President straight 6 engine...not sure what year..BIG!

[Wes Anderson]

Hi. We have what we believe to be a studebaker straight 6 president engine..<BR>not sure to the year but think it is in the 1920's. stude's not my thing...help?

[George Rohrbach]

Hi,<BR> Go to this page on the Antique Studebaker site, and it will give you the numbers that you need to identify it! <A HREF="http://www.antiquestudebakerclub.com/identify_your_car.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.antiquestudebakerclub.com/identify_your_car.htm</A>

[Guest stude8]

Wes:<BR>Studebaker only used an inline 6 for 1926 and 1927 in the President model. After that they used 8 cylinder because the President was the top of the line model. Stude8

[Guest]

Hi. thanks for the response. still not sure what we have. Big Six...with transmission and the front cowel section. I have some numbers written down that may be off the engine....gbw-32422. does that mean anything to anyone?

[Guest stude8]

Wes:<BR>I don't have my books here but GB is 1928 Commander chassis number code. W is body code for 4 door sedan. The numbers are sequence for the model run and I'll have to look up those in my record books.<BR>Stude8

[29StudiePrez]

Wes,<BR>The numbers you have written down, are off of the firewall, not the engine. These numbers were on a metal I.D. tag about the size of a business card mounted with two rivets to the firewall. The metal tag had two lines of raised lettering on it. The first line on your car would appear "GB W-3", as Stude8 was correct in saying, the "GB" signified it was a 1928 Commander. After the "GB" there were several possible designation as explained below;<BR>W-1 meant it was a 4 door sedan with standard mohair interior and a rear mounted spare.<BR>W-2 (4 dr with mohair and sidemounts)<BR>W-3 (4 dr with Broadcloth interior and rear mounted spare)<BR>W-4 (4 dr with broadcloth interior and sidemounted spares) <P>In addition to the change in interiors, the #3 and #4's usually had other upgrades and were referred to as Regal or Royal Sedans. Like any car dealer, even today, there were always models with the upgrades added to boost the cost of the cars, and things were the same even back then as they are today.<P>The second line on the tag usually just had numbers, as on yours this was "2422" which meant it was the two thousand four hundred and twenty second 1928 4 door sedan made. No other car will have the same set of numbers. <P>As an example if you found what was left of an old firewall, and it still had the tag on it, you would be able to tell exactly what kind of car it was from these numbers. Anything that started with a "G" meant it was a six cylinder, like yours (GB) the "B' signified it was a commander. If it had "GE" we would know it was a six cylinder dictator. If it started with an "F" we would know it was an eight cyclinder. The "FD" was a commander, "FC" was an eight cylinder Dictator, the "FH" was the short wheelbased President and the "FE" was the long wheelbase President.<P>I went a little into length onto my explaination, but I did so it might help others out there who did not know what this tag meant. One other thing, the nice thing about this tag is, if you know how to read it, when you go to check out a Studebaker to purchase it, you can tell by the tag whether or not someone had converted it from the way it originally came from the factory. If you go to look at buying an 8 cyclinder dictator with dual sidemounts and the tag says "GE W-1" you know it used to be a six cylinder with wood wheels and a rear mounted spare.<P>Hope this helps and gives you and other collectors a better understanding of the numbers.<P>Good Luck.