Studebaker Champ |
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Wikipedia: Studebaker Champ
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History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Studebaker Champ page on 7 April 2016, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Studebaker Champ was a light-duty pickup truck produced by the Studebaker Corporation from 1960-1964.
Designed at a time when Studebaker's truck line had not seen major upgrading in over 10 years, the company, which had endured years of declining sales, was forced to use a number of existing components, but the result was impressive.
The chassis and cargo box of the Champ were basically the same as what had been used for Studebaker's ½ and ¾-ton trucks since 1949, but the cab section was very different.
An entirely new cab was out of the question because of cost considerations, but the new Lark compact car's body proved to be just the right size and shape to suit the purpose. The engineering staff took a four-door sedan, cut it in half behind the front doors and modified the front half slightly to fit the truck chassis. The only new sheetmetal stamping that was required was the back wall of the new cab. Minor modifications for mounting of the cab to the 1949-vintage truck frame were also made.
The Lark's front end sheetmetal was retained as well, but funds were allocated to give the Champ a new horizontal-bar grille that delivered a "tougher" look.
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1961 Photo ©2016 Heidi Walczak View photo of 1961 Studebaker Champ at the Studebaker National Museum - 2.1MB |
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1961 Photo ©2016 Heidi Walczak View photo of 1961 Studebaker Champ at the Studebaker National Museum - 2.0MB |
| Type & Item # | Name | Details |
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| Die Cast - Johnny Lightning 992-01 | '60s Studebaker Champ | JL Collection, small scale, American flag design |
| Die Cast - Hot Wheels V0014-09A0L | '63 Studebaker Champ | 2011 New Models, small scale, metallic teal, customized |
