1928 Stud Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 My family recently purchased a 1928 and a half Studebaker President. We are going to be restoring the car soon and really need any information about the car that we could get. Parts information and research on the car would be very helpful. Any information would be helpful though.Thanks for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stude8 Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 Welcome to the family, what body style is your new President. If you can post the serial number located on the chassis plate left front outer frame rail to the rear of the left front wheel it would give us an idea of the exact age of the car. Also on the engine compartment firewall will be a metal data tag with numbers and letters that would read FB-W1 or other characters that identify the exact model and trim level of the car. Other important things to help when looking for parts it whether it has wood spoke wheels or wire spoke wheels, dual sidemounted spares or single rear mounted spare. Is the car in running condition or just out of a barn?Attached is a photo of a friends 1929 model FH roadster for inspiration.Stude8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1928 Stud Posted January 29, 2005 Author Share Posted January 29, 2005 Thanks for that information. I will go and get all the numbers off the car and post them up here. It has wire spoke wheels and dual mounted spares on the fenders. The car is actually in great condition.... it still runs...we actually drove it down our drive way and back into the garage. There is also only one dent on the car and one spot of rust on the entire car! The car is also an 8 cylinder. The car is a sedan with suicide doors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1928 Stud Posted January 29, 2005 Author Share Posted January 29, 2005 Post deleted by 1928 Stud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studerex Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 FD on the firewall tag means that your car is a Commander 8. W2 is a 4 door side mounted sedan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1928 Stud Posted January 30, 2005 Author Share Posted January 30, 2005 Thanks for the help with that....But we know for a fact that the car is a President because it have a metal label in the center of the dash that says President. It may be a possibility that it is FBW-2 1142....I may not have looked at it very closely. Anymore information would help me out if anyone out there has anything that they might be able to tell me. 1928 Stud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Huston Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 The frame serial number you gave are for the 1929-30 FD Commanders. The serial number series for the 1929-30 FD Commanders is: 8,000,001 to 8,025,000. The fact that the car has "President" on the dash only means someone at some time in the past placed it there instead of the Correct "Commander" decal. Another way to confirm your car is a Commander is the wheel base. A Commander has a 120 inch wheel base. The President wheel base for the FE is 135 inches and the FH President is 125. Also, the President has a Dual Coil ignition, the Commander has a single coil. The President has two barrel Carburetor and the Commander is a single. Another way to confirm your car is a Commander is by the engine number. On most early car titles the engine number was used as the VIN number. For a Commander the engine number should begine with FD, for a President the engine number begines with FE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1928 Stud Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 Thanks a lot for your help... is there any other information you can give me for parts or anything else that could be helpful? I think we need to know about wheel covers and mirrors that mount on the side of the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Huston Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 In 1929 Studebaker only had available for side mount covers a canvas material wheel cover. There are many original pictures showing the covers with the Studebaker wheel logo. The metal side mount covers did not come out until 1931. For side mount mirrors they are an after market accessory. If you buy a set be sure they are a matching pair and in good condition. Sometimes it is more cost effective to buy a reproduction pair of side mount mirrors than original ones. Also, side mount mirrors that use leather strips are less destructive to you?re your spar tires than the chain type.Available in reprint are two books that will be helpful to you. They are the Studebaker Eight 1929 to 1942 Body Parts book and the Studebaker Eight 1929 to 1942 Chassis Parts book. Both can be found on the internet from auto book dealers. I currently own a 1929 President; I have also owned a 1928 President and a 1929 FD Commander. If you have any questions let me know. I have an original literature collection and might be able to help with some of your questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stude8 Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 1928 Stud,Mark & Rex have pretty well identified your car from the numbers as a Commander, the President tag on the dash could have been replaced over the years with something from a scrap yard car to make the owner feel prouder to have the name President in front of him. If your tape measure says the wheel base is truly as long as 125" or more it could be one of the rare cases where a President was re-tagged and re-registered as a Commander for license taxation reasons or horrors, a theft deception. Usually in those cases the chassis tag mysteriously gets lost. Post a photo for us to see if you can. Stude8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1928 Stud Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 Thanks so much for the help guys. This should help the restoring process a lot! My next question is what luxury levels were the commanders made in? If any? Then would be the question what level do we have? Would there be anyway to use the numbers that I have given and get the original paint color and interior placed back original? While on the subject are there any good places to order the interior for the car from?Thanks again for all the help you have given....don't know what I would have done without it! Mark I haven't been able to find books on the internet... do you have a website or two that you could give me so I could order the books? Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montrose Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 The model you seem to have is the 4 door 5 passenger Regal (deluxe) Sedan. The Regal sedans were normally equipped with 6 wire wheels (dual sidemounts), a clock, and a trunk. The paint coding cannot be deciphered from the serial number or body number, but I believe that there was a paint tag originally on your car, perhaps under the rear seat. I believe that your dash and door reveals should be "woodgrained". As far as your interior, there are no "kits" that I am aware of, hopefully the existing interior is at least good enough to serve as a pattern.I know that the parts books are available from several sources, I do know that they are in the Studebaker Int. (317) 462-3124 catalog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Huston Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 I found both books at this web site: http://www.mystudebaker.com/manuals.htmlThey are listed as: 801284 Body Parts Manual All 1929-40 6 & straight 8 cars $20.00801282 Chassis Manual 1929-40 straight 8 cars $35.00You have a Commander sedan with wire wheels & side mount fenders. The Commander with dual side mounts was called a Regal Commander. The Standard Commander came with wood wheels rear mounted spare. Also, the Commander could have been purchased with a six cylinder engine (called a GJ Commander) in either the Standard or Regal trim. The trim level of the FD Commander 8 included wood grain finish on the dash and window garnish moldings. On the GJ Commander the dash and window garnish was painted one of body colors.As far as the original color, you would need to look at any unexposed parts of the body for original paint. Sometimes the body color paint code is painted on the body panel under the bottom cushion of the back seat. There are no suppliers that I know of that have interior kits for Studebakers. You would need to find a good upholstery shop that is familiar with early cars. Also, get pictures of other FD Commander sedans for examples of what your car should look like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stude8 Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 I believe I have scans of Dupont & Ditzler colors for 1929 or 1930 that I made for someone in Australia at home, I'll try to find the CD ROM and post ithem tomorrow. Today I do have the attached "1930 colors" image from an advertising brochure to wet your appetite. I may have the color Commander brochure in the files to scan also. Stude8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stude8 Posted February 2, 2005 Share Posted February 2, 2005 I found the 1929 Commander brochure and scanned the pages, I reduced the 4 door file to less than 100K to attach here, if you email privately (johns@lowrey.com)I can send the other 4 color image and specification pages at full resolution. Stude8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Rohrbach Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 I have a set of front and back rechromed bumpers for the Commander for sale. But they are the split rear bumpers for a rear spare type car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1928 Stud Posted February 3, 2005 Author Share Posted February 3, 2005 Thanks guys for all the help you have given me! This should help us out a lot. Im about to order both of the books and look under the rear seat to see if I can find the paint number. The only question I have for you now is about the "woodgrain" that was talked about for the dash and doors. I've looked at the car that we have and can't find anything that is woodgrained, everything that im looking at on the doors and dash is metal. Could you give me a little more of an understanding of what it is I'm looking for? Sorry for all the questions just trying to make sure the car is put back all original. Thanks again for so much help with this....I have not idea where I would be without all of this help. I'll probably have more questions to come lol, but I'm sure this website will get us through them. Thanks 1298 Stud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Rohrbach Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Woodgrained means that the metal is "painted" (actually more complicated)to look like it is wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1928 Stud Posted February 4, 2005 Author Share Posted February 4, 2005 Alright thanks for that information that clears things up a lot. I pulled the rear seat out of the car and haven't found a number or anything that might be the paint number... I'm going to continue to look though.Thanks for the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stude8 Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 What you are looking for under the rear seats is not a number, they actually stenceled the color names in about 1/2 or 3/4 inch white lettering on the floor pan metal. Mine read Smk Gry (Smoke Gray) and Mlite (Mohlite) other abbreviations would be for belt line and wheel colors. Strw would be Straw the yellow shade used for pin stripes. If you study the brochure schemes you can figure out the pattern you would be happy with. Stude8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1928 Stud Posted March 6, 2005 Author Share Posted March 6, 2005 Sorry it has taken me so long to get back with the information under the rear seat. The letter were in yellow letering .... I don't know if that matters or not. It reads: GLIDDNES.MOLITE-BROWN-YF.N.AUTPNR-BROWN-V.T.Any information on what this means would be great!Another question I have that has to be probably the most stupid question is as follows. We have been cranking the car and running it every so offten and recently we had to charge the battery...we found that the negative side of the terminal was hooked to the positive side and the positive was hooked to the negative....is this supposed to be that way because I mean the car was running that way or did someone just put it on backwards and it just happened to work out? Thanks for the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stude8 Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 The first color Mohlite Brown is a popular color of 1928-30 period it has a dark shade similar to Mahogany with a bit of reddish tint, the Dupont code was IM-249 (that info from Mr. L. S. Cullens @ PPG Industires, POBox 5090, 7 Oak Station, Detroit, MI 48235 in 1981)The second color I think should read "AUTUMN Brown" Dupont code IM-314.Mohlite & Autumn Brown was a 1929 Commander combination. A good article on those color schemes was in Antique Studebaker Club Newsletter Vol 2 #3 and again in Vol 5 #3.Email me an address at johns@lowrey.com and I can xerox those pages if you don't have access to those issues.The battery polarity reversal will affect the generator, it will be polarized backward now and have to be re-polarized when the battery hookup is corrected in order for it to generate properly again. Look up the process to polarize a new or replacement generator in any service manual for the correct method.Stude8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1928 Stud Posted March 9, 2005 Author Share Posted March 9, 2005 Alright thanks for that information, but which color is the outside and the inside of the car. And do any of those tell about the wheel color or anything else? I did e-mail you, so thanks again for the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1928 Stud Posted April 23, 2005 Author Share Posted April 23, 2005 <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />Just wanted to see if anyone knew about any Studebaker shows that are going to be in the Southeastern U.S maybe in the Georgia area....If anyone has any information just reply Thanks 1928 Stud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1928 Stud Posted May 1, 2005 Author Share Posted May 1, 2005 If anyone could give me the specifications for the running boards for the car we have all the serial numbers are listed about anything would be helpful Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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