The M Series was a line of trucks built by Studebaker before and after World War II. The M5, like the seller’s forgotten edition, was the half-ton model, and this one could be an early version produced when civilian vehicle manufacturing returned. This pickup has been sitting in a pasture for five decades and is pretty rusty, raising the question of whether a restoration is even viable. The said pasture is in Amherst, Virginia, and the Stude is available here on eBay. Interest has only been to the tune of $490 so far.
Buyers of the M5 could get a fully assembled truck or just the cab or chassis. If you needed greater capacity, the M15 was a ¾-ton truck, and the M15A was good for 1.5 tons. All of these trucks came with Studebaker’s 169 cubic-inch “Champion” six-cylinder workhorse. The M Series was in production from 1939 and 1949, interrupted for three years for the war effort. These pickups had a greater use of aerodynamics than the competition of the day.
The seller’s truck was parked out in the middle of nowhere sometime in the 1970s and left to fend for itself. We assume it quit running at an indicated 85,000 miles. It may have been red in color at one point in its nearly 80 years. Rust has had a free rein, and we assume it won’t fall apart when you go to move it. The tires have rotted away, so it will need to be pulled rather than rolling away on its own.
There are no photos of the engine compartment, but the radiator has been relocated to the cab. If you choose to restore this Studebaker, we don’t know if you can find some key parts. Perhaps it could help as a donor for another M5 project, but is that feasible, either?
Really?
Field art…I mean yard art…..thats it!!
I am surprised to see the glass intact!!
That may be your $490 worth right there. Could hang the tailgate on a wall, I guess.
Amherst is just across the mountain but I don’t think I’ll waste the trip, sorry.
More parts car than project. It’s complete and likely has a lot of small parts that nickel and dimes projects to death.
Steve R
Yard art is what I was thinking…
Send that one back to pasture.
These were nice trucks back in the day. Studebaker had some good ideas, especially when it decided to use the same fenders on the front or back. Skuttlebutt says that the possibility of reshaping the fenders so one fit all was investigated but Stude decided that they had gone far enough.
Yes, this is about as rusty as a bed-wetter’s mattress springs but rust can always be removed. There will be a lot of work getting this back into shape though. But nothing is impossible.
There was a nice red one at the Barrett Jackson auction about 10 years ago. I actually toyed with the idea of shipping it home but it went beyond my maximum so I withdrew. Interesting enough, it went into Canada, about Calgary way…
I tried to give you a thumbs up Geomechs. But unfortunately its nonfunctional at the moment. Thanks for posting that picture of that sweet truck. Old Studebaker pickups are very beautifully designed, at least to me anyways. It would take a lot of work and a lot of massaging the panels back, but like you said nothing is impossible and to be able to proudly show before and after photos of your hard work is priceless. I hope this one gets saved .
Hi Driveinstile. Thumbs-up is quite unpredictable in my camp too. I just do what I can and hope that I enjoy reading all the comments on these features. I feel like I’ve made a lot of friends here…
Thank you Geomechs… Hey!!! Its working!!! I just gave you a thumbs up. You must have fixed it lol. Thank you for the kind words, and I’m the same as you. As time goes by I have enjoyed getting to know different people from all over, and their expertise. You definitely develop friendships. With Both the writers and commentors as well. I’m always learning something new. ( Now getting my feeble brain to remember it…… Totally different story…)
If you just submitted a comment you have to go back one click to give a thumbs up.
Ha! Not on my computer. I did what you said, submitted a comment, which came up, then went back one click, gave Jim R. a thumbs up, it registered, but when I went back to the beginning posts, clicking on this post, the thumbs up wasn’t there, so sadly, that’s not an ironclad cure. WAIT,,,now it DOES show up, besides, we really don’t need that anyway, we’ve all been here long enough to know if someone is topped off with excrement, or the real deal.
I’d like the 4070 Transtar( Eagle?) behind it, wait,,( memory clears) maybe not. I drove a truck just like that,,for a month. The feature truck, or what’s left, surely indicates where the hobby is today. It had no value for decades, it’s useful time up when we were in diapers( the cloth kind), clearly the bottom of the barrel, yet, someone dragged it forward, and saw some usefulness. I think that’s still pretty cool. The M series was my 2nd favorite after the Champ.
“Nothing is impossible”, except getting younger, but in our day, this could be tinkered with, and I’m sure many started with much worse. It got them to school or that gas station job after school. Today? Sorry, just no appeal, as is. The styling is certainly attractive, and make an awesome resto mod, and I suppose it’s better than decaying in a field somewhere.
I too suffer “comment anxiety” and always check to see if the counter registered my comment. Such drama in life, hey, pal? A “PM” is coming soon.
Hey Howard, we must be looking at a different set of pictures, beside the Ford and AC tractors the truck I see is a late model Loadstar w/ fiberglass hood.
Hi Jim, I meant the cabover behind the red pickup Geo submitted. I don’t see a Ford, couple tractors, and the IH appears to be a ’72-’78 Loadstar 1800 flat deck. I read, the tilt hood was after 1971, and the 1800 was the heavier duty, with a tandem axles and stiffer front. They rode awful. I drove 1800 Loadstar dump trucks, and probably has a 392 gas job.
Put a 2025 pickup in a field for fifty years and all you’d find is a bunch of plastic on the ground.
