House Special

I have been looking for a project of my own for the last year or so. A week ago I answered an ad listing a 1954 Studebaker for sale. When I showed up I found this 54 Studebaker hardtop coupe with history!. The car was bought new in 1954 by a surgeon, he took a train from Los Angeles to the Studebaker factory in South Bend Indiana to pick it up. In 1957 he sold it to his son, and that's who I bought it from.

The son swapped a hot 283 Chevrolet motor and 4 speed in it in 1960 and then parked the car in his garage in 1970. It was sitting there all these years until I dragged it home. What;s really cool is the history I got with the car, the man saved every receipt he ever had on the car dating back to 1958! I got the instruction sheet for the engine swap kit he bought in 1960, and I even got the vintage Hurst water transfer decal he kept all these years. My plan is to get it running with the 283 he swapped in it, stick a T5 five speed transmission behind it, put it in two tone primer and drive it! Maybe next year it will get the LSX, T56 six speed and T76 turbo sitting in my office...

The 1953 and 54 Studebaker Coupes were designed by Bob Bourke, working for Raymond Loewy. Loewy was famous for designing the Coke bottle, the Lucky Strike logo, and many other icons of American culture.

The car was way ahead of it's time in 1954. The only thing that came close was the Corvette.

This body style is very popular among the landspeed  racers.

The owner installed a second dash with extra gauges. I think I'll be simplifying things somewhat in the dash area.

Every slip of paper he got since 1958 is in this folder. I even have the receipt for the purple paint.

Receipt from Edelbrock in 1961 for balancing the flywheel and clutch.

The receipt from Honest Charlie's Speed Shop for then Hurst engine swap kit. Cool!

The man I bought it from is an engineer, he kept design drawings for all the small parts he made for the swap. I've got them all!