Re: the Studebaker.
The wiring is/was (I haven't seen the fire damage yet it's just been parked out in a field since) asbestos-wrapped. That's why the idiot who was working on it panicked. The way people got so puny...my lord. After the fire they nope'd right out given asbestos. I don't really understand the fear, but people these days assume by looking at it cross-eyed they're gonna get Covid or something.
It's got a floor starter and yep I've heard it (when they cranked and had it idling that short time before fire). It sounds horrendous like bad bearings but it did work. It ran quite well at idle so I know the engine was good.
Brakes are hydraulic. Drums sure but I can't understand hydraulic brakes. They're rusted to pieces. Lines gone, zero brake fluid. I have tried in the past with golf cars with hydraulic brakes but they never work afterwards. Either they're always applied or they never apply at all and the pedal just hisses to the floor. I prefer standard cable driven brakes personally. I had at one time an old AMX (the Spirit/AMX) and the brakes were weak and I just shifted down to stop. Brakes for me either work or they do not and I don't mess with them because they will end up worse after I try.
It's really ugly and it needs all the windows replaced. It's got the split windshield but the glass is all fog, and the driver's side window is shattered but holding. I wouldn't recommend rolling it down!
FYI I do not plan on messing with it. It's well beyond me, and I'm not interested in restoring a vehicle I don't need, plus she wants more than I think it's worth. Far more than 5 grand that is. As it sits I wouldn't pay $500 for it.
Truckers don't use CBs anymore. I remember the last trip on I40 nothing but silence other than the garbage on Channel 6 which is all you'd get if you had it on auto scan. Truckers use a much more modern type of two-way radio these days.
With the car, it sounds like it just needs someone to do a complete restoration on it.
I just didnt want to see it go to waste.
The radio, however, depends on the route you were on.
I am close to I-94, which runs from Chicago to Detroit.
I actually heard truckers talking about a wreck that I found out later a friend was involved with.
Channel 19 was so crammed that they were going to other channels, and some went to our local 14 to talk.
I had most of the details about it all before my friend or the newspaper told me.
My buddy was on a county work crew mowing the medians.
He had parked the truck on the left shoulder, with the big flashing arrow on the back and his workmate of 20+ years had gotten out and was getting some equipment out of the truck.
Some old man was having some sort of old person issue, and was going 80 - 100 mph in the shoulder and piled right into them.
Wound up cutting the guy in back in half, and he died in my buddy's arms.
My buddy was pretty beat up and couldnt work for a while.
And the loss of his friend messes with him, of course.
He is still working on the road crew now, though.
