When Harry Gould bought his 1951 Studebaker pickup in 1985 he knew it would take a while to bring it back to its original glory.He had a job and a family and all the time-consuming obligations that accompany those responsibilities. So he took his time, and 20 years later he has a beautiful example of a classic pick up.

Gould began working on his Studebaker shortly after he brought it home.He took the body off and sand blasted the frame.

“I got to work right away,” said Gould.“But when I retired from Chrysler in 2000 I had to redo some things, like the frame, because I did it so long ago it rusted up again.” The car ran when Gould bought it from a guy in Lapeer County. But the body was in pretty bad shape. It required three new fenders and a new door. Gould was able to repair the other fender and door by welding in patch panels.He also had to hammer out the bed, which appeared to have been loaded with rocks.

After repairing the body and priming the truck, he had it painted its current shade of blue.

The Studebaker Gould acquired was a Series 2R Model 5, or 2R5. The 2R5 changed very little from 1949 to 1953, selling about 110,500 units during those four model years. The Model 5 was the lightest truck Studebaker built at the time.

Heavier duty models had big V-8 engines and were powerful enough to be used as dump trucks and garbage haulers.

Gould’s Model 5 came equipped with a six-cylinder flathead that displaced 170 cubic inches and produced about 80 horsepower. It had 7-to-1 compression, an oil bath air cleaner and a 6-volt electrical system.

The transmission is a manual three-speed overdrive model.

The overdrive unit is mounted on the end of a regular transmission.

The overdrive function is fully automatic, at least by the standards of 1949.

The driver shifts through the first three gears just like any other 3-speed manual transmission.

When the truck reaches 45 to 50 miles an hour, the driver lets off the gas for a moment and the overdrive unit kicks in.

“You can really tell the difference when the overdrive kicks in,” says Gould.“The truck will be shaking at 50 mph, but when the O/T kicks in it smoothes right out. It doesn’t go any faster, really, but the rpms come down and it rides a lot smoother.” There is a knob on the dash that the driver must pull to disengage the overdrive unit.

Gould re-wired most of the car, but interestingly, the relay from the overdrive appears to be the original. It’s funny which parts survive the years and which have to be replaced.

He also replaced all the glass, including the two-piece windshield.

Gould rebuilt the truck pretty much to its original status; however he did add a couple of touches of his own. An accomplished woodworker, he carved a new sun visor out of cherry.He also made the interior rear window trim out of cherry.

It took a lot of patience to finish a project after all those years.

So how long will it take to finish his next project? “Well,” said Gould,“I have a 1923 Model T that I bought in 1967 ... I think I’ll do that one next ...” Mon./Thurs.

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