I’ve long had a bit of a soft spot for the Champ, and have written up several here (links below). But I’ve never seen one in military uniform, like this one in Air Force…drabs? And here I though USAF vehicle were all blue?
Truckstop Classic: 1960 Studebaker Champ – Just Needs Some Fresh Horsepower
Curbside Classic: 1963 Studebaker Champ Long Bed Pickup – I’m a Chump for This Champ
This is a digitally colorized B&W picture.
Along with the Zip Van, this is a classic example of steering Federal contracts to a company in need of propping-up.
Yeah, I think the truck IS blue, but the sepia-tone filter or whatever it is messes with it. I’m surprised it has hubcaps, surely an option?
That makes sense.
Jim,
I googled “1961 us air force 1/2 ton truck” and for images I found a 1961 Ford pickup with Air Force markings and white hub caps, photo below]. I suspect the USAF contract specifications may have included hub caps. I’m pretty sure Studebaker would not have risked coming in too high on price because they included hub caps.
First of all, I want to say I really like this truck. It speaks to me.
As for small hubcaps like this, I believe they serve a practical purpose – that is to say they protect the lugs & lug nuts from ice/snow/mud. I’ve driven enough winter beaters without hubcaps to know how ugly lug nut removal can get if they’re crusty, especially with open-end nuts, like I presume this truck would have.
The smaller Lark cab and the Champion engine were a good match to make for an easy handling light truck. I’ve driven other makes in that era, most were clumsy for the urban area were I drove. Neat features like the sliding rear glass. Would have liked to see more of these with upgraded interiors which I’m sure they had the parts for in the warehouse. Chrome bumpers and IFS, even the planar setup would be easy to do with the parts bin as well. If only they had started the idea earlier.
Considering how many were made, it seems like there are still a lot of Champs around. I’ve seen a few, definitely more than the corresponding years of Dodge or International trucks.
SO, I was stationed in Germany in the AF in the mid sixties. A friend was stationed at Bitburg AB, not far from my home base. Bitburg was camoflaged. The whole base was camo olive green. The buildings were green, the roads! were green. There were large telephone poles strung with giant green netting all over the place! Maybe this truck was from Bitburg AB. The age is certainly right.
This is definitely a colorized photo – those bricks on the background building are almost certainly not grey.
The Champ is a weird truck – at first it looks like an El Camino-type “ute” truck based on a car platform, in this case a Lark, but it’s actually just a front half of a Lark body plopped on a Studebaker truck frame (Stude did build some actual car-platform-based trucks for the Argentine and other South American markets – see https://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/forum/your-studebaker-forum/members-studebaker-pictures/90764-my-special-champ-7e9-from-argentina , and these also got styled beds that actually matched the shape of the truck, but sadly they weren’t sold elsewhere. I can’t think of any other car-body-on-truck-frame vehicles at least in postwar America, unless you count the Checker.
Scratches his head and wonders how Studebaker could find the resources for a styled bed in Argentina, but couldn’t in the US? Or was this just a more enterprising local agent?
This is a nice looking “Just Right” sized truck .
My 1959 Ford F100 came from Ayers AFB in……’76 ? .(IIRC) and was also a bare bones i6 & three on the tree truck, the tin worm did it in .
I don’t see many Champ trucks here in So. Cal. , it’d be neat if someone made a tribute .
-Nate
Quick Photoshop to make it Air force Blue
Are those tires an indication of a beefed-up suspension? Any one of you who might know?
Thomas.
I think this is the standard 1/2 ton truck as used in civilian versions. The reason it looks like it’s riding high is because the cab and front end is standard Lark sheet metal, mounted to the old truck chassis. So the larger opening area above the front tires is because the sheet metal is raised up due to the half-elliptic front suspension. Note how much higher the normal bumper area for the Lark is compared to where the truck bumper is.
Looks just like a new recruit, buff and fit and trim. That pleated crease from the front quarter panel to the door is very military esq. Good enough to pass a Drill Instructors Uniform Inspection.