Posting #7 - Big changes in my life! This project car is now for sale....

It is now May/2023... My life has gone through some major changes that have now led to me deciding to sell this  '65 Daytona Project car before completion. The old frame has been rebuilt and strengthened to enable it to  handle a 400 HP engine! 

 ANYONE INTERESTED IN MAKING A WILD STUDEBAKER RAT ROD!!

 Not many people know about it, but, Studebaker in 1963 made a model with a "retractable soft-top". They referred to it as a "Sky Top". It did not turn out to be popular ... probably due to a thing called rain! Amazingly it was only about an $185 extra charge!

Long before I knew these Sky Tops existed, I had planned on putting a retractable roof panel into the roof of my Daytona. I had one made and picked it up in Phoenix while on a trip there. It is 40" X 40" and is almost identical as the one shown but is Black.

 

Current cost would be about $1000 Can$  It is still in the box and is included with the car.

 

This picture shows the layout that I had planned. It works out well with the roof braces.

Fun for parades!

I relocated in 2020 to Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast. At that time I couldn't decide if I should sell my project or keep it. Decided to keep it and leave that choice until later. When prepared for moving, the Daytona was at about the same stage as you see it in Posting #6 sitting on the newly rebuilt frame - I was just planning to put it onto a Rotisserie but never got that far.

 

I put all the NOS fenders that had come with the car inside the car. Also carefully bundled up all the glass... windshield and back window are in good condition. the side windows are also good. The Retractable Soft Top is also in car.                            I mounted the engine and transmission temporarily back into the frame (one less thing to handle separately).

Wrapped the Daytona in a heavy tarp and put many rounds of rope around it to keep the tarp from flapping. I arranged for our local Tow Truck operator, Todd, to come and pick the Daytona up with his ramp truck and bring it over on the ferry to Gibsons. I followed him with a rented trailer filled with some of my bulky shop equipment  like air compressor, solvent parts cleaning tank, large sandblasting cabinet, engine cherry picker, and my Rotisserie

Some of these items are also for sale.

By the way, when you are looking at all the pictures that you can see by clicking on the link at the top of the blog, the blue sections are what I used from the Donor Car and the turquoise green sections are from the Original Car. The car has been stored under cover, wrapped in the tarp ever since I moved here.

If you take the time to read through all of the posts you will see the progression of  events to get where it is at now.

It now needs to be on a rotisserie to complete all the welding of the front and rear sections and the welding of the top and quarter panels to the main body.( I was hoping to do this with it mounted to the frame but with the engine not mounted)  Also it will be necessary to do some fabricating of  some minor pieces to seal off the rear wheel wells from the interior of the car.

Remember, if you are going to take this on, that I was an "Electrician"... not a "Bodyman" ... this was my first try at doing this stuff and fitting of doors and windows etc. is still fun that is to come. Doors were roughly fitted but will need a little tweaking.Note in the pictures that I built some "splines" that I inserted into the windshield pillars to provide some strength.

I never planned on making this into "a original looking" Daytona. I had planned on trying do do some very different things in the end.  Different Mustang or Charger rear sequencing tail-lights for example. I was not going to have any original chrome... all was going to be painted same colour as the car. Which for me was gong to be a bright orange and black. 

The engine that I have is the original one that came with the car from the factory. In 1965 Studebaker was being built in Canada and because they had run out of Studebaker engines, these cars came with an engine that was basically a Chevrolet 283 Cubic Inch motor! The transmission was a power-glide automatic. I have a video of this engine running just before I dismantled the car. It ran but was in obvious need of some freshening.  I was going to be using a different engine but I have since been talking to some local engine "Experts!" and they have enlightened me to the fact that if this 283 cu.in" is bored out to 301 cu. in" it is a "POWERHOUSE". They say that it produces just an unbelievable amount of torque. Mate it with a better automatic with overdrive and I think it would be a fun car.

All it would take is some wild imagination and there is no end to how neat a "Rat Rod" this could be!

By the way, I do have the registration for this car.

Talk to me on my cell (604-970-5659) if you want some more information. I will tell you all I know.

 

Posting #6 - Time for a "Driver Studebaker"

During the last year or so I decided that I would like to buy a "Driver Studebaker", to drive around to local events and club meetings. (truth is I realized it will be many moons before I will be driving "my project car").  I started searching and I found some that I just "had to have" almost right away. But of course they were always a few thousand miles away and it meant a long road trip to get them or have them shipped out.

I just about bought a couple, but it was always the same. When I checked into them they weren't as nice as they were advertised to be.... you know the story! Finally found one that was relatively close and in pretty nice condition. Introducing my new Studebaker.....!!

1964 Studebaker Daytona Wagonaire with sliding roof

I received this Wagonaire at the end of August, just in time to take it down to the International Studebaker 2018 Meet that was in Tacoma, Washington this year, on the Labour Day weekend. I am glad to report that the wagon made it there and back with no problems at all. Needless to say when you have an old car that is new to you and you aren't familiar with all its "finer points" it can be a bit unnerving.  However I am glad to say that by the end of the trip, I was very happy with the outcome. (Don't tell the wrong people, but I have a picture of the speedometer reading 75 MPH!!)

