BY JAMES McCARTER
LA View Publisher
The great thing about custom cars and trucks is that no two are alike. Every builder approaches a project differently, and the result is like a fingerprint.

Larry Moore and his 1951 Studebaker 2R Series Model 10 pickup truck illustrate my point perfectly. I’ve written about two other 1949-53 Studebaker pickups — one original, one custom — and all three vehicles are totally unique. I could never declare that one truck was better than the others because the owners all had completely different goals in mind when they started.

Moore bought the basically stock truck in August 2002.He put on about 600 miles as he drove it for the rest of the summer and into the fall. In January 2003, he began a complete tear down. He completed the project about two months ago.

“The sheet metal and frame are original, but just about everything else is new,” says Moore. “I had to make most of the brackets and mounting parts myself.” Moore retired from GM Truck and Bus a few years ago. Over the years he held a variety of positions with GM and thus gained valuable engine-building and parts-fabricating experience.

His last position was as a design check supervisor; he and his crew were charged with creating vehicles from the ground up from engineers’ specifications.

This experience taught him to create parts and improvise on the fly.

And his Studebaker is proof that he was paying attention at work.

The R10 pickup was originally powered by a Type 1R 6-cylinder engine that displaced 170 cubic inches. It had 7:1 compression and developed 134 foot-pounds of torque at 1,600 rpm and 85 horsepower at 4,000 rpm. Moore thought the truck needed a little more power so he installed a 454 big-block Chevrolet engine.

“I actually built the motor for a 1947 Olds,” said Moore. “But I thought a small block might be more suited for it. Then I was going to put it in a ’51 Ford, but I ended up selling that car. Then I bought the Studebaker and decided to put the big block in that.” The motor really is a work of art. It has been bored out to approximately 460 cubic inches and topped off with a polished 671 Weiand Blower and two 750 cfm carburetors. An Excel ignition system handles the spark, and the exhaust is routed through 2 inch-plus headers and 3-inch custom bent pipes.

Moore test-fired this motor, as he does with all of his motors, on an engine stand he built out of an old McDonald’s picnic table — you can still see where the seats bolted on.

The transmission is a Turbo 400.

The engine compartment is tasteful and simple. The firewall was fabricated from a discarded Luxaire furnace and hides all the wiring and plumbing. An electric fan is used to cool the engine; the air stream is directed toward the motor with a shroud that Moore fashioned himself from fiberglass.

The suspension is all custom-made.

Moore used the front and rear axles from a Chevy truck.

He replaced the springs with an air bag system he designed himself from semi truck parts. He monitors the system on gauges mounted under the driver’s side visor. The front is adjustable and the rear stays at the same ride height no matter how much load he’s carrying.

He moved the fuel tank to the rear and centered it between the frame rails; the filler is located behind the license plate. The exhaust is cleverly mounted outside the rails for the length of the truck and then back under and between them before exiting out the rear through chrome tips.

The body is mostly original.

Only a trained eye would pick out the alterations: relocated tail lamps and modified side-view mirrors. The bumpers are original and have been re-chromed.

Moore did all the body work and paint himself He chose a green that is very close to the original Studebaker shade, only he added some metal flake to modernize it. He had to cut out some rust. He used the sheet metal from his wife’s Kenmore dryer to repair the left rear box panel ... yes, she got a new dryer.

Other sheet metal repairs were hand-made from flat stock.

Incidentally, Moore did all the welding himself with a wire feed welder he bought and learned to use for this job. The paint job came easier: it was his second time at that.

The interior is also simple.

The instrument cluster is made out of an old Studebaker glove box door that a friend gave him.

It’s filled with modern Stewart- Warner gauges. Moore added four inches onto the bottom of the dashboard to hide the workings of a Vintage air conditioning system. He also used the extension to mount a radio.

Moore has no intention of towing his new ride to local car shows and cruises. He has put more than 1,000 miles on it since he completed it, and it’s no wonder: it rides like a car on those air bags.

The black stamped steel wheels give Larry Moore’s Studebaker pickup the look of a sleeper. But the blown big block under the hood will launch this work horse past a lot of muscle cars.

More Tips