Time To Clear Out the Cobwebs

and 35 years of storage.

Stoked to get this wagon cleaned out

When we brought the car home, the back end was packed full of my uncle's stuff. Most of which was old car detailing stuff that has since gone bad or leaked through its containers. There was an old high-chair, an old wooden shopping basket, Triumph Motorcycle forks, Antlers (dated 1947), Records, and other assorted stuff that one collects over the years. 99% of what was inside hasnt been looked at since the car was put in to storage.

This was taken with the car still in storage.

It took a great deal of patience to get everything out of the old wagon. It seemed that every box that I picked up, quickly fell apart at the seams. My mess got a lot bigger before it got cleaner. To my surprise, the shag carpet that was stapled down in the back of the car, under the priceless treasures, was still some what intact... Not For Long!

A true Shaggin Wagon... Pretty sweet eh?

I quickly ripped it all out to find the original Studebaker vinyl in great shape. There are a few areas where it is bubbling up, but those are very few. This wouldn't be the only carpet to leave the car. I also ripped out the carpet in the front as it was starting to disappear anyways. Found a few rust holes, but far less than expected for a car that is 50+ years old. Eventually I will be ripping all of the carpet out. But I digress. Once the shag was out I was finally comfortable with folding the back seat back up to its normal position. 

More Junk!

Original Seat in perfect condition.

Among the stuff that I found under the seat was a plethora of tools and spare parts. There was a box of new(in 76) spark plugs that had fallen apart. Spare parts weren't that big of a deal to me, but the tools were exciting to find! Who doesn't like finding tools! Almost as soon as the seat was folded up, I folded it back down. This was about a month ago and I am yet to go back to clean out under there. 

Moving to the exterior of the car....

Storage Unit "Tint" Job

 Cleaning the exterior of the wagon has also been a lesson in patience. The first day that I was out there cleaning, I spent roughly 5 hours (this includes cleaning all of the junk out). A majority of the time was spent on washing off 35 years worth of dust, dirt, and cobwebs. If I recall correctly, I ended up washing most of it twice to make sure I got it all off. I ended up using about a 1/2 bottle of windex just trying to get the windows clean! I had planned on buffing out the paint with an electric buffer but soon found out that I had lost all of my pads for it during one of my many college moves. So, I attacked it old school with paper towels (read: pain in the ass).

The above pic shows an area of the hood that I hit with NuFinish Car Polish. I will be going over the entire car with it once I get my buffer pads purchased... or a new buffer. The NuFinish really cleared up a lot of the oxidization that has taken over since it was last washed 3 decades ago. As of now, the only thing that has been hit with the NuFinish is the hood. 

The outside is looking better and better each time I go out to work on it.. Next thing to do to the exterior is clean the wheels with a wire brush and paint them so that they all match. I also plan to do a little pinstriping on the wheels just for kicks. I will also be removing the ski rack and Craigslisting it... I hear Craigslisters love vintage junk.. well I have the ski rack for them!

Next update will be under the hood....