Faced with certain extinction near the end of the 1950s, Studebaker clung to solvency by building new cars and trucks out of the components already in its parts bins.
The base V-8 in the Champ was the 180hp 259-cu.in. V-8. This one is still running very reliably after 98,929 miles and 41 years in service.
The 1959 Lark was an ingenious example of this. Starting with the full-size Studebaker cars introduced in 1953, designers cut eight inches out of the chassis, reworked the body and added new fenders, quarter panels, hood and a distinctive grille. The result was a car that looked all new, but wasn’t engineered from the ground up. Even more impressively, the Lark boldly went where The Big Three weren’t–into the low-cost small car market. This was no Cadillac to be sure. To keep the Lark’s manufacturing costs down and thus, keep the car affordable to buyers, there were only five paint colors to choose from, the front and rear bumper were identical, and power windows and seats weren’t offered.
Individuals and fleet buyers scooped up 1959 Larks boosting Studebaker to its best sales year in almost a decade. The Lark proved its versatility, lending itself well to a four-door sedan, a two-door sedan, a two-door hardtop and a two-door station wagon. A convertible and a four-door station wagon would be added later. But how would the plucky compact fare as a pickup? Studebaker decided to find out–in a manner of speaking.
Studebaker sourced its smooth bed sides for the Champ from Dodge to avoid the expense of designing and building the panels. The mismatch between the bed and the cab takes getting used to, but has become part of the Champ’s enduring charm. Note the sliding back window on this truck
South Bend’s truck line was badly in need of updating. Its 2R series was beautiful when it bowed in 1949, but by 1959 these trucks looked like antiques parked alongside Fords and Chevrolets. Without the resources to design an all-new truck–like Chevrolet’s advanced 1960 lineup that boasted torsion-bar front suspension and coil-spring rear–Studebaker passed the ball to the Lark. Using the front half of a Lark sedan body with a unique grille and bumper, South Bend created a pickup cab that fit remarkably well with the edgy styling direction Detroit had taken. Inside, the Lark’s dash added a civilized touch to the workaday hauler. Unfortunately, almost everything else about the truck was still very much a rolling representation of a bygone era.
While Detroit’s haulers rode on independent front ends, two-wheel-drive Champs used straight front axles with leaf springs as well as leaf springs in the rear. In 1960, Studebaker’s six-cylinder truck engines were still flathead designs dating back to the 1930s. The Champ’s box too was a throwback to the previous model, and those pontoon rear fenders that looked so right on the 2R in 1949 didn’t blend well with the Lark-derived Champ cab. Even the Champ’s brake and clutch pedals seemed old-fashioned poking up out of the floor, as swing-style pedals had become so common everywhere else.
For 1961, Studebaker did its best to bring the Champ into the modern age. The flathead straight-six engines were discontinued and the smaller 170-cu in six was brought back with overhead valves. (Both V-8 engines remained in the lineup, the 259 as well as the 289.)
The most visible change was the addition of smooth bedsides–but whether or not this was an improvement is a matter of personal taste. Rather than design and build its own bedsides for the Champ, Studebaker purchased tooling that had been used to make Dodge’s “Sweptline” boxes. Studebaker’s Dodge-derived “Spaceside” box was more modern looking than the old fender box, but it was disproportionately big for the Champ’s cab and sort of gave the truck the look of a boy playing dress up in his father’s suit jacket. The body creases in the Champ’s doors didn’t jibe with the Dodge’s bedsides either, further making the combination look cobbled together.
If the Champ had an advantage in the light-truck marketplace it was its low price. In 1962, the Champ ½-ton with a 6.5-foot box and six-cylinder engine was the most inexpensive hauler in its class, weighing in with a base price of $1,870. Few were sold, however, and most Studebaker historians lay the blame at the feet of the company’s dealers, who were apparently disinterested in selling light trucks.
The Champ soldiered on, more or less a footnote in South Bend’s proud history, until December 27, 1963, when Studebaker pulled the plug on civilian truck production. The company still hadn’t given up completely on incorporating a number of changes into the last run of Champs. The final round of trucks boasted a new steering box and revised steering geometry, revised front shock mounting, and swing pedals, as well as a firewall-mounted master cylinder.
Despite the fact that the Champ was nearly invisible to 1960s truck buyers, these trucks have since gained a cult following among collectors–especially, of course, Studebaker enthusiasts.
Count Ken Lawson–a semi-retired electrical engineer from Jacksonville, Florida, and owner of our Glade Green feature truck–among the Champ’s fans. Lawson’s son discovered this 1962 Champ in North Georgia back in 2007 and bought it on behalf of his father. A southern truck for all of its life, it’s rust free and largely original, save for some shag carpet and custom upholstery that has since been replaced.
The truck is a short wheelbase 1/2-ton, powered by Studebaker’s 259-cu in V-8 with a three-speed manual transmission and a stump-pulling 4.09:1 rear gear ratio. The truck is nicely equipped with the deluxe cab that incorporates a padded dash, “Climatizer” heater, radio, sliding rear window and dual sun visors. It also has a factory chrome bumper and chrome grille. “I just use it for hobby and club activities,” Lawson explains. “I log probably 300-400 miles per year for shows and events. It drives like a truck because it was built back when trucks were trucks.”
