"My Mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought
careening through a cosmic vapor of invention."
- Hedley Lamarr (Blazing Saddles 1974)
Leave it to Mel Brooks to get straight to the point of the matter. I am full of nothing but idea after idea and no time to get to work on it. It really is difficult to work on a car when it is not being housed at the same location as I. I know I have stated that before, but it holds true. I have no idea what will be the final outcome of the wagon, just mere ideas floating around this size 7-3/4 dome of mine (yes I have a big head).
One thing I know for sure is that there will be a mix of styling cues from both old and new school. My ideas as of now include pictures that were photoshopped for me by members of The H.A.M.B. :
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| Old School Gasser.... just for kicks |
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| This one is supposed to illustrate Candy Red with a Silver Metal Flake Roof |
One thing that I want to do no matter what, is to have this car sitting on Wide White Walls. After looking at pictures over and over again, I personally think that the last picture is where I want this Wagon to go. I have the full set of Original Studebaker Hubcaps but I am not sure that they will find their way on to the car. They make great garage art in my humble opinion. The last picture shows an Orange Metal Flake roof to match that of the wheels as mentioned in my previous entry: Paint And A Buffer .
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| Just imagine this Metal Flake Orange |
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| Something like this! |
I think I may just be getting somewhere with all of this mindless drivel. The exterior is pretty much taken care of in my mind. I think it will look fairly kick-ass. But I must continue on...
The interior for the time being will be kept original. I may stuff some new foam under the drivers seat as it has little to no support now. Here is how the original dash looked when it was still in storage:
All I have done since then is clean it up. There are tears in the leather dash-pad but that is too be expected after 35 years of not being treated. I plan to keep this all 100% original looking. I do however plan to run a newer stereo in this car and see two viable options and one that is a tad unorthodox:
- Mount it in the glove box which can be seen in the center of the dash under the radio delete plate, or
- Figure out a way to make the radio delete plate flip down and mount the stereo behind it. This way, the glove box would still be functional.
- Purchase an old 8track player and rip out the guts to mount a modern stereo inside.
Eventually I would most likely want to match the interior to the exterior but that is a ways down the road. Why not rock the original factory leather? I may find a Mexican blanket and through it down for good measure on the front seat.
As stated previously, the Studebaker 259 V8 will stay in the car and be backed by an automatic transmission of some sort. Still on the fence regarding which one though. TH350? 700R4? C6? Who knows these things!
Put a vintage radio in the place of the delete plate. Rig up a concealed MP3 player that feeds its output to the amp circuit in the radio, and out through the OEM speaker. Load the MP3 player with circa 1959-60 pop music (a little pre-British Invasion rock, a little Sinatra swank, a little Vince Guaraldi jazz). Start the car, turn on the radio, and suddenly it's 1960!
ReplyDeleteThat is a fantastic idea. I already have a fair amount of Sinatra and Chuck Berry that I can blast. I hadn't thought about the MP3 player route, but it is a good one as they say that CD's will be obsolete in less than 10 years.
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