There is nothing about this Studebaker that says “inviting”. It’s desert-roasted body has all the allure of a junkyard find. The Cummins twelve-valve with a fire vent for an exhaust is as obnoxious as you can get, and the way the truck stands on it’s rolling stock perfectly explains it’s reason for still existing: this former farm truck is a budget-build mover. It’s a great combination: 5.9L Cummins mills can make stupid power with ease (somebody say 1,000 ft/lbs of torque?), the Stude has to be lighter than the Ram that gave up the engine in the first place, and to top it all off, it’s packing the NV4500 five-speed manual. That proved to be more of a hinderance than an asset as the truck was being shaken down at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Arizona…nothing like an un-syncromeshed gear to put the fun to bed for the night, but when this old, beat up truck is on…it’s ON. Nothing quite like using the glow coming from the exhaust stack to determine when you need to shift, is there?
It’s pretty much impossible to speed shift an NV4500/NV5600. Kind of like trying to speed-type using hunt & peck… just ain’t happenin’. Finding 3rd from 2nd is tough when driving normally, never mind trying to do it fast.