I hadn't planned on this, but I am now moving my  "Daytona Project" out of the garage for a couple of months and going to do a few things on the Wagonaire that I figure need doing. Not going to get too carried away.... I have enough to do on the other Studebaker in my life as it is!

Here are a couple of other pictures of her. Click here to be sent to Ron's Wagonaire Photo Album

Studebaker 289 cubic inch/4 brl carb

Mags were already on the car

I will be building on the photo album as I go along if you want to check in once in awhile.

Posting #5 - Making things fit properly

This posting should bring you up to date with some of the fun I have had with my project. There have been a couple of trips to Hawaii and a trip to Italy and Greece that have taken me away from the garage for quite a bit of the time. I have also been active with the Studebaker Club and went to the International Meet that was held in Tacoma this year. Ahhh...retirement is great!  Rusty Ronnie

My camper jacks were handy again.

Jacks made it easy to make adjustments

Now tried fitting doors. They weren't as good as I hoped. Washers for temp spacers. Will make proper ones after final fit is achieved.

Cut out some rusty sections.

Formed new pieces and welded in.

Here is an example of rusted areas being replaced with some new metal.
Many little sections like this were done and them primed.

The holes are for spot welding.

This filled space as needed.

 Fenders had large gaps when trial mounted so I cut off and replaced some of the metal. After fillers fitted the fenders fit much better

Adapted to fit 4 dr. wheel well.

Now welded to floor.

 Rear quarter door panels eventually fit pretty well and were then welded in place. Rebuilt rusty bottoms of quarter panels.

 After a lot of playing around, most of the body seems to fit as it should.
I have been using the old fenders for trial fit but in the end they will be replaced with the NOS fenders that I got with the car.

I still have lots more to improve on when I get back to it in the spring.

Remember you can click on these pictures to make them larger.

My intentions after I get these little things done to my satisfaction are to replace the interior bracing similar to what I had previously and then get the car body onto a rotisserie that is anxiously waiting to be used. Then I will properly clean and sandblast the entire body in preparation for some primer.

I still will have to fit new rocker panels and replace a few rusty sections in the trunk and the cab floor.

I will be interrupting this work now for a couple of months because I have decided to do some work on my new Wagonaire before next spring. Haven't told you about the Wagonaire yet but you will be told all about in my next post which should hit the press in the next week or so.

There are also new photos posted to the Project Album. Click on the sentence at the top of page.

Post #4 (delayed!!) - Bodies Start Coming Together

Opps... It is now November , 2018 and I opened up my blog to make a new entry. Discovered that I had failed to press the "publish post" button and this post has sat dormant for the last year.
This now explains the queries from my thousands of followers, (3 to be truthful) asking "when are you going to add to your blog?" - well better late that never - so here it is!      Now onto Post #5.

There was a 4" strip between sections

Lifted top with old camper jacks

Removed the top of the 4 dr. by drilling out the spot welds and  cutting the "A" and "B" pillars.

Cut out the 4 inch joiner strip between body sections.

 

Shortened bodies put on 2 dr. frame.

Body sections tack welded

Positioned the two body sections on the rebuilt 2 dr. frame.

Bolted them to the frame and tack welded them together.




                                                                                                                                                                             

Cut off top and quarters and lifted off

 Removed the top of the 2 dr. complete with the rear quarter panels still attached.

Got remains of the 2 dr. body onto my boat trailer and  rolled it out of the garage.

Rolling chassis under top

Top in position for closer cutting

What a treat.. had whole garage again! Now got the 2 dr top and quarters on body for final cutting and fitting.
Took it on and off a few times to get it how I wanted it.
Put fender on for check of fit and saw that my body is 1/4" too long!
Not a problem - only tacked together.
Taking it apart one final time for cleaning in prep for welding and will shorten it at that time.

Separating for final time

Should be no gap!

Took sections apart for what I hope  is the final time. I need to clean joints for welding.

Will cut off 1/4" from mid-section also at the same time.

Windshield spline

Maneuvering to get splines inserted.

Fabricated some splines for the windshield pillars to add strength and make it easier to weld.

These splines were needed but made the final install of top quite difficult.

Managed to spread the quarters very wide and force them over the wheel wells to get all the right angles so splines would go into windshield pillars.

Now in final position and awaiting welding in place.
Taking a break for a nice Hawaiian vacation and for the busy Christmas Holiday Season.
If you visit my photo album link at the top of the page there are  more pictures that will help you make sense of all this.

Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday Season

Drop over for a beer anytime and see what is really happening!

As many of you know already the joy of retirement is that every day is a holiday!!
Have a good one..... Ron Cann Sr.

Posting #3 Finally back at it!

I have had a long break from working on my project for a number of reasons. I am now anxious to move on to the next steps. During this delay, I have still been in the process of working out how to best approach my project. A friend of mine, Dave Sanderson, that I met at one of the Auto Restoration Courses at BCIT, came over one day and after an hour or so of analysis, he helped me to come up with an easier way to go about getting my body fixed up.

