Studebaker Alert!

I saw this Studebaker last year when I was at Trader Joes of all places. I thought it was a cool looking car but didn't know what it was until my dad chimed in that it was a Studebaker Champion. While I snapped these phone photos the owner walked up to his car with his groceries. Busted! He was happy someone was appreciating it, and he chatted with us for a couple minutes about how he refinished it. My parents had a Studebaker back in the day but I don't know what model. I know they both liked the car.

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stud1_zpskm8od4nk.jpg

stud2_zpssnn8bl5q.jpg
 
DWalt said:
My very first car was a battleship gray '51 Studebaker. I don't remember the model (Champion maybe?), but it was the bottom of the line. I learned a lot keeping it running, but it was easy to work on, as were most cars from that era. It had a standard transmission with a "Hill Holder". Quiz - how many know what that is? It also had some sort of overdrive, but it didn't work and I never used it.
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The hill holder clutch worked by a port and a small steel ball. Stepping on the brake and the clutch at the same time on a hill and the ball would roll into position to block the port and hold hydraulic pressure on the brakes even after you let out on brake petal. Brakes stayed on until you released the clutch which popped the valve out of the port and released the brakes.

My brothers and Ihave had a bunch or 2DBakers. One has a pickup cab on a Chevy 4x4 frame all tricked out, another has a original pickup he still drives from time to time. Have had a Champion, a Lark and a couple trucks.

Know where there is a Stude station wagon where the rear roof section moves to make a small open box. They were always doing interesting things.
 
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"They built some interesting vehicles, lots of heavy trucks during WWII."

Studebaker was a major manufacturer of trucks during WWII, making something like 200K of the US6 2-1/2 ton models. Many went to Russia under Lend-Lease, and their use allowed the Red Army to have unprecedented mobility it never had before. Without those trucks, the Russians would never have prevailed over the Wehrmacht.

Studebaker also made the majority of the radial aircraft engines used in the B-17.
 
Studebakers were a common sight in the days of my childhood in eastern New Mexico. The dealership was a going concern in those days. It used to be a fairly common thing for folks to mount an additional headlight in that center "bullet" on the front end. I grew up in the days of the factory hot rods and serious muscle cars. We didn't see many of the Hawk models (Gold or Silver) but I'll never forget the surprise I got when one of those absolutely cleaned my clock on one of the common short drag races routinely held from a stop light intersection after the first double lane one way road was contstructed in my home town. In those days, you didn't have to have a muscle car to participate in those, and since the car next to my old clunker/junker was just a Studebaker, I wasn't worried about getting embarrassed. Boy, did I get a surprise!! All the Studebakers I was familiar with had a hot water six banger under the hood. Dependable transportation, but unremarkable performance. That Hawk opened my eyes and continued my education at a time when I thought I was pretty smart about cars. Of course, I also noted that the Hawk was a much better looking ride than the regular old Studebakers, especially when viewing it from the rear!!!! Good memories, Pilgrim!!
 
Just about my most favorite car was my 1961 Studebaker Hawk. Plain Hawk, not supercharged, but 3/4 cam, 4 Barrel, Positraction, 4 Speed. The car I taught my fiance to drive a stick. (It had a very beefy transmission). The dashboard was all machined aluminum with a full set of Stewart Warner Gauges. The car did run nearly 140 at least one time. I wish I had a picture of it, all white, with the inner curve of the fin a copper/gold color.
 
My father bought a 1958 Studebaker 3E7 Transtar Deluxe ½ ton pickup in 1958. He had a small peach orchard and his old IH flatbed truck failed and was not worth repairing. He bought the only new truck available at the time in Fairfield CA as he had ripe peaches to take to market. I was disappointed as I was hoping he would buy a Chevy. We hauled many a ton of peaches in the truck and took it on many memorable hunting trips. It had the 3 speed with overdrive and a 409 twin traction rear axle. The only thing deluxe about it was the trim and the paint job. It did not have a heater, an oil filter or a radio. Power steering was by "Armstrong" and air conditioning was 2-70 (two open windows while doing 70 MPH). It had a 259Cubic inch V-8 and it would fly. When I was younger and dumber I had it up to 100 MPH on an occasion or two. I recently sold it to a young friend of mine as I lost interest in working on it and I have no one to pass it on to. He is very happy with it and I now do not have to park a car on the street.
 
THE PILGRIM said:
I was just driving my GD home from an after school choir practice.
We were stopped at a redlight on Academy in NE Albuquerque.
I looked over in the right lane and saw a low to the ground multi - colored car.
I let it go ahead of me at the green so I could see it.
It was a Studebaker apparently junkyard assembled from several cars.
I yelled at my GD look at that Studebaker!
Have you ever seen one before?
She gives me that Grandpa is losing it look.
Then I tell her they were built in South Bend.
Her Grandma is from Vincennes.
It was one of these types, I think.
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Very nice! Back in the day these were popular Bonneville Salt Flat cars. :)
 
I grew up in Lead SD, working in dad's gas station. Fastest cars were a 58 Impala, 57 Fuelie, 57 Ford with supercharger(factory). Then up comes a Studebaker Lark Daytona. SC'd, 4 sp, positrak, and wipes them up. No one bought a 409. Then a 63 fastback Galaxie with the 425 horse(?) 427. Goodnight everybody.
Question for You trivia fans. Which cars had a Paxton Blower and which had the Judson Supercharger.
 
Grip_Maker's_Wife said:
I saw this Studebaker last year when I was at Trader Joes of all places. I thought it was a cool looking car but didn't know what it was until my dad chimed in that it was a Studebaker Champion. While I snapped these phone photos the owner walked up to his car with his groceries. Busted! He was happy someone was appreciating it, and he chatted with us for a couple minutes about how he refinished it. My parents had a Studebaker back in the day but I don't know what model. I know they both liked the car.

stud3_zpsr5gkcnyq.jpg

stud1_zpskm8od4nk.jpg

stud2_zpssnn8bl5q.jpg
Click to expand...
************************************************************


I remember back when I was a kid, there was a story going around about this model of Studebaker dodging a pedestrian on the street and running up on the sidewalk for a good ways with people on the sidewalk dodging the Stude right & left. When a cop arrived, he ask one of the guys on the sidewalk what happened. He said "She tried to stab me with that Studebaker!"

Art
 
My first car was a 1959 Lark. V8 straight drive with over drive. Holman-Moody of Ford fame built some hot rod Larks when they were getting started. Great pictures of them in The Holman-Moody history book. Also, I think I remember correctly, that if you wanted a Mercedes Benz in America you had to go through Studebaker until about 1958-9.
 
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