As Listed: 1918 Studebaker Big 6 $3,000

[B Jake Moran]

Marketplace - 1918 Studebaker Big 6 | Facebook

 

1918 Studebaker Big 6 · Convertible · Driven 12,965 miles 1918 Studebaker 6 cylinder for sale. Car was parked in a barn in 1928 and never moved again. It's in great shape considering it's age. I just dont have time to mess with it. Any serious questions just send a PM or call. This is a very untouched car. Located in Hobart Indiana $3000 obo phone 219-771-9915

 

 

 

 

 

[edinmass]

WOW! A cool free car.........hopefully a teenager buys it and falls in love with early cars..........if it were close to my, I would grab it.

[58L-Y8]

No idle boast naming it their "Big Six":  3 7/8" X 5" bore x stroke: 353.8 cu. in., 60 hp.   At $1,795 for this touring in its price segment, it was a real road locomotive.

[Xander Wildeisen]

Cheapest part about that will be buying it.

[George Albright]

Great race car speedster chassis 

[cjmarzoli]

Quote

 

Judging by the amount of rust and deterioration, that barn must have had no roof!  Or it was parked BEHIND the barn.

[DFeeney]

About 10 yrs ago I bought a rougher Big Six Studebaker and turned it into a "Dirt Track Racer".  It was a fun, low cost project that kept me out of the "Bars" .   I would encourage someone else to do the same.

Edited October 30, 2023 by DFeeney (see edit history)

[alsancle]

Wow.   What a great car for someone.  

[Fossil]

The cups on the head next to the sparkplugs, are those for priming or oiling or? 

 

[Mark Wetherbee]

2 minutes ago, Fossil said:

The cups on the head next to the sparkplugs, are those for priming or oiling or? 

 

Priming the cylinders. They kept them on the engine through 1924 at least as I used to have a 24 Special Six.

[B Jake Moran]

4 hours ago, cjmarzoli said:

Judging by the amount of rust and deterioration, that barn must have had no roof!  Or it was parked BEHIND the barn.

It’s well over 100 years old and stored for 95 years. 

[Pete Phillips]

Looks like surface rust only. I'll bet it's solid as a rock. Those are amazing cars. The Big SIx was the predecessor of the Studebaker President. This could be one of the only unrestored ones left in the world. If it were close to me, I would buy it. Rare opportunity here.

 

[HarryLime]

Why was it parked after only ten years ?  There must be a compelling reason .  Close enough to me, but I cannot give up the life in the bars.

[Xander Wildeisen]

Owner was close enough to just walk to the bar.😁

[Billety]

Sadly, too far from me in Australia. 😮‍💨

[wayne sheldon]

15 hours ago, B Jake Moran said:

Car was parked in a barn in 1928 and never moved again.

 

I expected to see it still in its barn! Not a modern garage?

Great car though.

[Dj59]

17 hours ago, cjmarzoli said:

Judging by the amount of rust and deterioration, that barn must have had no roof!  Or it was parked BEHIND the barn.

It’s over a hundred years old. If this car had been sitting outside nothing would be left of it. The rust is ALL surface. 

[58L-Y8]

13 hours ago, HarryLime said:

Why was it parked after only ten years ?  There must be a compelling reason .  

At ten years old, any 1918 car was considered to be obsolete, essentially worth only its scrap value.   But, for the frugal and provident, if the car was still in reasonably usable condition, and there was a place to store it as a back-up vehicle, it would have been kept.    It could even have been as simple as this Big Six, being a rugged chassis with a torquey engine was set aside to make a farm truck but they never got around to it.  Most of the old cars we venerate now had a period of 'benign neglect' that allowed them to survive.

[HarryLime]

I am thinking of a bad con rod or main bearing. It has been too long now, they forgot why it was put away. It is compelling............. 

[Fossil]

In those days a lot of women didn’t drive. If the husband passed away the car probably got shoved in the barn and left there. This exact thing happened to two cars I knew about when I lived in Oregon. A 1929 Reo and a Model A Ford. The owner of the Model A actually died on the front porch after bringing it home from the dealer. I sat in the Reo but never saw the Ford.

