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I have original artillery wheels on my Coupe-Express. The hub caps that Quinn had reproduced are beautiful, but are for the disc wheels only and don't fit the original artillery wheels. Tom

Hi Don. Looks like you have extra stuff in there. Here is the order that the horn button went together in my '37 President with the phantom wheel. This worked just fine. Tom Lewis

Hi Matt. I'm OK with extra strips and louvers, so no need to send anything this way. My car was finished Saturday and is loaded and ready to go to St Louis Tuesday (tomorrow) morning. I'm hoping pictures will attach to this forum. I'm still having problems with the SDC forum and pictures. Tom

I had to laugh at the "never again" comment. If I wasn't working on my own stuff that's what I should have said after the first one. That looks like excellent work, Matt. I really don't think I have one completely perfect louver or stainless strip on either one of the grilles I have restored. Tom Lewis

Hi George. I don't know how often you look at this forum, but I was wondering if you have any of those Burgess air cleaner decals left? It is only 30 days until St Louis and I'm entering the final assembly stage for my '37 President coupe. I think I can get the original air cleaner to be at least presentable, but a new decal would be great. I'd attach an image of the original decal (just barely readable), but can't get an "insert" icon to come up. If you have any, please let me know the price and if your address has changed from the most recent ASC roster. I'll get payment off right away. Thanks. Tom Lewis

I guess I should amend my first comment on this thread. I got so carried away with how I was able to restore my first '37 grille by taking it all apart that I forgot to caution that it is a PITA and that if you do not have louvers that are mangled or can't be straightened or all rusty, it's better to leave the basic grille together. The grille pictured is the one that will go on my current project. I removed all the stainless strips and restored them separately. Then I bead blasted and painted the grille. Once the grille was all smooth and the rust removed from the groove in the front of each louver where the stainless strip goes, it was possible to slide each strip into place from the outside edge I'll e-mail pictures of the grille I took completely apart. I can't access some of my earlier picture files when I try to attach them to the forums. Tom

Hi Matthew. I have done exactly what you want to do. The grille is indeed spot welded in the center bar. There are two different styles for attaching the louvers to the grille. From your description, it sounds like you are fortunate that you have the "folded tab" type rather than what I would call the "wavy crimped" type. I unfolded all the tabs and removed the outer grille bars, and then removed the louvers from the center bar by basically just grabbing and pulling and the tabs straightened out. Then the spot welds must be drilled out to separate the two halves of the center bar so that when everything is restored you can get to the inside to refold the tabs to the center bar before you bolt that back together (I was unable to figure out how to get spot welder prongs in that small space.) I took lots of pictures of how I did it and would be happy to share any that I have. I made a jig to hold the louvers in alignment while I fitted the grille bars to either side. Just let me know what you'd like to see. From experience, it is easier to remove the stainless strips from the louvers while they are still attached to the grille than after they are separate. It's just more stable as you slide a thin blade along the back side to bend the strip a little at a time to get to the point where the front side lip will release. Tom Lewis

I'm hoping that I can get pictures to attach to this post. I jumped right on this thread when it came in and should have waited for more experienced restorers to chime in. After reading Jerry Kurtz' post I went out to the garage and removed the brake and clutch pedals from the shaft. I have the body off the frame so it took about 45 seconds to pull two cotter pins, a spring, and a horseshoe clip. I brought the pedals down to the house with the new Shrock Bros. seals that I planned to use but haven't cut. I stood at the kitchen sink and used hot water and lots of dishwashing detergent and two screwdrivers to stretch and get leverage and in about 15 minutes had the seals in place without cutting. It was a struggle because was awkward trying to lever the screwdrivers and hold everything at once, but I got it done and didn't even chip the porcelain of the sink. Don---I'm sending you a PM about this. Tom Lewis

Hi Don. You're in good company. Everyone has this problem on the '37's. The only way to do it is to split the seals and slip them onto the shaft. I have found that the best way to secure them is to use a black plastic cable tie around the thinnest part of the seal. Once installed, the ties really become pretty invisible. I'm pretty sure at one time I asked Tom Shrock how to install these and he told me they had to be split. Tom Lewis

I'm getting close to starting my '37 President engine for the first time after rebuild. I'm looking to find a thermostat... Studebaker part number 187682. I'm told these are scarce as they were installed in the upper radiator hose in '36 and '37 Presidents and are somewhat tubular in shape. Lacking an original part, I think I can make a modern rimmed thermostat work by using two short lengths of stainless tubing the same size as the ID of the radiator hose and sandwiching the rim of the thermostat between the stainless inside the upper hose. Does anyone know a modern application that would use a 2 1/8 inch diameter, low temperature (150 degrees) thermostat? I've also posted this request on the SDC tech talk Forum to try to cover all bases. Thanks. Tom

Yes. I have installed my Coupe-Express on a planar equipped '37 Dictator chassis. It is easily done. I have plenty of pictures including showing how to convert CE/5A fenders into 6A fenders to fit the planar chassis. I'm not sure if I have pictures of modifying the sedan rear fenders I used to fit the Coupe-Express box, but it only involves cutting a couple of slotted mounting bolt holes in different places. My e-mail is studebaker4829@live.com if you have any questions or need photos. I know of at least 3 Coupe-Expresses here in the US that have been restored this way. Regards, Tom Lewis