Looking almost ready for paint, this 1961 Studebaker Champ pickup is said to be from Arizona and is solid, with no rust-through. It sure looks good, at least condition-wise, the Dodge-sourced beds for this model make it a love-it/hate-it design. The seller has it listed here on eBay in La Porte, Indiana and the current bid is $4,850, but the reserve isn’t met.
“The newest American truck on the road today is also the lowest priced!”, so says one of many brochures touting the toughness and economy of the new-for-1960 Studebaker Champ line of pickups. They were made from 1960 to 1964 and were certainly unique. They’re somewhat rare to see today even at car shows and I haven’t seen one on the road in two or three decades if not more.
Studebaker literature of the era really played on how tough these trucks were, saying that often, a 1/2-ton truck could do the work of a 3/4-ton truck and a 3/4-ton truck could do the work of a 1-ton truck and you’d save the cost of having to buy the beefier pickup. If any of that made sense. You can see that this box, or bed, has been used and has a fair amount of surface rust and dings, but I hope the next owner restores this truck, it sure looks like a nice, solid starting point. The underside looks solid, too.
The ill-fitting box was indeed from Dodge C-series trucks starting during the 1961 model year, and they sure gave these trucks an unusual look. How about that interior, though? It’s beautiful and looks more car-like than what a pickup normally looked like in 1961. The steering wheel is about the only thing I see inside that could use some help. With air-conditioning and a column-shifted automatic transmission, this truck was positively luxurious for the early-1960s. The seller does say that the interior was redone at some point.
Another thing Studebaker Champ pickup literature said is that owners could often get a six-cylinder because it would do the work of a V8 in most cases. That doesn’t count here because this one has Studebaker’s 259-cu.in. OHV V8 with 180 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque. The seller says that it starts and runs great and this truck has had $4,000 worth of work done recently. Would you finish restoring this Champ or drive it as it looks now?
The cab and interior were raided from the Lark parts bin, and the bed was from Dodge. So the truck was inexpensive for Studebaker to produce. There are a few around, I see them occasionally.
I can say, without reservation, the Champ was/is my all-time favorite pickup. 1st, I liked the Lark. All Studebakers were quality units. Perhaps it’s because I too, coming from Ramblertown, appreciated the, um, lesser makes, even though, there was nothing lesser about them. Before I left N.Wis. a neighbor had a Champ, and made it clear, he would not sell. It was the only one I ever saw in da’ Nort’woods. Some call the box mismatched, I say, unique. Unique indeed, as Studebaker sold just under 20,000 in it’s 4 year run, ironically, making it the best selling Studebaker at the time. I read, this truck cost $2,200 new, the A/C and automatic were the big options, adding $500, and still less than a comparably equipped Ford or Chevy.
While Studebakers were the truck of choice for farmers that DIDN’T have IH products, not many went for the Champ, and most switched to Dodge. It’s a great find, and the fact a rusty AD allegedly brings 5 figures, and this around $6 grand, really tells me, PT Barnum was right( although, it’s not known if he actually said that)
You’re correct. P.T. Barnum never said that . It was his competitor Adam Forepaugh who claimed Barnum said it. Barnum never did.
Dang…..I take back almost everything I’ve said about you….but owning a Champ….is to really love them !
I always thought the beds were from International Harvester.
Looks like they worked hard to achieve that “patina.”
The patina obsession will die a certain death, sooner than later I hope.
Butt-ugly is never a selling point.
I never cared much for these because it looks like the bed was a after thought and the body lines don’t work, I’m sure they were great trucks. I think I would try to find a step side bed for it because I think it would look better
I agree the step sides were much better looking. Even though the wide boxes were originally the Dodge box, (Studebaker bought the tooling with the agreement to make replacement parts for Dodge if needed), I always thought if they had narrowed it to the same width as the cab it would have been much better looking.
I like Studebakers and would like this truck if it weren’t for that bed. Wasn’t there a year or so of Ford pickups that used an earlier bed that really didn’t match the cab?
In the early 60’s Ford started making what many call the “unibody”, which was the cab and box as one unit. Buyers really didn’t like the idea. You could only get a separate box and cab with stepside box. As a quick fix Ford offered the older style wider box for buyers who didn’t like the one piece design. Back then a lot of truck buyers weren’t concerned about looks, these were work vehicles.
The unibody trucks are in demand these days. There are quite a few that have been hotrodded.
Here in Argentina we had two models, this one nickname “Alta” (tall) and de “baja” (short), the last one was exclusive “made” (only assembled, the only things mase here were the glass amd cargo box) here over a Lark HD chasis, but the difference was that the cargo box was the same as the 1961 F100 wich fits perfect.
Auction update: this Champ sold for $10,000!