No, that’s not a typo, and yes, it’s very well documented. This right hand drive 1958 Studebaker Champion comes with quite a story! Thanks to Barn Finds reader Brent for sending us this fabulous survivor from Auckland, New Zealand. It’s listed for sale here at Hemmings for $82,500 obo and I hope it stays with the Kiwis because the story makes it special.
The car was originally purchased as a wedding gift, but unfortunately the relationship soured. The gentleman kept the car garaged, unused but properly maintained until 1984 when he sold it to a car dealership. For the next 10 years the car was displayed but again undriven, and there are newspaper articles included with the sale documenting the car’s existence and history. The ownership since then is well-known as well, and the car has won some national shows as well as being inspected (and approved of!) by a Studebaker family member and enthusiast.
Needless to say, the car is essentially perfect! We don’t have any pictures under the hood, but they are present in a video that you can watch here and naturally the car looks terrific under there as well.
This must be an older picture as the car is only showing 92 miles at this point. The owner in the video mentioned above talks about wanting to drive it as it turns 100 miles on the clock, so I’m guessing he did.
Most of the time I’m a great fan of driving classics, but this is one car that I can see the reasons for keeping the miles low. What do you think? Would you drive it, or keep it as a museum piece? Anyone interested in owning a piece of Kiwi history? Let us know in the comments — and have any of you faced the dilemma of having a low-mileage original car with history that you wanted to drive? I did, and ended up selling the car as a result. Would you?
That’s a amazing car and story. I would never drive it.
Dash is kinda cool, lots about the mileage. But not much else. So the story is the 75000 dollar part of the car ?
The protruding headlights are weird.
Mike, that was to allow for quad lights on up market Studies, as well as Packards in ’58. Quad headlights were a big deal, then.
Interesting that this car has lap belts.
I’ve got a friend in Auckland whose late father had a well-known American car dealership, and will see if I can pass him the link, as he may also have some info.
A car that you can’t drive is not a car, it’s an investment and if your only interest is in its monetary value, there are plenty of other, probably better, investments out there. I wish I could afford to buy this car and drive it everyday just like you would any other new car that you bought. For too many self proclaimed “car enthusiasts” it’s not about the cars, it’s all about the money. For a true car enthusiast, it ain’t about the money, it’s about using the car as it was intended to be used.
AMEN to that !! I have NEVER understood just staring at a car in a warehouse or pushing a trailer queen on and off and into shows and back into the warehouse never even starting the engine !! I just don’t see the point.
Different strokes for different folks.
To some extent I can see leaving this car alone. To drive it at this point, you’d have to replace every soft part except the seats, and in the meantime it stands as an excellent reference so we’ll always know how these cars were when new. But it would be a terrible investment at this price. The people who are nostalgic about ’50s cars only have a couple of decades left to spend money on their memories, and Studebakers won’t be everybody’s first choice. I could see $25-30k because of the mileage, condition, provenance and RHD, but no more.
This car must be driven….1 mile a year.
That car is very cool – but is hardly an investment. Get it for a decent price and enjoy it, because it will outlive the buyer even if it’s driven everyday.
Regarding Original As new classic cars A year ago I bought All original 76 Pontiac Ventura blue exterior eith light blue vinyl cloth interior 260 2V, tilt steering, Factory AM radio, rally wheels. And the Surprise its 121 Original miles since new!! Yes Not typo!!
Drive it till the wheels fall off .)
Museum piece for sure. A real time capsule. Hope it stays in New Zealand. Keep it pure.
$75,000 is an absurd price, even with no miles on this car! I love Studebakers and own a ’52, but this is a 4-door sedan, with an under-powered flathead six (which is what the Champions had), and from what I can see of the dashboard, it is a radio-delete, heater-delete, clock delete, standard shift car, in other words no options whatsoever. Seller needs to wake up to reality!
Correction: It has ONE option: Back-up lights
Still upmarket from the Scotsman, so there’s that.
Is that in Australian dollars or American? At today’s exchange rate, $82,500 Aussie dollars is about 65 Merkin’ kilobucks.
Drive it ’til the odometer hits 100, then unscrew the speedometer cable. A 100 mile car forever.
Last year of what you could call a “full size” Studebaker. After this all they had were compact Larks which is actually the same car as this one, just chopped off on both ends to make it over 2 feet shorter.
Lovely looking car. I hope it goes to a good owner.
Where is Rube Goldberg disputing the mileage like he always does
HA! I’m getting there (after my rant about the $30K dollar vintage Harley) No doubt, the real deal here, and I suppose it’s entirely possible, the story, that is. Properly maintained all those years? Not so sure. Wonderful car here, but again ( here it comes) who, in their later years, who this car appeals to,( I doubt youngun’s have this kind of disposable cash on hand for a ’57 Studebaker, regardless of the mileage) is going to spend this kind of money on this? I wish these people would stop asking these kind of prices, and for the record, it’s NOT a brand new ’57 Studebaker, only looks it. They are killing the old car hobby, and here’s the smoking gun.
I don’t suppose the car had anything to do with the relationship souring …
That’s funny, good one. “Of all the cars in 1957, you buy me a Studebaker? Get lost”,,,
Interesting to note the light switch is marked as lites. Just saying.
It is a ’58 not a ’57. 1958 has the added on headlight pods, the ribbed aluminum trim around the gauges, and the added on tail fins with round tail light lenses.