[B Jake Moran]

3 hours ago, 58L-Y8 said:

At ten years old, any 1918 car was considered to be obsolete, essentially worth only its scrap value.   But, for the frugal and provident, if the car was still in reasonably usable condition, and there was a place to store it as a back-up vehicle, it would have been kept.    It could even have been as simple as this Big Six, being a rugged chassis with a torquey engine was set aside to make a farm truck but they never got around to it.  Most of the old cars we venerate now had a period of 'benign neglect' that allowed them to survive.

Perfect observation. It was an open car, and by 1928, closed cars flipped the purchasing decision.  

[Porsche 68]

WOW that’s way cool yeah I wish I was closer That would be a great car get running and enjoy it just the way it is.        I wonder what it would cost to ship it to NY state 🤔 …….. not city 

[Mark Wetherbee]

The problem might be ignition related as the distributor is missing. It mounts right on the front of the engine where the rag is. One problem with those was a pot-metal bevel gear driving the distributor but someone was making them 25 years ago when I had the 24. At the age, assume the engine needs everything done and you won’t be disappointed. Still a great buy for the money IMO.

[JV Puleo]

On 10/30/2023 at 9:06 PM, HarryLime said:

Why was it parked after only ten years ?  There must be a compelling reason .  Close enough to me, but I cannot give up the life in the bars.

"Only ten years"? Look at any group of photos taken 1928/29 and try to find a 10 year old car. Just as 58L-Y8 has noted, it was 10 years old. That was very old for a car in 1928 and most people would have considered it hopelessly obsolete. I'll bet 90% of the surviving cars from that period were stuck in barns or outbuildings for much the same reason. They would have been junked if the owner didn't have essentially free storage...I'm reminded of two British officers who bought a 1914 RR in a Cairo breaker's yard around 1950 and drove it to Jerusalem. I drive a 30 year old truck every day. That would have been unthinkable even in the 60's.

 

It's a great car and a real opportunity for the right person...especially someone with patience and imagination that doesn't have a pocket full of money. I'm glad I had a good deal of experience before I found this site because the general attitude here, which seems to be driven by how much it costs to have someone else do the work, would have put me off antique cars permanently.

 

The fact that it wasn't junked in 1928 is a good indication that it was still roadable then.

Edited November 1, 2023 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[gossp]

This car showed up on Facebook the day after I sold my spare set of 26” tubes and tires… if it had show up before then… I likely would have used using the tires as an excuse to buy it. It’s only 90 minutes away!  

[B Jake Moran]

Many of us say we would buy it including me if….

 

In my case as I’ve noted before, I am trying to get a project car to work on with a young man. But he would probably go right back to gaming if I hauled this in.  
 

This should have been snatched up already.  Can’t believe the Studebaker Club guys haven’t grabbed it. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by B Jake Moran (see edit history)

[ARUCKEY]

DFeeney  Did you ever have a problem with bent rims on the Big Six Speedster?  I have a 1927 Nash Speedster and looking for someone to straighten the rims. Bad virbration starting a 35 mph !  

[wayne sheldon]

10 hours ago, ARUCKEY said:

DFeeney  Did you ever have a problem with bent rims on the Big Six Speedster?  I have a 1927 Nash Speedster and looking for someone to straighten the rims. Bad virbration starting a 35 mph !  

 

Are you sure the rims are the problem? A lot of things can cause vibration at those speeds, including bent rims. However, good tires generally mask slightly bent rims, and often the rims are not the problem unless they are bad enough to not seat straight onto the wheel's felley. 

Have you checked the wheels with tires for roundness? And then check each part of the wheel assembly. Check the wheel itself without a rim or tire, and then check the wheel with the rim, but still no tire. Determine what part of the wheel is out of round.

And what type of rims and wheels does your Nash have? Wood spoke? Steel disc? With separate split rim or included removeable ring? Both types were common that era. Or wire wheels? (Remote chance of split rims on those also?)

I have straightened the common collapsible split rims of the 1920s several times for non-Fords. Non-Ford split rims are much tougher than are model T 21 inch split rims. But they are still not all that difficult to do.