The truck featured in this article is a 1962 Studebaker Champ 1/2 ton Pickup.
The Studebaker Champ was a light duty pickup truck produced by Studebaker Corporation from 1960 to 1964. The Champ design was based on the 1959-60 Studebaker Lark.
1962 Studebaker Champ
By the end of the 1950’s Studebaker Corporation was in financial difficulty. One way they proposed to stay afloat was to produce new cars and trucks from parts they already had in inventory. Trucks
Trucks were a particular concern for the automaker. The pickup truck they initially introduced in 1949 became very outdated when compared to their competitors offerings in 1959. Studebaker’s was not in a position to design an entirely new pickup like Chevrolet was doing for the 1960 model year. Instead, Studebaker took the front end of a Lark passenger car, added a unique bumper and grille, and came up with a reasonably good looking truck with a Lark dashboard inside. Some promoted the light truck as having passenger car comfort along with light truck utility.
Lark type grille on the 1962 Studebaker Champ light weight pickup
The 1961 Studebaker models had fashionable new “Spaceside” beds. These wide full width cargo boxes weren’t offered until 1961 and incorporated the rear wheels.
The problem if one really noticed was that they didn’t fit the cab. The lines and styling look a little off, and the bed is wider than the cab body. The reason for this was that the beds came from Dodge. Studebaker was not in the financial position to come up with an entirely new cargo bed of their own. The 6½ and 8-foot Spaceside model P2 pickup box used on the Champs became standard equi9//automcCwp--preset--gradient--vivid-cyan-blue-to-vivid-des/i;vivid-cye up with6.jcksvai.1, mh6.ckup box<-gracargray) light duty pickup truck produced by StsStude>Th3vividthe-des
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