Sweet ride! Grew up with many Studebakers, learned to rebuild and restore cars working on them. Glad to see another one is going to be saved. Keep up the good work!

JUST discovered your channel, and am delighted to see someone restoring Studebakers while filming the process! My first NEW car was a 1961 Lark convertible, which was the scene of a lot of good times! I was pretty serious about Larks all through the sixties and early seventies, and pulled a lot of wrenches on them, while learning the ins and outs of the mechanics of them. For example, Studebaker had their own foundry and forge on site. The iron in the blocks and heads, along with most of the castings had a higher than usual nickel content, and all of their cranks, rods and cams were forged, not cast. The V8 engines for 1964 and earlier would live happily past 6,000, assuming you used the good valve springs with the dampers. All of the cams used solid lifters. I did a frame-off resto mod of a different '61 convertible over the winter and spring of 1967-68 pretty much by myself. A very easy car to do body work on, as it was made to be easily repaired.

If you need any parts let me know My last video will show you the Studebaker

1963 Lark Custom. The power steering is pretty rare on this model. While its sitting around waiting for its turn, I would suggest pulling the spark plugs, putting a couple of ounces of ATF or Marvel Mystery Oil into each cylinder, and putting the plugs back in. Let it sit a few weeks or a month, then see if the front main pulley will turn by hand. If it doesn’t, add more fluid. If after a few months of doing this, if it hasn’t freed up, put a breaker bar on the front pulley and work it back and forth alittle and see if it frees up. I’m betting it does! With just 50k miles on it, you can probably just get away with a “garage engine overhaul” ... pull it apart, clean everything, install new rings/hone the cylinder bores, install new main/rod bearings, and a gasket kit. Be sure to remove the valve guide keepers and springs and replace the valve guide seals. These engines will smoke like a fiend if the valve guide sealed get hard or fail. I doubt you’ll need any machine work. These engines are getting expensive to rebuild (especially if your used to 350s or 302s) but they are TOUGH and last a long time. My ‘63 sat from ‘80-‘94. I did the same overhaul and its been running great for 25 years now. The dashboard will be expensive. Just Dashes can make it look great but not for cheap. You can get an aluminum radiator made for a Jeep CJ retrofitted with a 350 that will fit right in there (you’ll need to redrill the mounting holes to bolt it to the grill panel) for far less than 1/2 the price to recore an original rad. Nice car! Best of luck with it!

Thanks for video nice find , I have a 63 2 door looks to be same color with a little over 28,000 on it.

The Studebaker is very straight, and not rusted in some of the usual places. Studebaker engines are good for torque. The intake manifold is actually for a 4 barrel carburetor, but drilled for a 2 barrel. You can machine the top of the manifold flat, and drill it out for a 4 barrel. I think that they had a Carter AFB 4 barrel, so you can use a new Edelbrock if desired. That really makes the engine come alive. I had a '62 Lark Cruiser, and a '64 Cruiser both with the V8 engines. I also had a '61 Lark 2 door sedan with a 6. The oil filter blew apart and ruined the engine. After a while, my friends and I put a '60 Cadillac 390 v8 engine in it along with the Cadillac 4 speed Hydramatic transmission. It flew!!

Looks like a good starting point Rob! The V8 Larks are great drivers. The red truck is cool too!

It's a beauty!

Any updates on this ride?!