Mark Huston

The serial number plate located on the drivers side frame will only tell you the model and production year. At the time of your Studebaker's production the term VIN number was not yet in use and your car did not have a "modern" type VIN number that included production information like that used on more modern cars. Studebakers used three serial numbers on your car. One is the engine number, then there is a body number and the frame serial number that your mentioned. Please check out the Studebaker Club web site for additonal information: http://theantiquestudebakerclub.com/indentifycarsall/dataasheet1929thru1933.htm

Stude8: The roof on the Brougham was done long before I bought the car. Who ever the person was that painted the car a solid red was also the person who replaced the roof material the car. I was recently at an upholstery shop looking into the cost of a correct new interior. This is a high-end shop that specializes in the ?Classic? era cars. According to the shop owner my Brougham has 1969 Mercury Cougar vinyl top material. Oh well, it looks nice, and was a well done installation. The correct material for the Brougham roof is buckskin leather. It is on the list of things to do and may take a few years to get the correct paint and finish on the car. In the mean time, the car runs and drives nice, cruises on the freeway all day at 55-60 mph. Oh, and that is at 10 mpg with a 16 gallon tank.

Hi Dave, Welcome to the forum! If you have not already joined the Antique Studebaker Club please do so. You will find a lot of liked minded members who love the old pre-war Studebakers and a vast source of information. Here is a link to the ASC web site: http://www.theantiquestudebakerclub.com/membershippage/membershippage.htm Also, you car looks very nice to me. I wish my President had as nice of a paint job as your Studebaker. Just like you, my Studebaker is a work in progress, a little bit here and there as money and time allows.

Check out these two pages from The Antique Studebaker Club web page for a couple of 1929 Studebaker Commanders: http://theantiquestudebakerclub.com/memberscars/memberscarphotosbillcooley.htm http://theantiquestudebakerclub.com/memberscars/memberscarphotosroystarke.htm

Living just down the mountain from Reno, NV in the Sacramento, CA valley I used to stop in to see the Harrah Collection every chance I could. I was attending the Bill Harrah Swap Meet and car show at the time Bill Harrah passed away. It was a big loss for old car hobby. What I never could understand is why Bill Harrah kept his car collection as an asset of the Harrah casinos instead of a separate personal asset protected with a lifetime endowment that would have kept the collection together after his death. As soon as Holiday Inn bought the collection the bulk of the cars got auctioned off. I attended one of the earliest of the auctions to liquidate the collection. It was quite an experience. We attended the auction as registered bidders with the thought of picking up a Bill Harrah car. No such luck. We quickly found the prices that people were paying for cars that we thought we could get were way beyond what we could afford. At that auction (don?t recall the year) the highest priced car auctioned off was 76,000 for a Stutz Bearcat that was sold to a Doctor in Denver, CO. We all thought that was way too much and an example of auction fever. I have a picture of me standing next to the 76,000 Stutz Bearcat. At the time it was the most I had ever heard of anyone paying for a car. A year or two later I stopped by to see what was left of the Harrah?s collection. My brother and I both had our girlfriends with us and we wanted to show them the Harrah?s car collection. I am sure they were bored out of their minds. At this time both of the big Bugatti Royals were still in the collection. The two Bugatti Royals were sitting side by side with the DeVille Royal next to the isle rope. We were trying to look in the back of the DeVille (trying to impress our girlfriends with our knowledge of old cars) but we could not see anything. At this point one of the young guys working for the Harrah?s collection came by and offered to open up the driver?s side passenger door so we could look in the back. He could not get the door open. So he went around to the right rear door and got into the back seat and tried to open the door from the inside. Still the door would not open so the guy starts to BANG HARD on the door trying to force the door open. Both my brother and I were shocked to see how this restored Bugatti Royal was being mistreated by a museum staff member. We both told him never mind, that?s OK, just forget it, and we walked away. To this day every time I see a picture of that Bugatti Royal DeVille I remember the museum guy in the back seat banging on the door trying to get it open. I am sure if Bill Harrah was still around at that time that would never have happened. But the Holiday Inn Corporation had a different set of values when it came to the old cars.