The Studebaker 6 X 6 beloved as the “Studie” by the Russians played a crucial role in keeping the Soviet army supplied during WW II. About 150,000 were shipped over and many were still operating decades later in remote parts of Russia. It is ironic that Studebaker supplied the truck that helped save communism while the company eventually fell victim to Capitalism.
Well, it’s got a title, and the paint and body is done! LOL! Now just slide a late model chassis under there and hit the show circuit. I’d try to keep all the dirt and weeds in the remains of the bed too.
I make regular trips to the Delaware shore and always pass an old pickup on display in front of a liquor store. Like Stembridge said: yard art is probably the best idea for this relic. Same for the ‘42 Chevy. And that isn’t a bad thing. My local Bass Pro had a couple of old Advance Series Chevies on display and I always stopped for a look. Getting this Stude on a roll back is going to be a drag. lol.
To far away for me to tackle it but I think it would be kinda fun to try some of the old school methods to get it running again. It has a title so you can start with the frame and build a really cool rat rod. I have other crazy ideas I need to quit now before I’m dragging that thing home.
It was pretty straight when it was parked and probably would have been an easy restore then, but rust has done it’s thing on it now. Many of the panels are flat so wouldn’t be difficult to repair. I’m grading it as a possible restoration or rat rod driver, more than likely with an S10 frame and suspension. If you enlarge the pictures it looks like there was a company name on the driver’s door. It’s at $525.00 now and I can see more than that worth of parts. I love old trucks so I hope this one gets saved.
The cab rear lower corners look rock solid here in the UK that would be considered an excellent starting point. Hope someone will do a stock restoration so future generations can see what these trucks felt like to drive.
Studebaker and Hudson pickups from this time-frame seemed to last nearly forever — still being not-infrequent sights on the road (especially in small towns as local duty trucks, as late as when President Reagan took office). Considering where this one rests, however, I rather doubt that much is left of the frame. There was a 1962 Ford dark blue Galaxie sitting in a back yard in Schenectady: 6-cylinder 223 (as I recall) three-on-the-tree. It had 183,000 miles, and it ran when parked 12 years prior when its elder owner passed away, I was told. Perfect. The current owner of the house said, if I could start it, and drive it, I could have it. So, since the motor could be turned over (very hard!) by hand, I put battery-cables to it, sprayed starter-fluid into its carburetor, and gave it a go. And it started and ran! So, I took a major chance, accepted the title, went to the Department of Motor Vehicles, registered it and got licence-plates for it: I went back and started it again, and drove it away! (rotted tyres still holding air, and all!). Everything worked — even the clock and the radio. So, pulling tall grass out through holes in the floor-pans, enduring the stench of mice, I drove the poor faded thing proudly to a tyre shop for some new rubber. The mechanic got it up on the lift, then called me to come and take a look. “You don’t want to put tyres on this car”, he told me: “Your frame has more holes in it than Swiss cheese. Where did you FIND this car — sitting in a field of GRASS someplace? — you need to stick a fork in it and call it a day — it’s DONE.” That little escapade taught me something about what grass growing up underneath a parked car can do (lucky, there were no holes in the gas-tank!). If you can haul it away in one piece, use this venerable old Studebaker for lawn art; or else, if there is enough THERE there to work with, liberate its body from the rusted-out frame, find some other support to mount the body upon, and make something interesting for eye-grabbing transportation out of it. However, the way it sits, it is no more than nostalgic scrap metal. Sorry.
Yes, my thoughts yesterday still stand…..
Studebaker and Hudson pickups from this time-frame seemed to last nearly forever — still being not-infrequent sights on the road (especially in small towns as local duty trucks) as late as when President Reagan took office. Considering where this one rests, however, I rather doubt that much is left of the frame. There was a 1962 Ford dark blue Galaxie sitting in a back yard in Schenectady: 6-cylinder 223 (as I recall) three-on-the-tree. It had 183,000 miles, and it ran when parked 12 years prior when its elder owner passed away, I was told. Perfect. The current owner of the house said, if I could start it, and drive it, I could have it. So, since the motor could be turned over (very hard!) by hand, I put battery-cables to it, sprayed starter-fluid into its carburetor, and gave it a go. And it started and ran! So, I took a major chance, accepted the title, went to the Department of Motor Vehicles, registered it and got licence-plates for it: I went back and started it again, and drove it away! (rotted tyres still holding air, and all!). Everything worked — even the clock and the radio. So, pulling tall grass out through holes in the floor-pans, enduring the stench of mice, I drove the poor faded thing proudly to a tyre shop for some new rubber. The mechanic got it up on the lift, then called me to come and take a look. “You don’t want to put tyres on this car”, he told me: “Your frame has more holes in it than Swiss cheese. Where did you FIND this thing — sitting in a field of GRASS someplace? — you need to stick a fork in it and call it a day — it’s DONE.” That little escapade taught me something about what grass growing up underneath a parked car can do (lucky, there were no holes in the gas-tank!). If you can haul it away in one piece, use this venerable old Studebaker for lawn art; or else, if there is enough THERE there to work with, liberate its body from the rusted-out frame, find some other support to mount the body upon, and make something interesting for eye-grabbing transportation out of it. However, the way it sits, it is no more than nostalgic scrap metal. Sorry.
My ’41 M5 sits atop a mid seventies Bronco, 4×4, 4spd, real patina. Always makes people smile, wave and/or honk. The M series is my favorite of all makes and models.
It’s up to about $675 now. How can anyone just leave a vehicle sit outside for 50 years? And then say, gee maybe we should try to sell it. SMH