Fred Oliver was driving down the road near Provincetown, MA. when he spotted this red ’63 Daytona convertible with its hood up on the side of the road. He decided to stop and get a few shots, and fine ones they are.
It’s obviously someone’s pride and joy, but it’s not exactly earning that pride today.
The rear end of the ’62-’63 is a bit busy. Brooks Stevens is responsible for the restyle on these, and he didn’t exactly have much of budget to work with.
The Stude’s maw is open, and ready for ministrations, whatever it is that might be needed.
It’s a bit hard to know exactly which version of the Studebaker V8 this is. There were no less than five available. The standard V8 was a 180 hp two-barrel 259, with a 195 hp four barrel version optional. Then came a 210 hp 289, whose power was upped to 225 with a four barrel carb, which is clearly visible here. But I’m not 100% certain that’s the original carb and air filter. One of our resident Studeophiles will likely know.
In 1963, the “R” versions of the 289 were also available. The R1 had a somewhat more aggressive camshaft, 10.25:1 compression ratio, dual point distributor, dual valve springs, a heavier crank damper and a larger Carter AFB four barrel carb increased power from 225 to 240 hp, still at 4500 rpm. Max. torque was 305 @3000 rpm.
The supercharged R2 was essentially the same, but with a lower 9.0:1 CR, and of course the Paxton supercharger. Initially, Studebaker did not publish output numbers for the R2/3/4, but due to issues with sanctioning bodies they were later. The R2’s published hp rating was 290 @5200 rpm.
Then there’s the very limited production R3/4, which had special heads and were bored out to 304.5 c.i.
There’s no “R” badges on this Daytona, so it didn’t come with one from the factory with one. Quite likely it’s a 289, possibly upgraded to make comparable to the R1. Or perhaps it’s a bit warmer than that.
It’s backed by the B/W T-10 four speed manual. This is a tasty Stude, with fine interior for the times.
Black and white makes a great interior combo. Whether the exterior red is original or resale red is another open question.
So what’s the most likely culprit for its non-running status?
Related reading:
Nice ride!
I think this is what Studebaker wished it had been selling lots of instead of six cylinder strippo Larks. 🙂
The chrome air cleaner and valve covers look like the style used on the R1 engines, but that doesn’t necessarily make it an R1. It certainly is not one of the higher Rs from what I can see. It also lacks the R grille badge. But it does have the 4 speed. And if the red is a repaint, someone was thorough and did the engine compartment too. My educated guess would be a 4 bbl 289 that someone (either recently or even in 1963) added chrome dress up items.
I found a post in a forum from a guy in Connecticut asking about production figures for 63 Lark V8 4 speed convertibles, and says he has one that is a nice original. He does not ID it as a “Jet Thrust” or an R series. FWIW, there were only 1015 Daytona convertibles built in 63.
And is it Red Convertible day on CC? 🙂
Also a Brooks Stevens thing going on, with this and yesterday’s Jeepster
It’s too bad we can’t get a closer look at that fuel filter; it might just be out of gas. Fuel gauges aren’t always accurate at this late date. Nice old cars like this also aren’t always driven regularly – it could be a dirty set of points. I’ve had cars start fine once and then not start the next turn of the key; the points had a thin film of corrosion. The radiator looks clean, so it’s not likely to be overheating, although that’s one reason the hood may be up. A couple times over the last few years, I’ve had a piece of trash plug a main jet (on two different regularly driven cars with filters and clean fuel systems). Running on half the cylinders will stop you in your tracks right now.
This happened last year on my Corvair; I diagnosed it by observing that the driver’s side heat door was closed after trying to limp the car home. I revved the engine up and slapped my hand over the left carburetor, sucking the offending piece of junk out of the jet. Problem solved, and it hasn’t been back since (knock on wood).
Man, I hate those clear plastic filters. Very easy to see dirt, particularly when it’s illuminated by the fire that starts when they fail.
I’m thinking out of gas or overheating.
I agree on the “fireball” filters.
There shouldn’t be anything but metal and precision sealing on the pressure side of carburetor era fuel systems. Yet some OE systems were scrimped and used hokey hose-and-clamp filter arrangements between pump and carburetor. Crazy
That’s how my ’78 Cougar died. The plastic fuel filter. It had to have been that because I was in traffic and I heard a ‘WHUMPH!’ as the car immediately died and smoke started curling up from the hood. Flames followed soon after. Total loss.
Indeed! My ’65 Skylark was sent from the factory with a hose from the fuel pump up to the carburetor and a metal filter in between. The filter has a “clamp” that’s bolted to the front of the engine.
This was common, and remember back then you were dealing with 4-5psi pressure, which was not and is not a problem for a fuel hose and clamp to handle.
No problem to handle 4-5 psi with hose and clamps if components are in good repair.
