Thread: 1950 Studebaker Champion Mordoor project!

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Thought I'd post up my Stude build. I started this about 4 years ago and got stalled out on it and side track with my Rat Rod project.

The car is a 1950 Studebaker Custom Champion. Which was the lowest cost Studebaker Champion. It originally had a 169 cubic inch flathead 6 with a 3 speed transmission. My dad bought it in 1969 for $50 he was looking for a car and found this and couldn't pass it up since he had Studebakers before. He drove it for a few months before he found another car and parked this one.

When I turned 16 the car had been parked for 3 years by then, I got it running and stopping again (brake job) and drove it to high school and then used it for a back-up cars as I got into Muscle Cars and was always wrenching on the ones I had at the time. Muscle cars seem to break a lot for some reason. The Stude pretty much sat for about 20 years before I finally began working on it again after I restored my 1970 AMX.



I got a Fatman front clip with the Mustang II front suspension. It has the Stainless Steel a-arms with 11" disc brakes and power rack and pinion steering.

Flathead 6 removed from car



Stock Front suspension removed from car



Fatman Front suspension Installed

My plans for the car are to update the front and rear suspension and the interior keeping most of the body stock appearing.

Here's the front suspension put together for now.



I got a got a good deal from a friend on the tires and wheels. They had only about a 1000 miles on them. They are Coker tires and Chevy rims the trim rings I had from my 95 Chevy pick-up. I kept them when I put new rims on the truck and saved them.



I pulled the rear end out and made some new spring hangers for the front and rear. I have a 2003 Chevy S-10 rear end for it and it fit perfect. I was going to use the stock S-10 springs but they had too much arch and the back end was too high might have been a little stiff too. I didn't want to use lowering blocks so I got a pair of lowering leaf springs from Chassis Engineering. Those are the S-10 springs in the picture.


Close up view

Once I got the front and rear suspension in I mocked up a Chevy Small Block with a 700R4 inplace to check for firewall clearance. I had to move the firewall back 4".

Here a shot from the front.

And one from inside. I'm using a Lokar shifter.


Here's the engine I will be using. Its a 400 Chevy from Speedway Motors. My ex brother-in-law had it in a 71 Chevelle. He pulled it out when he sold the car. It had only about 10k miles on it. He left it at my sisters house and she called me one day and said for me to come get it out of her gargage. I said OK!

It was just a long block but the price was right. Free!

The only place there was rust was on the drivers side floor and body mount. I cut out the floor and put some beads in it and welded it in.



When I built the trans tunnel I used the old tunnel just raised it up about 4". I left a removable panel so I could get the linkage easier.

Here's the body mount I had to replace. I found a replacement on a site on the internet. So I didn't have to fabricate one.


Front view with new recessed firewall. I think on 51 Studes the year of their first V8 they had a recessed firewall to make room for their V8. The booster and master cylinder were out of a 78 Firebird.



As was the brake pedal assembly and steering column (with key). The seats are 6 way power, heated leatherfrom a 2003 Trailblazer $300 for the pair. I also got the center console and over head console for another $100.

The driveshaft tunnel I made on a 3' sheetmetal brake making a small bend every 1/8"-1/4". Sure wish I had a slip roller.



Here's a shot of the dash. I had to add 4" to widen the original dash to clear the Vintage air conditioning condenser. It can get hot here in NM and I want to be comfy!



There's a view of the console too. It fit perfect!

Another view of the dash.



I made a cardboard template for the front of the dash and cut it out of 18 gauge.



Finished dash with Auto Meter Gauges in Billet Specialties Bezel. I used the original glove box door.



Test fit in car.

That is pretty cool and I am really impressed with that dash.

So, is that all you were able to get done?
Looks great, I really need to get out in the garage and get my project going.
We had a 50 Commander when I was growing up, really good looking cars!

Great project
Mark

Originally Posted by Evolvo

DMW56,
Really great work, you must be having a blast!
So its too cold to paint? You mean like mid 50's, you should have been in Seattle 10 days ago, we had a week of mid 20's, now that's cold (for Seattle, ok, ok!!).
Anyway, project looks great, keep at it.

Hey, I never received that check for the truck. So I'm keeping it!

No, we have real winters here. Iit snowed yesterday and has been highs of 40's. We may be desert but we get 2-4 feet of snow where I live in NM. We are at 6,800 feet altitude.

Thanks, I like to get this a least drivable by mid summer 2010.

I finished media blasting the frame last weekend. Today I got the bottom half of the frame primered. Went out ot the the shop about 9 am and fired up my 2 heaters by about 2 PM it was almost 60 degrees inisde. High of 26 degrees today and 15 mph winds. Tomorrow I'll flip it over and get the top primered and try to finish it on Monday. Then I'm going to CA for a week. Should have just stayed home and worked on the car!!

I'm using Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black.

Very nice work . Also that car is is some great condition being with the one family so many years .

This won't look any different than the other pictures but got the finish coat on the frame.

Wow glad your back we love the build threads, that being said I am grossly behind on my project too! Some times life slows us down, but the constant in my life is the 48 runs well and is always ready for me when time permits!

The car is looking nice and it's nice to see you back at it again!

Cool! Glad to see you're back on it. I've got one of those decade long projects, too. Hang in there!