RainierHooker's '52 Champion - A Survivor turned Daily-Driver

[Guest RainierHooker]

So, we kind of had an Abort-Start with the last car that we got to be the misses' Daily-Driver (a '62 Chevy II that had way more wrong with it than we knew before we took it apart). So this time around, we started looking for the most bang for our buck, while still remaining true to form. No Kias here. I think we may have succeeded in spades...

What you see is a nearly 100% Original, one-owner, 1952 Champion Regal Sedan. It was bought new by a filbert farmer in Newberg, Oregon and used as 'the farm truck' until the old codger keeled over at 93. Even three of the four tires appear to be original to the car, and the last new set of plates that the car ever had, from 1956, were in the trunk. Having grown up in a Studebaker family (Dad always had one in the driveway) I had to check this car out, and I sealed the deal on the car after driving two hours to look it over after work a few days ago. I pick it up this week.

The car is remarkably well preserved. The only apparent rust is some small spotting in the driver's side floor, the area below the trunk latch in the trunk floor, and a few pin-holes in the spare-tire-well. Plans for now include replacing the trunk floor and the driver's side floor panel, a re-upholstery job using as much NOS as able, but only as necessary, tires and a thorough brake and engine tune on the still running, 54K-original-mile drivetrain. Then we're gonna drive the heck out of it. If the paint turns out to be salavgeable, which I think it is, I'm gonna leave it alone with that off-the-farm, time-capsule-patina. The door-jambs and under-hood paint is next to gorgeous.

Here's the last of the pics I have at the moment...

More to follow once I pick it up and work to return this car to the road commences...

Edited October 15, 2012 by RainierHooker (see edit history)