Studebaker Champ

The Studebaker Champ was a light-duty pickup truck built by the Studebaker Corporation from 1960 to 1964, the last such vehicles the company designed. Working to a budget of 900,000 dollars, Studebaker engineers reused the ladder frame and solid axles of the half-ton and three-quarter-ton E-series trucks, which dated back to 1949, and topped them with a cab made from a Lark four-door sedan cut in half behind the front doors, with a new horizontal-bar grille. The result was among the first pickups with car-like comfort, and it offered a sliding rear window from the start, a feature that later became nearly universal. Buyers could choose the Lark 170 cubic inch six or the older 245 cubic inch Big Six, or a 259 or 289 cubic inch V8, and from 1961 a wide Spaceside cargo box using tooling bought from Dodge. Sales were fair in 1960 and weak after, and the truck ended when the South Bend factory closed in December 1963.