1935 Dictator puzzle

[Spinneyhill]

A new friend has recently bought a 1935 Dictator 1A W2, 4 door sedan with trunk and 2 side mount spares. It is Canadian made, number 92 by the chassis number.

 

The puzzle is a body tag. It reads CS 2529. It is mounted high on the fire wall engine side in the middle, just under the hood (bonnet, we say).

 

I was expecting something with W2 on it. Can anyone give us the interpretation of this? Thank you.

[studeq]

The location you mention was the same as that used on all '35s so nothing out of place there. The CS 2529 however is completely foreign to me. Must have been Canadian only. Do you have a photo?

[Spinneyhill]

Thanks for replying. I had a thought after posting that it could be CS for "Cruising Sedan" but ...

 

Sorry, I neglected to take any photo's. I saw the car for the first time today and spent most of my effort looking it over and imparting some Studebaker knowledge to the owner, who has not owned such a car before. I'll get some photo's next time I see it and will ask Peter to take some.

[studerex]

I've seen 2 other Canadian 35s that had that tag in the same place and started with CS.

 

[Spinneyhill]

Here is the tag in living colour. Looks like I remembered the number wrongly, but close enough. It is a pretty rough stamping job!

 

I see there were 290 1A cars made in Canada (Fred K Fox's article in TW, Apr 1994) so this one is about 1/3 the way through the run based on the chassis number. The head was cast on 14 Sep in year B, which I take to mean 1934. So why is the body number 2549? Did they start numbering Canadian bodies in 1934 or ?. Total Canadian production for 1935 was 1230.

 

Peter says the car was originally Red (from the windscreen opening), which must mean Roosevelt Maroon?

Edited March 9, 2017 by Spinneyhill (see edit history)

[Spinneyhill]

Has there been any discussion in TW or ASR (or anywhere) about the differences between Canadian- and USA-made vehicles and how much was actually made in Canada?

 

This one has Canadian Autolite generator and starter. I would imagine there is other Canadian content, perhaps seats and upholstery, wiring loom, glass, wheels and so on.