Part 5 - Mark Pearson's 1948 Studebaker Restoration Project

Dissassembly continues

Items in the photo include: Window "garnish" moulding from the inside of all four windows. This includes the vent windows, which are part of the garnish moulding frame. Window glass, what's left of it, from the door windows. The four hubcaps which were in the trunk, three are still useable, one has lost the chrome outside piece. A five-lug emergency spare from who-knows-what car. This does not fit on Rusty, since he has four-lug wheels. The radiator, which was in the trunk. The inside trim panel from the left rear door. The trim panel from the right front door was on the floor of the car, but was in much worse condition than this one.

This shows the underside of the front seat frame, showing how the upholstery material was attached to the frame using upholstery tacks. I had no idea how cloth upholstery material could be tacked to a metal frame, but if you look closely, you can see that there is a strip of some kind of rubber material that is stapled to the metal frame (through thin sheet metal) and the cloth is tacked to this using ordinary upholstery tacks. I plan to sandblast all the seat springs and frames to get most of the rust off, and then spray everything with POR-15.

This shows the seat adjusting rack after removing it from the front seat frame. Both racks were stuck, but were loosened with oil and hammer. You can see the toothed rod that connects the two.

The view into the rear of the car after removing the seat springs and some of the trash. The heater core has been removed from the front, leaving the pan that connects it to the heater blower. The floor pan is is very good shape, only one rust-through area under the front passenger's feet. The pasteboard that divided off the passenger compartment from the trunk is gone, but some small bits are still present, still attached to the mounting screws. The floor is covered with broken glass, dirt, and seed husks from the mice.

A better photo of the floor pan in the front, showing the pan where the heater core came out. The heater core air pan is connected to the heater blower with a 4-inch wire-reinforced heater hose that runs under the floor next to the frame. This hose was still present, but was so brittle and soft that it just fell apart when handled, so it will have to be replaced. Surprisingly, the heater core was still full of rusty water, indicating that it does not have any leaks. I set the emergency brake, which does seem to work. The hydraulic fluid, however, is all gone, so the brake pedal goes quickly to the floor and stays there. The return spring is broken. The clutch, however, seems to work okay. I am able to shift into all the gears.