About a block from my home (Note: blocks are flexible, I live in the country) is a mechanic who has decided to sell cars. Generally he has pretty normal cars. The other night I was coming home from somewhere and this pops up. There was enough light that I figured I could get a couple pictures. I don’t think I have ever seen a used car lot that was encased in barbed wire. Well this is East Texas, and now I realize that I have. I found this Studebaker the evening before Tom’s half dark cavalier appeared. I prefer white for that time of day.
This is a Studebaker Champion from 1956 or 1957. I pegged it as a 56 and it looks like one. When trying to do due diligence, I came to find that I cannot tell the difference between the two years. I thought I had found something to tell the difference when I realized that there is no strip in the rear window. I quickly realized this separates the Champion from the President but not a ’56 from a ’57. According to that well respected font of wisdom google images, the grill did not change. I do not have to ask if there are any Studephiles in the readership here. I know there are some much more knowledgeable than I. Have a shot at it. ’56 or ’57?
Whichever it is, from what I can see of the interior it’s clean. I would be plumb tickled to find a stall for it in my stable.
It’s a ’57. I’m not at home so I don’t have a picture to show you, but the ’56 rear fenders are squared off and feature vertical taillights. Also, the ’56 has a centered grille with side “wings” that are probably supposed to evoke the gills on the Hawk.
AFAIK, the grille and rear end of the Champion reflected the changes made to the full size ’56 Stude, which itself was a nickel-and-dime facelift of the done-on-half-a-shoestring “freshening” of the ’55s which were based on the Loewy coupe-derived ’54 sedans and wagons. I know, I know…erroneous information on the Googlewebs? Perish the thought!
I don’t recall offhand, but I think the pressed-in scallops around the wheel openings were also added for ’57.
For some strange reason I really really like Studebakers even though they’re weird and the last one was built when I was negative five years old. Of course I also have a soft spot for all the malaise-era barges that plied the streets during my childhood so maybe I just have a thing for dumpy crappy cars. I would not mind having one like this for a fair-weather driver.
I have to agree with Fleetwood Fancier. I have attached a picture of the front of a 56, below. The 57’s giveaway is the dipped bumper and the heavy lip across the top of the grille. The 58 added the pods for the quad headlights and tacked some fins on the back. It is a shame that Stude could not have moved these up a year. If the 56 model had been the 55 (instead of that fish-mouthed car that we actually got), I have to think that these would have sold better, and with a record-setting sales year, it certainly could have helped.
The 57 you found actually looks quite good in solid white. In fact, the longer I look at this one, the more I am starting to want it. 🙁 It is a good thing for Mrs. JPC that I am as far away from Texas as I am. Gotta love it that CC is becoming the place for Studebaker Love.
The way things were done at Studebaker during that period it’s hard to be 100% certain that these changes were orderly and by model year, but we had a ’56 Champion when I was a kid and it had the larger, vertical taillights and narrower grille. This one looks awesome in plain white like that.
Thanks guys. Google images is not the place to differentiate models. It has hung me out to dry more than once.
The confusion between model year and actual year of production! On the other hand if someone says they have an xx year car here and there was a model change during that (calendar) year, it is not enough to identify the car on that basis alone.
There are a decent number of Studebaker Larks out here, as for a while they were about the cheapest way to get into a V8 American car, and would have been the only compact/intermediate size car available with a V8. 2 door versions were used as police cars for a while. I’d have to think that pre-Lark Studebaker sedans would have to be rare.
Ill leave it to the experts to determine the year but it does look to be in very good order.
The incredible archive at Old Car Brochures is the last word on model ID:
http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Studebaker/dirindex.html
I too am delighted with the Stude love fest here. Now let’s all take a drag on whatever Paul is smoking today, and meditate on the eternal mystery that is Studebaker.
This one currently for sale in New Zealand on Trade Me as 1955 Other Studebaker Champion