Owner: Dave & Diane Burden, Woodstock, GA
email: dave.burden@digital.com
Base Car: 1926 Studebaker Standard Six, Model ER
The standard wheelbase for the Model ER was 113", our chassis has been stretched by 30" to 143". There is an obvious 30" added section of driveshaft, but the frame addition is well hidden.
The body has normal front doors, suicide rear doors and a single back door that swings to the right. There is a pillar between the front and rear side doors so it was not a side loading vehicle.
The drivetrain is stock Standard Six:
This model was used as the base model hearse/ambulance for Studebaker in 1926, it has a single side mounted spare tire and only 1 taillight. The Big Six hearses and ambulances typically had dual side mounts and 2 taillights, along with a longer wheelbase (156") and larger engine (354ci).
In the 20's, hearses and ambulances were somewhat interchangeable so it is almost impossible to determine what our car originally was used for. However, there are no rollers in the floor, so it's probably a good guess it was not a hearse 100% of the time. Our particular car gets even more interesting because it appears the body was redone in the mid 30's. The front clip up to the windshield cowl is original 1926, but the rake of the windshield and the cut of the front doors is swept back. That style did not come to cars until 1932 or 1933. Unless the chassis with front clip sat around, unused for 6-7 years, it looks like the original body was replaced with this 'modern' version.
Overall, it is still a pleasing design and unless you really know the design features of the 20's versus the 30's, you wouldn't notice any problem.
Like most cars of that era, the body is framed in wood, but skinned in metal. Some of the wood in our car will need to be replaced as it sat outside for at least 4 years in upstate NY before we bought it. The rear 3/4ths of the floor is 1" wide slats which we plan to refinish or replace with the same type. In addition we would like to use this same wood on the walls (going vertically) and lengthwise on the roof with exposed cross beams.
The ultimate plan for the car is to make it an Estate Wagon which was an alternate use for the body in those days. Basically it will be a large station wagon with 3 bench seats. Currently it has no seats so those will have to be either made or scrounged from some sedan.
Some other unique features of our car are:
