This Studebaker Commander Station Wagon represents a project that stalled at the starting line. This means that it allows you a blank canvas from which to work. You will find it listed for sale here on eBay. Located in Fort Worth, Texas, it comes with a clear title. The seller has set an opening bid of $1,000 on this old classic.

In 1957 Studebaker had a total of five station wagons across its vehicle range, but the following year that number had been reduced to two. There was the 2-door Scotsman, but our subject car is the 4-door Commander Provincial. This one needs a lot of work. There is quite extensive rust in the floors, and some of note in the lower parts of many of the body panels. What I find disturbing in this shot is that the car almost looks to be sagging along the center of the body between the front and back doors. Hopefully that’s an optical illusion.

Unfortunately there are no shots or even a mention of the interior. This shot of the rear of the car demonstrates how the styling was dominated by those fins. There are a couple of things missing back here such as a tail-light lens, but overall the rust here appears to be mainly surface rust, and it should clean up okay. If the new owner is trying to source items like those lenses, they are becoming harder to find. However, organisations such as the Studebaker Driver’s Club may be able to assist in this area.

Mechanically this Studebaker appears to be complete. The seller gives no indication as to whether he has tried to turn that 259ci V8, so that’s a great unknown. The engine is backed by an automatic transmission. The seller does have another set of wheels for the car, and he indicates that it rolls freely on these. The seller also has the original order sheet for the car and this indicates that the car was ordered with air conditioning. It appears that all of the components for the system are present which is a nice little bonus if the new owner undertakes a restoration.

In 1958 Studebaker only built 2,412 Commander Station Wagons, and many of them have suffered the fate that has started to befall this one. They have been consumed by rust. If the frame of this one is actually solid then the basis is there for a good project. Interestingly, I have spent some time scouring the internet trying to find even one of these for sale, with no luck. Haggerty don’t have a value for a wagon, The best that I could find was at NADA where what is essentially a #4 grade car values at $13,400, while a #1 would command $45,000. Those sorts of values would leave some room for a restoration. It would be a risk, but it may well be one worth taking.