Like American Motors, Studebaker always seemed to be in catch-up mode in the auto business. And that was true in the truck market, as well. Despite that the acquisition cost was low when new, Studebaker only sold about 6,600 Champs like this one in 1961. By comparison, Ford sold almost ten times as many F-100s. This truck looks like a mostly solid survivor and can be found in Goodyear, Arizona (just outside of Phoenix) and sits at $4,150 in a no reserve auction here on eBay.
Studebaker’s Champ was a light-duty pickup truck built between 1960 and 1964. It came along at a time when Studebaker had made only minor changes to their trucks in a decade. To come up with the Champ, they basically took the relatively new Lark four-door sedan, cut it in two behind the front doors and modified the front portion to fit the truck chassis. They use the Lark’s front-end sheet metal but gave it a horizontal-bar grille that looked tougher than the Lark and the truck before it. The Champ was something of a trend-setter by introducing the sliding rear window, which would be copied later by other manufacturers. The Champ stuck it out until late 1963 when Studebaker closed its South Bend, Indiana plant. Car models would survive two more years, being built in Canada.
This 1961 Champ is a half-ton, two-owner truck from New Mexico. It’s powered by Studebaker’s 259 cubic inch V-8 that was rebuilt 3,000 miles back (total truck is said to have 25,000 on it, but that’s likely 125,000). You’ll need to refresh yourself on shifting gears from the column as it’s three-on-the-tree with overdrive, which we understand was a rare option. The truck was recently taken on a 500-mile road trip and passed mechanically with flying colors. The buyer will benefit from the new exhaust system and brakes the pick-up has been fitted with.
Seamist Green is the original finish on the truck which will come to the attention of those fans of patina. The bed has its share of surface rust, meaning that it has been used as it was intended, but there is a little more of it at the bottom of the tailgate. The floor pans were replaced by the prior owner. We’re told that all the trim molding and badging is complete. The interior looks especially nice and looks more comfortable than a lot of trucks you see from this era.
Hagerty has a great deal of faith in the 1960-64 Studebaker Champs. They run from $6,000 in fair condition all the way to $28,000 for Concours. Given that this is a no reserve auction, someone might get themselves a sweet old truck for not a lot of money. It’s a shame that Studebaker wasn’t more successful with this Champ truck – or with the rest of their cars in those final years.
May be too early in the morning for this ’cause that bed looks like it came off of a Ford. Nice, rare, good condition old truck.
I believe they did use an outsourced bed on these.
I’m pretty sure they are Dodge beds. A factory alternative to the aging step-side design.
Yes, Poppy is correct, Studebaker bought old Dodge tooling for the bed which is why it is so badly mismatched to the cab. Another cost-cutting measure that stands out is Studebaker lowered the front bumper but left the indentation where it would fit on a Lark.
Dodge supplied the beds I believe. My 8 foot bed is one.
Hmm, where did this come from? Always liked the Champ. Maybe because I thought the Lark was a great car, and my appreciation for the “lesser” makes. Very few Champs ever made it to Wisconsin. Shame, it had many features that are now standard, like that sliding back window, fresh air heater and “hill holder” clutch and O/D on Studebakers was almost a standard equipment item. Not mentioned, the reason the box looks so out of place, is they used old Dodge boxes. Great find.
Driver’s fender and door looks like they have a coating of rattle can primer that you might be able to gently remove, giving this truck the “Perfect Patina” all over. If you like that sort of thing.
THese were Dodge beds…Virgil Exner and his styling family designed many for both Chrysler and S/P.
Most of these rusted out up to the drip moulding in three years or less.
Quality control was a foreign idea in the 1960’s across the whole US
car industry and it took the bloody nose given Detroit by the Japanese
car industry to get their attention.The motto in the US was “Yep,we build junk and you will buy it”.
.I remember getting into a new 1971 Dodge on the show room floor and
when I closed the door the whole panel came off in my hand.
Get a copy of David Halberstam’s book called “The Reckoning”for the
story.It’s a great read.
” It came along at a time when Studebaker had made only minor changes to their trucks in a decade ” – pretty much what GM did with their trucks from 1973 until 1987 – well over a decade !
Really nice truck which if goes for under $5000 I would say well bought !
Sold for $6600.