Vehicle Description
1953 Studebaker Champion
Studebaker's cheerful and frugal Champion has to be considered one
of the great overachievers among collector cars. Distinctive
styling, well-made interiors, simple maintenance and repair, an
abundant parts supply and club support that's second to none make
these products of South Bend easy and rewarding to live with.
Though they're more affordable than their V-8-powered Commander
siblings, Champions share that car's graceful styling, which many
consider to be one of its greatest attributes.
For consignment, a 1953 Studebaker Champion that has been massaged
into a quasi resto-mod. A chopped top, shaved doors and badges and
a powerful drivetrain are just a few of the spices added to the
recipe for success on this consignment.
Exterior
This aqua eye catcher started out as a humble Studebaker Champion
and now has been transformed into an award winning, great running,
reliable and comfy inside kewl skate. A 2-inch chopping of the top,
all steel which is rust free, some shaving of the trimmings for
simplification and tinted windows all work together to give us a
modern looking 1953 street Stude. Wonderful flowing lines courtesy
Raymond Loewy show from the side that the hood and trunk deck are
virtually the same length with the now lowered roof with sloped
back glass. Bumpers have been painted to match the exterior and a
simple but effective side trim spear is painted on in white. The
back of the car has also been simplified with frenched taillights.
Below dual zoom tubes in bright chrome are peeking out from the
bottom. Chromed steel wheels with deep trim rings and polished dog
dish caps are on all 4 corners and are wrapped with black wall
rubber.
Interior
Gray burlap tweed with a peppering of a colorful pill sprinkling
throughout makes up the majority of the door panels. For the door
pulls and window toggles, a background of teal vinyl in padded form
frames a billet style aluminum bolt on. Aqua is on top for the sill
and is painted metal. Smooth sculpted late model buckets are using
the smooth aqua vinyl and the burlap tweed in gray with the
sprinkles. These are courtesy a 1986 Horizon. Running through them
is a custom fabricated squared off center console, now fashioned
with a Hurst Indy shifter. Cool blue gray carpeting floods the
floors and is very clean. The original dash has been removed and
now a wonderfully fashioned custom dash is presenting in aqua. It
is fronted by a tilt column with a billet rallye style steering
wheel. The gauge cluster is in a black field and sports all new VDO
gauges. The center console rises to greet the newly fashioned dash
and in this raiser is a Craig AM/FM/Cassette Player and a Craig
Equalizer just above. In back is a nicely rounded bench with the
teal accenting in smooth vinyl and more burlap gray tweed. This
material also shows up on the side pillars and the headliner where
it takes on some stitching in the seams.
Drivetrain
Initially, with a raise of the hood, we feel like we may be peering
into a black hole, but upon a little bit of further investigation,
what to our wondering eyes does appear but an orange/red painted
283ci which has been bored to a 301ci. This engine is circa 1967.
Our consignor states the heads are courtesy of a 1959 power pack
engine, and these have small combustion chambers for higher
compression. A 350hp cam and with pop up pistons our consignor
states the compression ratio is 12.0-1. Ignition is a dual point
system from a Corvette. The folks at Edelbrock provide the intake
manifold and 4-barrel carburetor. On this mill, if it's not painted
orange/red it is either cast/polished/or black and it all looks
great in that black field. Headers can be seen for the exhale, and
on the back a rebuilt TH350 3-speed automatic transmission complete
with a shift kit. On back a Buick Regal has donated its 10-bolt
3.08 rear axle for this car's use.
Undercarriage
These surfaces have been painstakingly sandblasted and then
repainted in black. An overall great look can be seen on the floor
pans rockers and suspension parts. Speaking of which a Mustang II
front suspension is on, along with disc brakes, and on back are
leaf springs and drum brakes. Turbo mufflers in dual form show up
and pipes are snarling rearward from those headers under the
hood.
Drive-Ability
This car lit right up with the simple turn of the key, and on the
test track it did fab! Nice acceleration, smooth automatic
shifting. good handling and looking good while doing it. I am aware
the power windows are not functioning and the brake pedal is a bit
soft. Also, the steering column tilt mechanism is less than
desirable with some slop in the movement.
Overall, this builder has taken what was originally a fairly lunky
clunky utilitarian car and turned it into an award winning show
piece and eye catcher. Fab color combo, and the body work done is
all tasteful and just modernizes this cat. Hold up the trophy like
you are the Champion.
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special
interest automobile showroom, featuring over 600 vehicles for sale
with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle
barn find collection is on display.
This vehicle is located in our showroom in Morgantown,
Pennsylvania, conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia
on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is
www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888) 227-0914.
Please contact us anytime for more information or to come see the
vehicle in person.