That’s the big “IF” because when not in good repair then even .25 psi is plenty of pressure to pump fuel on a hot engine and start the barbecue.
It’s just not good design, either cost-cutting or oversight, whichever.
Hose and clamp plumbing with gasoline under pressure over an ignition source is just not a good mix.
According to the license plate, the owner lives in Connecticut but his heart is in S. Truro, which is right down the road from Provincetown. At least if his old Stude had to break down, it did so someplace that the owner wants to be, and on a nice day! Probably a minor problem.
That’s two mentions of an owner in Connecticut. It’s gotta be his car, as how many ’63 Stude convertibles are still licensed and running? 5? 15?
I’ve never noticed this before seeing these photos, but I see some definite similarities between this car’s design and that of the 1963-64 Chryslers, particularly the front and rear ends.
What a sweetie .
The only time a clear plastic fuel filter leaks is if you fail to change it for many years .
-Nate
It’s not so much the filter as the rinkydink plumbing arrangement.
Fast-rot hoses with barb connections to unsupported tube, carrying pressurized fuel, sometimes over hot manifolds.
Just not good design. It was a problem.
The original South Bend plan addressed it nicely.
All steel on the pressure side, uninterrupted flare-to-flare.
Bowl down low to capitalize on gravity to live up to it’s “sediment bowl” description.
…or if it’s made somewhere notorious for disregarding materials and construction specifications because the factory owner’s son-in-law’s company offered a cheap price on a material that looks about the same.
Or if it’s made of passable material, but something happens (under the hood of a car, imagine that!) to cook it beyond its temperature tolerance.
(Nate, please remember the agreement last time this topic came up, thanks)
Such a handsome car. Of course, my view of it is removed from any experience of it as a new car, but it is a great looking compact.
Visit The Studebaker National Museum. Should be a day trip from Chicago. I used to take the South Shore RR, as I recall. Very worthwhile.
You’re not a real CC’er until you’ve been to the Studebaker museum in South Bend.
Where’s the owner? He just left it there? I realize he needs help, but this is a car I would call for help to come to me.
This thread needs appropriate musical accompaniment:
A bunch of Zevon just came in in this bar while reading. Can’t complain!
Sure miss Warren Zevon’s songs.
Was going to post this video myself. Warren was gone way too soon.
What a great looking Stude convertible-I hope the owner gets the problem(s) fixed.
Looks pretty stock in the engine compartment, which is admirable in this day and age. That is a correct air filter for an R1, and Carter AFB (or clone) under it. The chromed valve covers were part of the R Series engine’s dressing up for the affair. Also appears to have a stock Prestolite alternator and external regulator, and a dual chamber master cylinder would indicate drum brakes… oddly enough, factory front disc brake cars had a single chamber master. The factory tach occupying the center position in the gauge cluster actually originates from the GT Hawk, which is why it’s noticeably smaller than the other two gauges. It’s applied here with appropriate needle for Lark duty, and is usually seen in R1 or R2 (or R3 or R4) cars, in place of a clock or blanking plug.
I’m fairly active in the Studebaker community, so kinda have a finger on the general pulse… Modifying engines to R Series specifications is very common, and many folks (with any and every engine flavor) will install electronic ignition, electric fuel pump, and aftermarket carburetors that are sized much too large for given engine. It feels like about 50% of those who do these mods can and do suffer from inadequate (re)engineering, problems, and breakdowns directly related to these parts, which might could be at play here?? The only thing I can think of that’s a known issue with Stude V8’s is that they did a piss poor job at the factory of getting all of the core sand out of the blocks, which leads to overheating… but I’m sure that was taken care of at rebuild time. Surprisingly, there are still quite a few Studebakers out there with the factory issue core sand still clogging cooling passages. Occasionally, an original fiber timing gear will strip, too.
Any which way you dice it, that would be an awful nice looking car to be seen broken down in!
Yepper! Electric fuel pumps in conjunction with carburetors can and will make large problems, some of them extremely dangerous, unless uncommon thought and thoroughness are put into the installation.
I like “uncommon thought and thoroughness”. That’s an apt descriptor of how one should approach any modification that has the potential to create a huge safety hazard to yourself and others. It’s also one of your taglines, innit? =)
My 1962 Lark came to me with a one-size-fits-all electric fuel pump “mounted”, i.e., sorta dangling in the engine compartment in the vicinity of the battery. It was wired, like so many are, to be pumping away whenever the ignition switch is on; I think it may have also pumped when you turned the key to ACC, presumably to make sure you had fuel pressure when listening to the radio with the engine off?
Considering its location, I’m surprised the thing was able to pull fuel from the tank and deliver it to the carburetor, but it somehow did. I never checked operating pressure, or even considered spending the time mounting and wiring it *correctly*, as it appeared to be a solution to a problem that didn’t exist. Fortunately, the prior owner left the mechanical pump in place (and disconnected), prolly as a cheap and easy block-off plate… I reconnected it, then pulled the electric pump and its Scotchlok’d wiring spaghetti. 4+ years later, the mechanical pump is still on the job!
