Saleofcar.com :Studebaker

Studebaker Champ (1964)
for sale

Price: US $1,090.00

Description:

Up for auction is an original 64 Studebaker Champ pickup. I have previously considered this truck restored but my friend and automotive owner and enthusiast who came out last week to examine it thoroughly has informed me it is actually an original truck that has been re-painted and its interior replaced or updated. Whichever you prefer, the truck starts and runs nicely. It drives down the road straight. Goes through all gears and has an overdrive lever that can be engaged. I have driven it in the overdrive position with no problems. Headlights work; Wipers function as they should. It doesn't overheat or smoke. The horn honks. I haven't found anything on it that doesn't work. There is vinyl over the top of what appears to be the radio location, but there is not a radio installed in the truck. However, it somes with two factory radios that are located in a seperate box of goodies which I will include in the sale. I haven't taken it on any major road trips but it has taken a good few 20 to 30 mile joy rides and it always gets me back home. Because I tend to want to baby a truck like this, I haven't hard-stomped the gas pedal or done any kind of hot-rodding with it. It seems to be right at home rolling down my farm road at about 50 to 55 miles per hour. It has all four factory hubcaps with the correct Studebaker logos but I can't say for certain they are correct to this truck. They look like exactly what it would have had on it rolling out of the dealership in 64. It also has a set of Uniroyal radials that by my estimation roll smoothely with no flat spots and feature probably 75-80% treadlife remaining.
From what I've read, the Studebaker company went bankrupt in 1965 and ceased production but before they left the American Automobile landscape, they made a final and high quality entry into the pickup truck market. Internet research sites that I have visited due to my fascination with this little truck have lead me to believe that it was, in spite of its relatively high quality build, something of a scrabbled together effort on the part of the Studebaker company. I will assume Studebaker aficionados would agree with the following; the cab was the popular Studebaker car (the Lark) basically cut in half behind the front doors and fitted to a truck frame that was a throwback to the 1940's era models. The bed of the truck was a 1950's design that must have been updated to line up with the Lark front end as the body features some styling lines that are in fact alligned perfectly. Studebaker became a part of America's past history in 1965. The 1964 pickup was therefore the last one made. As can be seen in the pictures, the bed is wider than the cab, I would suppose due to the previously mentioned efforts to build this truck with what parts were available. It is a very different and desireable feature to this truck that sets it apart. But I have been asked by people who stop to admire it why the bed doesn't match the rest of the truck. It's always fun to tell them it was made that way.
Some of my research into these trucks indicates that they held a pretty high standard for workmanship, being compared to the likes of Mercedes. Since the front of the truck was from the Lark design, the truck rides much like a car, which was one of its selling points back in the day. The doors on this little truck are solid. They don't rattle or fail to latch like so many I've seen of other pickups of the same era. This truck was re-painted likely 15 to 20 years ago. The paint has a few blemishes and the truck has some minor rust but nothing is rotted through. I would rate the paint as good on a scale, but wouldn't call it excellent. It has a nice shine to it when cleaned propperly. Surface rust is apparent in a small spot just over the grill; another over the passenger headlight and several spots at the base exterior of the tailgate. Speaking of that, this truck's tailgate does not appear to have ever been used. Its pretty much perfectly straight. Not warped or lopsided. The hinges work smoothely and the old style chain and hook fasteners are present and function with the hasps (?) that are mounted with bolts to the rear surface of the truck bed. Along with that, the bed likewise has no major dents or scrapes in it. It also doesn't appear to have ever carried anything that would damge it severely at all. There are some scratch marks on the inner bed rail at the top where a previous owner had a home-made bed cover (plywood) on it. Near the rear of the bed surface there are some tiny light rust spots that I think came as a result of a door in the home-made cover. There is one spot about the diameter of a soda can where it has lost it's paint due to what I think was probably spilled brake fluid, just inside the bed near the tailgate. The fender wells have good paint on them and just a few small dents but again are very straight for five decades old. Overall I would rate the bed interior VERY good for it's age.
It appears to have been a white truck all of its life. There is some faded white paint on the inner rings of the hubcaps that tells me they were a correct match to the rest of the truck. There is some overspray apparent under the truck in places out of typical view. Truck has what appears to be the original bias-ply spare tire in place suspended under the rear in the factory installed spare tire mount. The interior is clean and in overall good shape. The carpet has some fading and some tears behind the seat that are very small, but I have to wonder if a truck like this would have had carpet when it was new? Weather stripping is good; windows are not cracked. Factory rear sliding window works exactly like it was intended and makes a nice breaze as this truck does not have A/C and I am pretty sure never did. ( I have read articles indicating that the sliding rear window was introduced by this truck, becoming popular the world over as a result on other makes and models.)
The chrome on the truck is in very good shape except for a small dent in the body line strip on one of the front fenders. It is not dull but quite shiny on the grill, door handles, mirror and body side moulding. The hood latches into place correctly. The drip rail has some very small areas of surface rust but is not corroded or damaged. Windshield rubber is not cracked or dried out and it has a chrome strip over it's entirety that is clean, straight and shines nicely. The engine compartment is fairly clean and the motor itself is painted yellow. Could not guarantee that the engine paint is original, but it looks the part and isnt bad at all.
If your looking for a cool, clean, straight running and driving piece of American pickup truck history, and you don't want to have the same thing all the other guys at the car hop are driving, this is the perfect truck. I've read that it was the first truly mid-sized pickup available in America, even though Studebaker never laid claim to this. Its not like most others on the road and it's not really odd either. It is stylish and different and well made.

_{update: 2015-07-12}