1984 Buick LeSabre Limited 2 door coupe for sale. 5.0/307 V-8, 4 barrel carb. Automatic Transmission. White with dark blue interior, original paint and no body damage and there is a ¼ landau style white padded vinyl top. This vehicle was purchased new in Sacramento, Calif. by the current owner as his retirement car and was not used as a daily driver. It was used on cross-country trips, never involved in an accident and stored most of the time. Current odometer reading is 119,847 This vehicle has the following installed equipment: Electric rear view mirrors, Rear defog, AM-FM Stereo with rear speaker selection W/tape player. Electric door locks, electric Trunk release, Power seat adjustment, Tilt steering adjustment, Air conditioning, Cruise Control, Power Steering and wire wheel covers with special wrench. No stains or worn area on the interior fabric and this vehicle has never had anyone smoke in it. The 1984 Buick was the Official car of the 1984 L.A. Olympic Committee. The Buick is located in Northern Idaho, $2.500 obo Contact Bill Huston, bhuston20@vcmails.com or phone 208-267-2154

1984 Buick LeSabre Limited 2 door coupe for sale. 5.0/307 V-8, 4 barrel carb. Automatic Transmission. White with dark blue interior, original paint and no body damage and there is a ¼ landau style white padded vinyl top. This vehicle was purchased new in Sacramento, Calif. by the current owner as his retirement car and was not used as a daily driver. It was used on cross-country trips, never involved in an accident and stored most of the time. Current odometer reading is 119,847 This vehicle has the following installed equipment: Electric rear view mirrors, Rear defog, AM-FM Stereo with rear speaker selection W/tape player. Electric door locks, electric Trunk release, Power seat adjustment, Tilt steering adjustment, Air conditioning, Cruise Control, Power Steering and wire wheel covers with special wrench. No stains or worn area on the interior fabric and this vehicle has never had anyone smoke in it. The 1984 Buick was the Official car of the 1984 L.A. Olympic Committee. The Buick is located in Northern Idaho, $2,500 obo Contact Bill Huston, bhuston20@vcmails.com or phone 208-267-2154

The importance of having a fire extinguisher cannot be over emphasized. A number of years ago I would have lost my 1929 Studebaker to a fire if it were not for a fellow car member who used his fire extinguisher to put out the fire. I did not have one. All I could do was stand back and watch the fire when another club member came to the rescue. Ever since I have had a fire extinguisher in each one of my collectible cars. I should have one in each and every car I own. For some reason the thought of my modern cars burning up does not seem to bother me as much. I was on another car tour a few years ago with a fellow club member who had a restored 1924 Studebaker Coupe. This guy after checking into the hotel, and unloading his Studebaker from the car trailer, takes off on a test drive the night before the official start of the three-day tour. While on this test drive, with his newly restored car, his Studebaker engine quits and he comes to a stop in front of the small town volunteer fire department. The fire department station was unmanned at that time of the evening and his car burned up because he did not have a fire extinguisher and there was no one around to help that did.

This is a 1928 Studebaker Commander Victoria. There is another thread that appeared here previously regarding a 1928 GH Studebaker: http://forums.aaca.org/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=362333&Main=362304

I have been chasing old cars since the early 70?s when still in school. I did not have an old car but was actively looking for one for my first car when I turned 16. One of the cars I located was a 1933 Plymouth Delux Rumble Seat 6 wire wheel Coupe. The car was a low mileage unrestored original. The Nut who owned the Plymouth had inherited it from his aunt in the late 60?s and parked it in his driveway next to the house and directly in front of his garage. He would not sell the car, would not do anything with it and just left it sit in the driveway. For years I would drive by that house and each time the Plymouth was in a more advanced stage of deterioration. The Plymouth finally was covered with rust, the fabric top rotted way and the interior was then rotting way from the rain coming in the top, tires rotten and flat. By now the Plymouth was neighborhood blight on a street of 40?s vintage homes. With pressure from the neighbors and to many request to sell the car the owner finally after many years opened up his garage door and pushed what was left of the Plymouth into the garage. As far as I know the Plymouth is still in that garage continuing to rot away, but at least now that it is out of the weather hopefully is rotting at a slower rate. Another car that I had located and had an agreement to buy was an early 1960?s Studebaker Convertible. This car was located in the mountains of California sitting off the road in a grove of pine trees. The car needed restored, top gone, interior gone, sheet metal was good and the condition of the engine was a mystery. The guy who owned the car was in frail healthy and told me he only had a few months to live since he was slowly dying of cancer. He wanted to sell the car before he died and we agreed on a price and I was to come back the next weekend to pay for the car and tow it away. Well the next weekend I show up with truck and trailer, cash in hand and the guys wife starts in on me with a verbal assault for taking advantage of her husband and that the car was not for sale and never would be for sale. She told us to get off her property and that as far as she was concerned the Studebaker could rot into the ground before she would allow it to be removed from her property. As far as I know her wish just might have come true. I have had many other experiences dealing with so many people who would not sell their cars, but preferred to watch them rot into the ground. I guess they enjoy knowing that they have something someone else wants, even if they are destroying it in the process.