Thanks, Paul, for using my photos. I’m happy to see this car get some attention here. In case anybody was worried, I’m pleased to report that it was gone when I came back by a few hours later. I can’t offer any insight into what led to its temporary abandonment beyond what is in the photos, and that I didn’t notice any fluids on the ground underneath or behind it. At least it was a nice day for a walk.
Though I don’t know much about them (and much of what I do know came from reading CC), I have always had a soft spot for Studebakers. It likely traces back to my father, who was an auto mechanic back when they roamed the land in larger numbers, and probably had more to do with the coolness of the name than anything about the cars themselves.
And then there was the Muppet Movie, from which I learned that 1951 Commanders are the natural habitats of bears. In case anybody was wondering, the Henry Ford Museum page linked below describes how Fozzie was able to “drive” the car. In short, the car was modified so that it could be controlled by a human of small stature riding in the trunk, who saw the road ahead via a camera installed in the “bullet” nose of the car. The puppets were controlled from vantage points in the footwells.
https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/blog/fozzie-bear-s-1951-studebaker-commander
Yeah, y’know, that was put forth in that movie with such confidence as a fact, but I don’t think I’ve ever met a bear in or with a ’51 Commander or any other Studebaker. Baffling, eh!
I’ve always taken Fozzie’s assertion as true, but now that you mention it, I’m beginning to wonder.
As luck would have it, Fozzie’s car was in CC a while ago.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/the-studebaker-national-museum-part-3-rarities-and-oddities/
Hood up. All that is missing is the driver standing by the front looking down into the engine compartment like many do. I passed a white Lincoln limo parked across the street from the high school in Danville today. Vinyl roof had seen better days. However, the hood is up and there are two scruffy looking guys in their 20s staring at the engine. I don’t know what they expected to see and with the temp at 102 they were going to stare by themselves.
“If CC doesn’t want to hear from those -for example- with actual experience in knowing which cars had a propensity for burning, and why, just say so.”
That would have been my response based on over 50 years of Mechanic works, factory, dealer and not a small amount of aftermarket and OEM part supplier training .
My bad, I thought someone would care about the facts .
-Nate
Be honest folks:
In 1963-64, if you had money to spend on a new Daytona convertible or a similar offering from GM or Ford, even MOPAR, which got chosen ?
The sales numbers speak volumes on what was in people’s hearts…… I love this little car in retrospect, but know this much today:
If I had been living back then and in need of a shiny new ‘vert, the last dealership I would have gone to would have been Studebaker. The first would have been to look at a new Impala, then over to ma-mopar to check out a Sport Fury. Off to Ford a very close second to drool on a ’63 Galaxie in dark blue with white interior.
I am glad someone bought this beauty back in ’63 and that someone has taken the time to preserve it today.
The world is a richer place because of this …….
Up until they finally won the World Series, Studebaker was like the Chicago Cubs of the auto industry, lovable losers who, somehow, always managed to hang around a lot longer than they should have.
In fact, South Bend, today, actually has a popular Chicago Cubs triple-A farm team that’s located near (if not actually on) the old Studebaker factory site.
Yep they’re the South Bend Cubs, who were called the South Bend Silver Hawks from 1994 to 2014 which of course is named for the 1950s Stude. I’m curious why they didn’t name them the Golden Hawks which was the top of the line model, one notch above the Silver Hawk. Retribution for not using South Bend-made engines in the 1956 model?
Nice car and such a welcome change from the broken down ex JDM cars Im used to seeing littering the roadsides.
Nice shots. The Daytona looks great in red, and the black and white interior works well with it. Hopefully it was a simple fix, and the Daytona was on its way under its own power with a smiling owner rowing the gears once again. Several years ago I saw a blue Daytona convertible at a store across the street from our Toronto apartment building. It was part of a small group of antiques, including a mid-‘60’s Olds 98 coupe that absolutely dwarfed the Daytona. Before I could run inside and grab my camera they were off, but I heard a nice rumble from the dual exhausts on the Daytona as they pulled away.
When I first saw this post, I thought maybe, just maybe, I had found my old red ’63 Daytona Convertible! Last I saw it, was about 1980, as the new owner drove it down my driveway here in Maryland.
Sadly, I don’t think this is my car. My Daytona was kinda rare in that it came South Bend with a 6 cylinder, automatic, and factory A/C. As soon as I saw the under hood photo, I knew it wasn’t my car. I really enjoyed drives to the beach with the top down and the A/C turned on. That meant plenty of breezes while driving along at higher speeds, and then a blast of cooled air on my face when I had to stop at a light!