1947 Studebaker M-5 - Stude With a 'Tude

Like many street rodders, I'm always thinking of the next project. My '39 Chevy two-door sedan (featured in Street Rodder Jun. '00) was fresh out of the paint shop and on the road without the interior finished in July 1997. The first run I went to, I saw a '46 Studebaker truck owned by Brad Eby. I talked with him, and he told me how he built the truck using the front clip, engine, trans, rearend, column, and anything else he could find from a Nova. That got me excited. The search was on for a '41-47 M-5 Studebaker truck. I started searching the Internet and came across Lonnie Dunn who was also looking for a Studebaker truck. I called him to see if he had any leads. He was very helpful and gave me a couple leads, as well as a lot of information and history of the trucks.

One of the most interesting things I found out was that the front and rear fenders are the same; they only had a right fender and left fender (the right front fender can be installed on the left rear). The doors are the same as the '41 Studebaker Commander four-door sedan, the running boards are the same on each side, and the 1/2-ton and 2-ton truck cabs are the same. Lonnie e-mailed me one day and told me about a truck in the Sea-Tac, Washington, Truck Trader. I went up and looked at the truck with Lonnie. The truck had a dead battery, but the seller said it ran. It looked great, but $4,000 seemed too steep for a Studebaker--so we walked away. Two weeks later, Lonnie called and said the seller told him that the first guy with $2,500 gets the truck. I was there the next day.

The truck stayed as purchased for about three years. I made trips to town in it occasionally and even used it in a parade. But 45 mph was tops, so a junkyard low-buck rebuild was planned. I started the part chase and quickly located a '78 Camaro front subframe, '70 Monte Carlo 350/350 combo, and 9-inch Ford rearend. Black semi-gloss paint with a lot of flames and steel wheels with whitewalls was the plan for the exterior.

I started the project and tore the truck down. I had Bob Biehier of Olympia, Washington, install the Camaro clip, and then I handled the rear suspension. Well, somehow I ran into artist Jason Rushforth who has had his renderings published in CLASSIC TRUCKS. I've always loved his work, so I had him draw four concepts--two with whitewalls and two with American Racing Torque Thrust IIs. The yellow and silver one on big Americans was it!

Needless to say, the plan changed. I filled the firewall and repaired the cab corners, but the truck needed more work. So I took the truck to Richardson's Custom Auto Body in Hoquiam, Washington, where Don Richardson and his crew got busy. The rear fenders were widened 2 inches to make them even with the front fenders, and I swapped them from left to right and right to left. The cab rockers were extended to meet the newly fabricated smooth running boards. I raised the bed 3 inches off the frame to make the cab appear shorter, a custom tail pan was made, and the side filler panels were built. The bed pocket holes were filled, and the bottoms of the stake pockets were rounded. The doors were cleaned up with Mazda Miata door handles and latches. The rest of the truck was then smoothed out, and the gaps were evened up.

Don then applied the PPG Fine Silver paint. The Jason Rushforth scheme, (sort of like tribal flames), was modified by Bob Biehier for a more traditional look. Don laid out the tape lines and applied the PPG '00 Corvette Yellow to the top and the bed cover. Don King of Kelso, Washington, stripped the flames, and then everything was buried in a clearcoat and sanded smooth. For the finishing touch, Jon Hannukaine did the silver-leaf on the tailgate and license plate.

Now that the truck is done my wife Shari and I have just been enjoying taking it to local shows about every other weekend, but we are hoping to hit a few out-of-state Goodguys shows.

Rocky Peters at Parkland Upholstery...        read full caption Rocky Peters at Parkland Upholstery in Tacoma, WA, stitched the '95 S-10 60/40 bench and door panels in camel-colored leather along with ostrich-skin inserts and accents to finish the job. The stock dash had two inches added to the top half, and then it was smoothed and filled with Auto Meter Ultra-Lite gauges and Vintage Air controls and vents.

The '01 GM Ramjet has been...        read full caption The '01 GM Ramjet has been detailed with a perfect mixture of paint and polish. Brackets from Bill's Hot Rod Co. keep the chrome Tuff Stuff alternator and polished Vintage Air A/C compression spinning true. Sanderson headers and Flowmaster mufflers help quiet the small-block.

Don Richardson built the custom...        read full caption Don Richardson built the custom aluminum tonneau cover that covers the upholstered bed floor and sides.