I found on the web site Mascot Mania! this cap listed as a 1928 De Soto mascot They have this cab identified as a ?Bust of Hernando de Soto, produced in 1928. Marked Ternstedt Mfg. Co. Detroit USA.? The link to Mascot Mania! web site is: http://www.mascot-mania.co.uk

I believe this is the style of cap used on Chrysler?s from their introduction in 1924 until they switched their cap style sometime in the early 1930?s. If I recall correctly I think the next style cap used on Chrysler?s was the Gazelle.

For what ever reason I am not receiving an email from you. I am getting emails from everyone else, but not yours.

As of today I have not received an email with your address. Do you want to try again? studebaker28@yahoo.com

Email me your address and I will drop an article in the mail to you that was written and published in the Antique Studebaker Review back in the 70?s. It goes into great detail regarding the color combinations of the 1928-30 Studebakers. The article has a detailed description with a diagram showing the various body parts and the color combinations. Since you have names of the paint colors you might want to look around for someone who has those color paint chips. They are around, and worth looking for. Once you have the paint chips you can go to any good auto paint supplier and have the paint made to match the chip color. Keep in mind that this still will not be an exact match to what the original paint looked like, but then you will never be able get a perfect match. Today?s paint formulas are nothing like it was in 1928. Hope this helps. Mark Huston studebaker28@yahoo.com

VIN number is the Vehicle Identification Number. This is the number that is on the vehicles title. On early cars (such as Studebakers of the 1920?s) the number used by most states for the VIN was the engine number. On every Studebaker, I have ever owned of the 1920?s era the engine number was used on the title for the VIN. At a later date auto manufactures started using an assigned VIN for each car and that would appear on the car usually on the drivers side of the dash next to the edge of the windshield. Studebakers of the 1920?s had three separate identification numbers, the engine number, the frame serial number and the body number. Of these three, the engine number was the one used on car titles of this period for what we now call a VIN number.

The first question I have to ask, are you restoring the car or is your intent to hot rod it? If you are going to make the car in to a modern hot rod, there are many sources for modifying the electrical system. If our intent is to restore the car it would be better in the long run to find replacement gauges (yes, this can be done) and restore the car to the condition it was when new. The electric system when properly restored will work just as well as a 6 volt positive ground as it would if you converted it to 12-volt negative ground. If you were to convert your car to 12-volt you would need to find a 12-volt generator and machine it to fit your engine, also you would need to replace your distributor with a 12-volt set up and again, it would need to be machined to fit correctly. All electrical components would need to be converted to 12-volt. Again, the same work that is needed to convert your car to 12-volt could be spent restoring the original 6-volt system to its original working order. I have done it both ways (I did convert a 1928 President to 12-volt) and when I was finished, I was not happy with the results. The car no longer had an ?original? look to it. I now have a 1929 President and maintain it in its stock 6-volt condition.

