Lots accomplished, finally worthy of a photo

[Hogtrough]

Over the past two or three months, I've been pretty busy working on this '63 R1 (4223). The car was fully restored in 1993, show car level ( I know this because the owner, who sold the car new in South Dakota, placed a Turning Wheels ad for it with some details). In 2005 it got a new owner who proceeded to have the engine and trans rebuilt. All the parts were purchased from Myers Studebaker and I have every receipt. 

The the car basically sat in his garage until he died two years ago. The car was then stored outside in south Georgia humidity, which did a job on the interior. I was advised to pass on buying the car by several over at the AOAI Facebook page, but didn't heed their advice (the price was right). I was unable to start the engine down there but upon getting it back to TN I started in on it, working about 7 hours a day whenever the weather was decent.

What I've done:

1) Clean the fuel system, replace the carburetor, add an auxillary electric pump, tune up engine, change solenoid (why the car wouldn't start), changed oil, did chassis lube

2) Rebuild the brake system, replacing every steel and rubber line, wheel cylinders, dual master, Turner front discs

3) Add vintage type mags and tires, storing the oem wheels and wheel covers in case next owner wants them

4) Troubleshoot and fix brake lights, headlights, overhead console switches

5) Removed and replace headliner and all interior vinyl pieces with new (seats themselves held up well), removed and dyed carpet, installed dynamat underneath, plugged up firewall holes and replaced grommets as needed, removed and repaired window regulators, restore steering wheel and dash cluster

6) Injected rust preventative inside hog troughs and frame, painted exterior of them

7)Color sanded badly oxidized hood and top, machine polished the paint

😎 Took the car out in the country and did some glamour photography! 

 

More work to do such as stopping the power steering leaks, but the hard stuff is done.

Edited Sunday at 02:34 AM by Hogtrough

[Mark L]

Wow, very nice. The interior looks great.

[Dwight FitzSimons]

Good job.  I'm doing some of the same work on R-4228. You've given me some pointers.

I notice that your console has faded, as they tend to do when in the sun long enough.  I am going to dye my interior (except seats) using a custom mix of SEM vinyl dye in the Elk color.  I went through this years ago successfully.  If you want we might be able to collaborate on this.

Another issue is a source of the heat-molded pleated vinyl material for the door panels.

--Dwight 

Edited Sunday at 11:36 PM by Dwight FitzSimons

[Hogtrough]

I haven't gotten to the console yet. Since the seats had been redone fairly recently in a beige color, I decide to just try to match that with the pleated part of the door panels, and go with Fawn on the upper part. I really don't trust paint or dye on flexible parts of the interior that are sat on, maybe you've had better luck than I have. There are quite a few pleated vinyls that could be dyed to match the door panel material , trick is to find one without padding  which this appears to lack https://fabricwarehouse.com/seaquest-roll-n-pleat-dune-tan-pleated-marine-vinyl-fabric-sun-salt-proof-54-wide-by-the-yard?sku=SQRP-DUNE-03&srsltid=AfmBOorM4Xhs7YBOCSGUDnk0NCd-8wfFkCl506qnarOpBpgnLreIhp_7aRk&gQT=1

[Stacey]

Looks like a labor of love and now you have something that is going to get a lot of attention when your out and about. Thanks for posting those photos. Nice job!

[mfg]

Looks like 63R4223 went to an excellent home!!

[Dwight FitzSimons]

5 hours ago, Hogtrough said:

I haven't gotten to the console yet. Since the seats had been redone fairly recently in a beige color, I decide to just try to match that with the pleated part of the door panels, and go with Fawn on the upper part. I really don't trust paint or dye on flexible parts of the interior that are sat on, maybe you've had better luck than I have. There are quite a few pleated vinyls that could be dyed to match the door panel material , trick is to find one without padding  which this appears to lack https://fabricwarehouse.com/seaquest-roll-n-pleat-dune-tan-pleated-marine-vinyl-fabric-sun-salt-proof-54-wide-by-the-yard?sku=SQRP-DUNE-03&srsltid=AfmBOorM4Xhs7YBOCSGUDnk0NCd-8wfFkCl506qnarOpBpgnLreIhp_7aRk&gQT=1

Thanks for the link.

I wouldn't use vinyl dye on a sat-on surface unless that was my only option.  The vinyl dye isn't going to crack or anything like that; it'll just gradually wear off.

Your seats look great; the Elk color is right on and the covers were well installed.  I would guess that those are the seat covers that SI sells.  I have those on order.

I like your shoulder belts too.  That's something I will copy.

--Dwight

Edited Sunday at 11:52 PM by Dwight FitzSimons

[Hogtrough]

On 3/30/2025 at 6:49 PM, Dwight FitzSimons said:

Thanks for the link.

I wouldn't use vinyl dye on a sat-on surface unless that was my only option.  The vinyl dye isn't going to crack or anything like that; it'll just gradually wear off.

Your seats look great; the Elk color is right on and the covers were well installed.  I would guess that those are the seat covers that SI sells.  I have those on order.

I like your shoulder belts too.  That's something I will copy.

--Dwight

Based on all the info I could find, I thought the Elk color was way off. If it's even close I'm happy. Also, note that you can install the shoulder harnesses by simply drilling and tapping the roll bar- it's that thick. Not quite as thick as a nut, but thick enough