better photos.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

Thanks - I was able to pick up the last part from the chrome shop yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to put them on. Even though the front guards weren't what I'd call terrible before, it does make a big difference to see perfect new finish on there. That back bumper was an estate sale find for about $30. Of course, the chrome work is a lot more than that. But it was very straight, with just one small area where the bottom edge was dented a little. That's how I saw the part - they may have seen many more areas that needed a little tweaking. But overall, much more straight than the bumper I removed, which had obviously had some sort of impact.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

Ok, 5 weeks on the chrome. I think they had it done last week sometime, but I was out of town. They've still got one part that they weren't happy with, so I haven't installed any of the 4 bumper guards that I had done for the front. The rear parts came out great, though. Those bumper over-rides were all crunched up, and they push the dents back out & smooth it over. They did have to cut out the mounting brackets & weld them back in. They told me they would do this before they started. They said the last part would complete its rework tomorrow, if I can find time to get it (I have to leave work early to make their operating hours). They did show me the part in nickel; all that's left is the chrome & polish. Royal Plating in Tucson.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

Good point, John. I'll see if I can determine the exact carb & get a rebuild kit from The Carburetor Shop. I got kits from them for both of the '51 Buicks with good results. Remade the power lead for the license plate light this morning. I had cut that wire to pull the trunk - there's no inline bullet connector, at least not that I found. While doing this, I noticed the right tail light was out. Right brake light is good, so maybe a burned bulb. Turned out it just needed to be cycled in the socket some and it came back to life. The Thursday cruise "night" typically starts as soon as I can get there after work (before sundown), but going home I need complete working lights.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

6/20 - I did bring it to the cruise night on 6/13, where it got all the way there, stalled out, and was pushed to a spot towards the far end of the parking lot. After getting something to eat & looking at the other cars, I did get it started again & got it home. After some thought, I checked the oil - quite low after dripping away in that guy's yard for 7 months. Added oil & brought it to the cruise night last night. Still slow to start after it's hot, but there & back no problems. I ordered the clips for the hood scripts & pulled the bumper guards front & rear. I have another rear bumper that I picked up at a Studebaker-specific estate sale. Brought the bumper & guards to the chrome shop today. The back bumper & guards as-is are a real letdown with the new paint.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

6/15 - got the trunk latch working on Wednesday. Pulled the back seat, then the cardboard between the trunk & seat, and there's plenty of space between the structural supports to get back in there & pop the trunk from the inside. Also installed a machined cover plate at the radio antenna hole (custom-made for Porsche off eBay). Nicer than a stamped sheetmetal piece.

 

Got the visor reinstalled today. Made up a little gasket from inner tube for the roof center bracket. Keeping the car in the garage, and with only 11" of rain / year here, it probably won't get wet, but there wasn't a gasket there before.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

Thanks, guys! My wife picked up some vintage suitcases for the trunk. Not sure where I saw the idea, but that's where I'll keep the tool bag, etc. Got to get the trunk latch working though...

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

6/11/19 - wheels back on...

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

I'll check it out. When I search for nib file, most results are for a ".nib" file type that's part of Apple computer operating systems! But I see the paint rework tool in there as well.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

It's been 2 weeks of baking in the sun outside on the front fenders & doors. These sand quite cleanly. I didn't take it down perfectly smooth, so there's more material there to rework if I choose to. The one spot on the rear fender had been only 1 week, and again I didn't take that down completely, but all of this was making dust.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

6/9/19 - more paint corrections. Working from smaller / lower down to higher & more noticeable. Nearly all on the right side...

 

First 5 photos - forward upper end of the RH door. Next 3 photos - above the RH door handle - didn't get the after photo. That was the biggest area to resolve.

 

Trunk stuck itself shut, so I'll have to figure that out. All past history, the trunk didn't really latch. It just stayed shut by gravity. Now it's well-latched, and the release isn't adjusted right.

