Beautiful work! If you ever get bored (yeah, right), I have a suggestion for another car I think would be interesting. Take a '55 Clipper hardtop and make a Nomad-like 2-door wagon. And, if it could be more watertight than Studebaker made the Wagonair, have a sliding roof panel rather than having to make a solid extension. Of course, the same thing you did to the '56 could be done to a '55. So many ideas, so little money!

On the '55 and '56 cars, the rear defroster (option) was operated by having the fan on and the control set to defrost. There was no separate switch for it. I don't know about other years.

I refilled the shocks on a '41 Clipper using shock fluid I bought at a parts house that specialized in vintage English car parts. The fluid was available in 3 grades from "soft" to "firm" and having gone with the "firm" was pleased with the difference in ride and handling. I don't remember a brand name because they sold it from bulk supply.

The early Hydramatics (pre 1956) were a single hydraulic coupling unit. These had no Park position and were to be parked in Reverse- if you shifted into reverse while moving, it would crunch much like a stick shift. They were fairly rough shifting, too. The later were a two coupling design which had a Park position plus they shifted much more smoothly and were properly called Dual Range Hydramatic but neither of these 4 speed Hydramatics had a torque converter.

I had 6 or 7 cars with factory 4 speed hydramatic and still have my father's '63 Cadillac with it. ALL of them were water cooled- lines run to the bottom of the radiator where a tank is inside. It's possible that this unit had an external air cooler but it would have been very "home-made." And since Ultramatic had an external cooler, I can only wonder why it was not used...

When i had a '41 Clipper, it had been delivered without a heater, in Atlanta, GA. The car had been fitted with a "Hadees V8" heater (no defroster) but there was no fresh air control or duct work. Maybe this started in '42?