The two pics on the left is the 1946 Studebaker one ton I got to work with... Kinda rough, but then again it was all there body and frame wise.  The ol' gal was more solid then she looked.  In fact I am using the left cab and frame, and not the one in the pic on the right.  The picture on the right is the 1/2 ton Studebaker I bought also. I'm using the doors off of this one, plan to do an extended cab also so I'l chop this all up and use most of it.  But it seems the areas that were 'bad' on this truck were 'good' on the rusty one,.. and vice versa. So it worked out well. Plenty of parts to interchange. This old truck  1/2 ton came complete. Engine, tranny, everything.; BUT, It hadn't been started in over seven years...

With just a FEW MINOR adjustment we got the ol' gal running (3-21-06).  New points, new plugs, and some fresh gasoline,.. and she started right up. No knocks, no skips, no leaks, no pings.; Amazing. 60 years old and runs like a top. To bad todays cars can't be made like this.  This motor and tranny will be for sale.  The tranny is in excellent condition also.  NO teeth chipped or anything.  Very nice.

This is the frame off the one ton truck... kinda rusty looking but REAL solid. The extra length will let me stretch the cab and not worry about the frame being too short. You can see the media blaster did an excellent job cleaning it (5-8-06),.. and I painted it with some POR-15 and she is really slick now. If you live in the North. Ga area and need some blasting done. Contact JIM at Blast Tech.  His number is 706-693-2222

In the picture on the left you can see both of the cabs loaded on the trailer.  Got both of the trucks disassembled.  Here both of the cabs are headed to go to the media blaster.  When we got the cabs back we went to spraying primer on them.  Here you see the one cab we are gonna use for the main portion,.. and the rear portion we'll use to extend the cab.  Me and Dads skin is rear acidic.  We have to primer everything before we touch it or it will rust instantly.

Here we are priming the doors, kick panels, running board supports, etc,...

Needless to say there is ALWAYS something to do.  As soon as the frame come back from being blasted, we went to installing the new Mustang II IFS. It has 2 inch dropped spindles and should give a pretty cool look to the truck Also we made pieces to be put in when the time to box in the frame came  Here you can see we have painted the INSIDE of the frame, and the inside of the pieces we have ready to use to box the frame.

We get to the point to where the cutting begins... (cross your fingers and pray)..Mess this up and we're screwed.  No turning back now.  Not sure you can see it or not,,.. but we are cutting the back out of THIS cab so we can extend the overall length by 18".  If you look closely you can see the roof has already been cut across the top, and (in the pic on the left) and in the right side picture you can see dad is cutting down the side next to the door post. In the pic on the right you can see where we cut the back out of the cab. Now we are removing this floor and seat riser. The other one is much better,.. but we'll use the front of this one as an extension.

Now it was time to get started working on the bottom of the cab. As is usual it has some has rusty places,.. and needed some work. Since we had two cabs we cut out a portion of one cab (at the top) and then installed it at the bottom on the other. This way we kept the same look with the rounded panels, same shape, etc. The pic at the left shows the rusty bottom. The pics center and right show what we cut (and from where).. and how it looked after we replaced it. I'm not much of a photographer, it looks better than in the picture.. LOL  Soon we'll have to tackle making some new cab corners also.

It was about this time that I run across these neat little items on eBay. The things on the left are valve stem covers. They are chrome, and have valve stems caps that have the "Lazy S" Studebaker logo. I also found this chrome gear shifter knob. It has the same logo as the valve stem caps. Wish I had the truck finished to put them on..  LOL

These pictures aren't the greatest either. As is usual the cab corners of the ol' gal was rusted out. We found some instruction on the internet about how to make your own cab corners, so we made us up a pattern, out of plywood, formed the sheet metal around it and welded it up. We made the inner and outer parts in two separate pieces, and the welded them in.
If you look at the pic on the left you can see the edge of where we put in the lower patch that was rusted out of the back. It don't look so bad.  Lines up nice, will finish up well, and is solid.

Well it getting to critical time... gotta suck it up and have some balls.  When you chop the top it's too late to turn back then.  The orange tape indicates where I plan on chopping the top.  I had a change of plans since we started.  First we planned on cutting it two inches all the way around.  Now we have decided to cut only one inch in the rear, and 2 1/2 inches in the front.  That way it'll have a little rake to it and slight slope to the cab. It's have a bitchin' look to it,.. and leave about an inch extra head room,.. so a win-win all the way around

Ok,.. I tried to make a pic before I did this but it didn't come out...  What we did is hook a chain around a beam in the basement.  Then we put a come-along in it,..TO that we run a 2x4 each way through the cab.  One between the front and rear windows, and one between the new 18" section we added.  We just cut the top loose and jacked it up with the come-along.  That way it hung there,.. we could work on it and not be in the way.     Well it's Chopped. Chopped...??
OH MY GOD... What have I done...?? LOL

Well,.. here it is all chopped.  One inch out of the back,.. and 2 1/2 inches out of the front.  Gotta kinda nice look to it.  Hard to tell everything until I get the doors cut and make them match.  The one inch strip I cut out of the rear I polished up and put back in to use as a brace between the upper and lower pieces on the inside where it will hide.  You can see it on the right pic here.  It is spot welded to the lower piece,.. but right now the top is just sitting on,.. so thats why there is a gap in the window opening, and no weld spots on the roof section yet.

Here is a picture of the truck chopped and extended. (from the side)  Putting it all back and welding everything together is the next job.  After that I'll have to tackle cutting apart the doors and making them fit the new roof line.  Since I know the exact measurements I cut out of the B post, and A post,.. I am hoping I shouldn't run into to many problems.  Notice the X bracing I put in to support the two section I put together.

I made the trip to the salvage yard.  Got me a 350 power plant for the ol' gal.  Don't look like much now,.. but when she gets totally rebuilt, painted to match the body, little chrome here and there,.. she'll be primo.

Had to throw this little picture in here.  I bought a 9" Ford rear end from a guy and he had this welder for sell.  It was almost brand new.  He hadn't had much luck learning how to use it, and he had just pushed it off to the side and it was in the garage taking up space.
I gave $100 for it .  It came with that tiny little bottle... I worked out a deal for that HUGE bottle.  Man I can weld forever with that big bottle. (about 4 months)
Buddy of mine has a place that builds steel stuff, and I had the legs and shelves bent over there, and I even pulled the metal for this little cart out of his scrap bin.  SO I built my cart for no cost.  I been lucky finding some stuff over there.  On the right is the 9" Ford rear end I got.  Needs cleaned up a little, but it's in good shape.  I'm gonna have it media blasted, clean it inside and  outside, paint with a little POR-15 and she'll be good as new.

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