The 4-door body and the 2-door body it turns out are almost identical. The 4-door is just 4 inches longer than the 2-door. The way they stretched the body was to use a "4 inch joiner strip" welded between the front and rear sections of the body. There are a couple of minor differences in the rear wheel-wells but that is about it.

Therefore, we decided that I could basically:
- remove the roof and B-pillars from the 4-door
- cut out the 4 inch joiner strip
- remove the B-pillars
- re-join the front and rear body sections together
- remove the roof (with the rear quarter sections still attached) from the 2-door
- fit the roof and quarters from the 2-door onto the shortened 4-door platform
- fit the front doors properly before doing the final welding
- patch a couple of small areas of rust that will remain
- rework the inner rear wheel-wells to match curve of 2-door rear fenders to keep water out of car.

AND PRESTO!! I SHOULD HAVE A SOLID 2-DOOR BODY FOR MY "DAYTONA SS"

Sounds doable for a beginner like me, doesn't it?? Let's see, how do I turn on this welder again??

I have added a bunch of pictures and notes to the photo album that you can access by copying and pasting the following URL to your browser:  https://goo.gl/photos/iNzK2PGqN9k4PWHa8

Any feedback re this site (and the photos) would be appreciated.    Updates to follow as work progresses.

Ron Cann

Posting #2 

Wow! I can't believe how fast my first year of retirement has gone. My Daytona Project has seen some progress but to anyone looking in from the outside not much has happened.  I spent time taking two "Auto Restoration" classes at BCIT in the spring, took a couple of fishing trips, and went in our 5th wheel on a 7200 km. tour of Arizona, California and Oregon. Oh, it was so much fun I almost forgot that I also got talked into dusting off my old books and doing one more 10- week class of students at BCIT.

Shop Work:

  During all of this I started to dismantle "Daytona 1"(2 dr-Sport Sedan) and had lots of fun learning what really held this thing together. It really didn't take that long till it was all apart and stored away. Many pictures were taken to aid me to figure out where and how things fit together when and if the day comes to put this thing back together! Before starting I built a "safety cradle" out of 4 old camper jacks to hopefully prevent me from being crushed if the beast falls over on me. I will also use them for lifting the body off of the frame when it comes time for that. You can see them in pictures.

As you can see from the pictures this car is even far more rusted than I originally thought.  I went through a few phases of actually abandoning this project all together and getting something different to start with that wasn't quite so scary and more at my existing skill level.  Glad to say now that I got over all those fears and have progressed on to the stage of getting a donor car "Daytona 2" (4 dr Sedan) and now in the process of trying to figure out how I can cut and hack things and glue them back together to look like the original "Daytona 1. Magic Wand maybe!!

"Daytona 1" and "Daytona 11"  now on rolling stands awaiting decisions on their fate. The more I look at them, I don't think there will be much left of "Daytona 1".
When I close the door at night and turn out the lights, I secretly hope they may be of the opposite sex and I will come back in the morning and find they have produced "a new shiny replica". Nope -not that easy!!

To see more photos copy and paste this URL to your browser:                https://goo.gl/photos/iNzK2PGqN9k4PWHa8

 

Posting #1

1965 Studebaker Daytona Sport Coupe

June/2013

My "lucky day" (this is open to opinion!!)  when I found it after seeing the ad on Craigslist.
Believe it or not .. the fellow I bought it from got it started and drove it onto the trailer.
The front is all sagging because they had tried to take off the fenders then changed mind. Resulted in damage to both front doors with people trying to open the doors to get in. Oh well, just more body work to learn on.

Studebaker "Thunderbolt V8' 283 cu.in.

In 1965 Studebaker Canada used a Chevrolet drive train. This is almost identical to the famous Chevy 283. Running sort of, but in need of a thorough going over.
My first job before I start dismantling will be to change some oils etc. and hopefully get it running again to take some compression tests etc. and see how I think I will have to go with this baby. Hopefully I can get it running satisfactorily without too much rebuild for now. I will wait and see how I make out with all the body etc before I get too carried away. I will hot rod it later!!

Complete set of NOS fenders & bumpers.

Somebody - someplace about a dozen years ago had planned on doing a rebuild and had bought a lot of NOS parts including all the fenders and bumpers still wrapped up. Even new carpeting and a new padded dash were still in the boxes.
Now if I can figure out how to rebuild the "inner body" and glue all these things to it I'll be in business!
I haven't been able to find history of this person yet but will be trying again now that I have time.

New "Temporary" Shop to work in 18 ft x 20 ft

Decided that I needed a shop to work in so built a structure that I call "temporary" to avoid a few of those nasty permit problems (hopefully - don't tell) Its 18'x20' with a concrete floor and has a nice high roof. Should be nice to work in.
Before I can get started on the car I need to get it moved out of the mess I have created in there and finish insulating the walls and lining the walls etc.
This has taken much longer than planned since I was having so much fun working part time for 8 years at BCIT   -  but now it is my time here!!!
Come around for a visit - cold beer in fridge!