From Hemmings.com: "Faced with certain extinction near the end of the 1950s, Studebaker clung to solvency by building new cars and trucks out of the stuff already in its parts bins."
"Without the resources to design an all-new truck, Studebaker passed the ball to the Lark. Using the front half of a Lark sedan body with a unique grille and bumper, South Bend created a pickup cab that fit remarkably well with the edgy styling direction Detroit had taken. Inside, the Lark's dash added a civilized touch to the workaday hauler. Unfortunately, almost everything else about the truck was still very much a rolling representation of a bygone era.
While Detroit's haulers rode on independent front ends, two-wheel-drive Champs used straight front axles with leaf springs as well as leaf springs in the rear. In 1960, Studebaker's six-cylinder truck engines were still flathead designs dating back to the 1930s. The Champ's box, too, was a throwback to the previous model, and those pontoon rear fenders that looked so right on the 2R in 1949 didn't blend well with the Lark-derived Champ cab. Even the Champ's brake and clutch pedals seemed old fashioned poking up out of the floor, as swing-style pedals had become so common everywhere else.
For 1961, Studebaker did its best to bring the Champ into the modern age. The flathead six-cylinder engines were discontinued and the smaller 170-cu.in. six was brought back with overhead valves. (Both V-8 engines remained in the lineup, the 259 as well as the 289.)
The most visible change was the addition of smooth bedsides, but rather than design and build its own bedsides for the Champ, Studebaker purchased tooling that had been used to make Dodge's "Sweptline" boxes. Studebaker's Dodge-derived "Spaceside" box was more modern looking than the old fender box, but it was disproportionately big for the Champ's cab. The body creases in the Champ's doors didn't jibe with the Dodge's bedsides either, further making the combination look cobbled together.
If the Champ had an advantage in the light-truck marketplace, it was its low price. In 1962, the Champ half-ton, with a 6.5-foot box and six-cylinder engine, was the most inexpensive hauler in its class, weighing in with a base price of $1,870.
The Champ soldiered on, more or less a footnote in South Bend's proud history, until December 27, 1963, when Studebaker pulled the plug on civilian truck production."
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