 

Main things left are to attach the visor & swap out the wheels. I'll go with a chrome hole filler rather than put the radio antenna back. It's one less thing to have to work around, and the radio doesn't work.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

6/8/19 - got some of the parts on + started paint corrections. Never done that before, so found a couple of videos online. I'm going with 500 grit, 1200 grit, 2000 grit, then polisher with Meguiar's level 5 then level 3. Putting tape around the area to avoid rubbing through something inadvertently. Saw one video where they were using body putty for this, which would be right-on accurate, but they also were using a DA sander with the 500 grit, so they could take the putty down fairly quickly. Sanding "block" is wood, about 3" long x 1" wide, 1/4" thick, radiused - it's a cutoff from an old wooden coat hanger.

 

Single drip on the left-front fender - disappeared perfectly. Got most of the front chrome on. Will need to get more clips for the scripts - lost along the way. Made rubber gaskets to go under the wiper fittings - these are listed in the Studebaker parts book, but aren't available for this year from Studebaker Int'l - easy enough to cut some from an old bicycle inner tube. Paint correction on right rear fender. It still shows a little, so I didn't achieve completely level. I can rework this.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

6/7/19 - Got it back to my garage. Popped the tail lights on, the headlight surrounds, propped the license plate in the back window, added some gas, and drove it 50 miles back. Pulled it out a little later for a wash. Want to do polishing & corrections before putting the bumpers & trim back on.

 

Drove pretty well without the weight of the bumpers, spare, and almost no gas on board. The gas gauge pegged on E about halfway back. I got off the highway after about 35 miles to be on smaller roads the rest of the way.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

6/2/19 - big progress today. Completed the green.

Typically frustrating day for me, but the green is done, so I'll bring the car home next week.

Got there and his Corvette was out of the garage, so I thought I'd bring the Studebaker right in. Of course, he's got other ideas - pull the stairs down from the garage ceiling and get in the attic to fix the swamp cooler.

After about an hour of that, got the car in for masking, which I basically did myself.

After I was done with that and thought - time to mix some paint, he brings up a c-list ad for a Studebaker - and proceeds to call the guy and talk with him about it for a while.

???

Then he shows me a Willy's coupe. Anyway, we finally got to the painting business and got it done. Typical wait time for unmasking, then moved it outside. The masking on the rocker trim came off much better than I expected. That 3m blue tape doesn't leave any residue, even after being on there for several weeks.

It will sit at his place until next weekend when my wife can give me a ride to pick it up.

Then I'll teach myself the fine art of correcting runs and buffing out the paint, but at least it will be back on my schedule.

I do think I picked his brain and was brought through enough of the process that I'd try this myself or at least do all / nearly all of the body prep if I ever do this again.

[1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe]

5/24/19 - Big progress today. After last week, I thought it was about prepped, but the painter was pointing out spots needing additional work. And he was also circulating around the car adding 3 different fill products faster than I could sand them down! (All hand-sanding with blocks today.) So it turned into about 4 hours of us cranking away like that, and he started talking about maybe we don't paint today. I didn't say anything specific, but he backed off from that and was talking about maybe we paint the front fenders. I suggested going back to the doors because it's easy to wrap the masking paper behind the door. At which point, he suggested just wrap it at the back of the doors, and we'll paint the doors as well. Just a note on timing - he's got chores around the house until what I consider about mid-day, so he doesn't have me arrive until 11:30. So with breaks & lunch, it's masked at about 6pm. Paint took maybe an hour, including letting the first coat sit for 1/2 hour or so. Then I hung out there for almost 2 more hours so the paint could set up enough to unmask, put the hood back on, and move the cars around in the yard. Putting the hood back on made me nervous, but these hinges are really easy to work with, and it wasn't an issue at all. The rear fenders have now passed through this final prep part of the process, so painting them won't involve the additional hours of patching and sanding.

The 3 products are a blue 3m single-component spot filler, which I don't like, but he does. He thinks it sands real nice, and when there's just a little left, that's true. But when it's a bit larger fill, it has voids that need yet another coat of something. Maybe this has more to do with how it's applied than the product. The other products are a red, very-small-spot single component filler, which he doesn't like for anything but the smallest spots because - I'm not sure, but I think it might crack as it dries on a larger area. The third product I bought yesterday at recommendation of the paint shop. It's a brown-mustard colored single-component filler, Smart brand. This went on almost too liquid, but it fills well and sands easily. He also did a small mix of 2-component filler for one larger dip that was just not getting there with the other stuff.