Our 1948 Studebaker Commander LandCruiser….It is finally close to being finished, is registered and is ready to road-test…It has been driven to Strathpine and back, the morning we registered it, at the Dept of Transport Office…..They don’t come out and inspect them anymore and rely on the information given on the road safety certificate, and the Third Party Insurance Certificate to issue the registration…
Quite a few people came out of the Office to have a look and were suitably impressed….All being well I should be able to show it at Redcliffe in September at the Club Concours…which I did & won President’s Choice Award!
Congratulations Harold & Phyllis
It has been a long-term project, started back in the early 90’s. I converted it from left hand drive, which wasn’t too difficult because we had a parts-car of the same year, which had the right-hand drive parts needed for the conversion.
When purchased, it was minus the engine and gear-box and some panels on the front section nose-cone, were missing also…I was fortunate enough to locate a right hand drive dash panel new from USA, because the donor car had been converted and still had the dash panel as left-hand drive…We removed the body and all the undercarriage and components were over-hauled and painted before the body was re-fitted.
I had the dash panel and other components re-done in the wood-grain finish, which many of the cars in those years were finished in this way. The engine which I rebuilt also came out of the donor car, but had to be completely over-hauled, it was sound and was a good power-plant to keep the car original. All the brakes were overhauled, new tyres fitted to sand-blasted and painted wheels.
The chrome work was quite expensive with both front and rear bumper bars, four overriders and tail lamp bodies, plus other items and so became one of the most expensive parts of the restoration. A new front windscreen was installed and the rear glass we converted to a one-piece unit. The off-white upholstery with grey carpet was done locally at Morayfield. The paint-work was also done locally with the original colour of Peacock blue, which was made to the original formula, I had managed to get from the USA…
I also rewired the complete car and changed it over to a 12volt system, keeping the signal lamp system in its original form. The 6 volt horns are fairly loud connected to the 12volt system, but you don’t have to use them often, so they are not a big drain on the battery.
We originally purchased the car from a guy in Newcastle, who had imported it from America and had advertised it in the Stude News and my father Walter bought it from a photograph. He had it transported up to Brisbane by a local friend who had a new Chev Truck and was anxious to try it out on a long trip.. My father Walter passed away in 1992 before the restoration was started, I feel he would be quite pleased with the final result.
Harold and Phyl Ireland
SCCQ Club Members
