Part Three - Mark Pearson's 1948 Studebaker Restoration Project

This is the view of what would be the back seat area of Rusty, you can see the awful plaid nylon material that the last driver had used to cover the back seat. I found evidence that some bright blue material had been used previously to cover over the old, rotten upholstery. You can also see where the old cotton batting has worked its way down in between all the springs. It was quite a job reaching through the springs to pick out all the old cotton, rubbing the little bits off of the springs. The springs of the rear seat were actually in the best shape, some had hardly any rust at all. The headliner is all gone, but I did manage to save some samples of the material from around the courtesy light fixture to clean up, and use to match up with the new material I will use to reupholster the car. I tried, whenever possible, to save samples of the original material so that I can try to restore Rusty to his original appearance, as much as is practical. I plan to use modern materials, but with the original appearance.

Photos of the seat frame and springs from the front seat. I took these to document exactly where, and how, the hog rings were used to attach the upholstery material to the frame. You can see that there is still a slim band of the original upholstery attached to the edge of the seat frame. You can also see the dip in the center of the frame, where the frame fits over the drive shaft tunnel on the floor. The little springs that connect the tops of the seat springs are all gone. The rust on the front seat was so bad, that these springs just fell apart with handling, and will all have to be replaced. The rest of the springs like this on the other frames are okay.

The black rubber gravel guard just in front of the driver's side rear wheel well. Most of the black rubber fell off when I touched it, just a bit is still held on by one of the screws. I may have some trouble finding replacements for these, as I have seen the chrome ones, and the stainless steel ones, but not the rubber ones. I may end up using chrome or stainless steel, as they hold up much better over time. You can see where the rear fender is rusted through in front of the rear wheel. The right rear fender has more rust than the left one, but I think both can be patched.

This is the front seat frame, after the springs for the seat back were removed. The frame is adjustable, forward and back, by means of a rack under the frame. It has about 8 or 9 different positions, and is released by a lever on the driver's side. It was rusted in place, but I was able to loosen it up after removing the rack from the frame, and then using oil and a hammer to knock it loose. The rack on each end is connected with a toothed rod that goes across the back of the frame.

The underside of the front seat frame, showing the lever that releases the rack. The whole thing can be bolted to the front floor in one of three different positions, as you can see there are three holes to choose from. This is something that would have been available through the dealership, if you had especially long or short legs you could have this adjusted when you bought your car.

· Part Four - Mark Pearson's 1948 Studebaker Restoration Project
· Part Two - Mark Pearson's 1948 Studebaker Restoration Project - The Process Begins