The Coupe-Express is a 1938 and was not built by the factory. It was a converted by a Studebaker dealer in Ogallala, Nebraska in 1938. This was done by using parts from three new vehicles, a 1938 President sedan, a 1938 Commander Sedan, and a 1938 Coupe-Express. The President Coupe-Express still exists and has been restored. The Antique Studebaker Club?s publication ?Review? has an article on the car in their Jan/Feb 2004 issue with a very detailed history of this unique Coupe-Express. According to the article, the President Coupe-Express was owned by the same family for over 50 years and had over 230,000 hard miles on it at the time the restoration was started. The article mentions the current owner is located in Alamo, California.

Here is a picture of the engine in my 1929 Studebaker President.

To confirm which engine your car has have you checked the engine number? On the Presidents (1928 1/2 FB Models) the engine number starts with an FB and is located on the front of the engine block just behind the radiator fan. There is a flat surface just below the head and behind the fan bracket. You will need to take a wire brush to this area since it faces up and collects dirt and grease. The engine number will confirm if you have a President engine. The Commander Engine number starts with FD and is located on the side of the block above the water manifold plate about in the center. Another way to tell for sure if your car has a President or Commander engine (I can not tell from the manifold side view of your engine. The Commander water manifold has the 3 or 4 bolts that go through the center of the water manifold to the block. The President water manifold has about 36 bolts that go around the edge of the manifold to the block. If you take a picture of the drivers side of the engine and post it here we will be better able to tell which engine you have. Also, check for your engine number. Regarding the term "Regal". Studebaker in 1928-29 had 4 model lines. The President, Commander, Dictator and Erskine. Within each line there was a Deluxe model and Basic model. The deluxe model was equipped with sidemounts and wire wheels and is the most obvious deluxe feature. The term Studebaker used to identify the deluxe models was the President State, Commander Regal, Dictator Royal, I don?t recall what the Erskine was called.

From what I see here, my educated guess is that that it is a 1928, no way of telling what model, Dictator, Commander or President. The clue that it is not a 1929 model is the windshield crank hole in the center of the dash. In the 1927-1928 models, the windshield crank was located in the center of the dash in the 1929 models the windshield crank was moved to the header above the windshield. If you have both front and rear axles still in place (cannot tell from the pictures), you can measure the wheelbase and that would help to determine the model. If you do not mind a suggestion, this car looks a little to far gone to restore. At the prices that a 1920?s Studebaker will bring today (especially four door sedans) it will cost far more to restore the car than you can currently pay for a older restored model that you can buy and drive today. If the car was anything other than a sedan, and a Studebaker, it might be worth restoring, but the economic reality is that it is an expensive long-term restoration.

The picture you have attached looks like the 1927 to early 1928 Studebakers. The numbers you give do not quite match up with those used on the 1927 and 1928 models. Here are the numbers, you may need to get the seller to verify, and double check to make sure he is giving you the right information. 1927 Commander: Model EW, Serial Number 4,000,001 ? 4,039,800; engine numbers EW-1 to EW ? 40,700; wheelbase 120 inches, (the serial number is found on a plate attached to the frame behind the left front wheel) 1928 Commander: Model GB, Serial Number 4,039,801 ? 4, 062,100; engine numbers GB-1 to GB ? 22,900; wheelbase 120 inches There was a 1928 GH Commander; it has a wheelbase of 121 inches The information you provide may actually translate to the following: The Vin # you gave is 30118, this could be part of the engine number. It was very common at this time to use the engine number for the Vin number on the title. IF this is the engine number it is missing the model designation of EW. This engine number would fall into the EW production. The Firewall number you provided of EM-M 22958 does not appear to be correct. The model EM was used by Studebaker on the 1923-24 Light Six. The picture you post is not a early 20?s Light Six. The cowl tag EM more than likely is instead EW and has been miss read. The M following the EM is for the body style and the 22958 is the serial number of the body. The number given for the engine number 112588-2 G6 is more than likely a casting number for the head. The correct engine serial number is stamped on crankcase right side opposite No. 1 cylinder and would include the model designation of EW in front of the engine number.

I can look this up to give you more specific information, but, off the top of my head I can tell this is part of a "badger bar". This emblem went on a bar that connected both headlights in front of the center of the radiator. This would have been used on the the 1928 Commanders to celebrate the all the stock car records set by the Commander durring the preceding year. Again this is off the top of my head and can give you more specific information if you need greater details.