Roughwaterjohn
Member
- 91
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- 8
- Location
- San Diego, CA
Finally brought our 1953 M35 home today. It's a Studebaker built M35 with a gas REO engine. From what I can tell, it was a water truck prior to being bobbed. It was painted a very weird shade of blue green after it finished it's military service, then painted green after it was sold and bobbed. The engine has a very loud knock, which we knew about before looking at it. I've always been of the mind, I can fix anything mechanical, as long as the body is in good shape. It does move under its own power, shifts, drives and brakes well, even if it is a little noisy.
This appears to be in very good shape and the rest of the mechanicals seem fine. I'm going to pull the head, remove the pistons and rods and drop the crank to check things out. Hopefully I can do an in-frame rebuild, but no worries if I have to pull it out. I'll go through the rest of the truck, the electrical has really been poorly done, also checking the brakes, frame, welds for the conversion, etc.
We asked for a medium duty tow truck to take it home but they brought over a heavy duty monstrosity to do the work. It's a very tight fit at my brothers house, but it does fit. I live on a yacht, so I have no place to put it. I think we got a pretty good deal for $900. Besides these pictures showing it ready to go, the tow and finally arriving at my brother's house, I'm going to post followup pictures. I had time while I waited for the tow truck, so I documented as much of the truck as I could. I'm going to break the pictures down into categories, Body first, then Frame and Suspension, then Engine followed by Interior. Comments, suggestions and observations are always welcome.
This appears to be in very good shape and the rest of the mechanicals seem fine. I'm going to pull the head, remove the pistons and rods and drop the crank to check things out. Hopefully I can do an in-frame rebuild, but no worries if I have to pull it out. I'll go through the rest of the truck, the electrical has really been poorly done, also checking the brakes, frame, welds for the conversion, etc.
We asked for a medium duty tow truck to take it home but they brought over a heavy duty monstrosity to do the work. It's a very tight fit at my brothers house, but it does fit. I live on a yacht, so I have no place to put it. I think we got a pretty good deal for $900. Besides these pictures showing it ready to go, the tow and finally arriving at my brother's house, I'm going to post followup pictures. I had time while I waited for the tow truck, so I documented as much of the truck as I could. I'm going to break the pictures down into categories, Body first, then Frame and Suspension, then Engine followed by Interior. Comments, suggestions and observations are always welcome.
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