Vehicle Description
1950 Studebaker Champion
The 1950 Studebaker Champion Starlight Coupe attracted attention
because of its ultramodern styling. Its center "nose" resembled an
airplane, and its wraparound rear window and long, horizontal rear
deck were radically different from "teardrop" cars of the 1930s and
1940s. While celebrating the machine age, the 1950 and 1951
Studebaker also marked a sharp break from 1930s streamlined or art
deco styling and the beginning of flamboyant, futuristic styling of
the 1950s. Studebaker led the way in this design and marketing
change, and the Big Three auto manufacturers soon followed.
Studebaker sales were fairly strong after World War II and reached
a peak with the 1950 model. Studebaker was one of the first
manufacturers to completely restyle its line, for the 1947 model
year. The 1950 Studebaker featured even more radical revisions and
styling changes. Robert E. Bourke, an automotive stylist who worked
with the renowned industrial designer Raymond Loewy, was largely
responsible for the 1950 Studebaker's styling, now considered a
classic of its era.
1950 would prove to be a big year for Studebaker, with the addition
of an WWII P38-esque addition style front end being added to the
existing body shell. This barn find plus condition '50 Stude
retains all of its original charm and is ripe for the picking with
its chrome, iconic styling, redone interior, solid undercarriage
and original drivetrain.
Please Note: NO TITLE-SOLD ON A BILL OF SALE ONLY*
Exterior
A respray of aqua covers the original body with its well-known and
love it or hate it bullet nose, (look ma, no propellor!), twin egg
crate grilles, and chrome trimmed ventings. At quick glance this
nose looks very much like the silhouette of a plane. A thin chrome
bumper is perched below mounted on thick long bumper tubes. All
chrome has some pitting, delamination, and haziness. The
wrap-around rear windows, often criticized, give the impression
this car doesn't quite know which is the front and which is the
rear. The paint is an amateur application and shows with thinning
on the roof, overspray on trim and molding, and various inclusions
and scrapes are present. Overall presentable, but far from perfect,
the body has its fair share of dings and dents along with invasive
rust on the lower panels, especially at the front and rear wheels.
Rounding out the tail end is a cavernous trunk which is flanked by
oval tail lights and a chrome bumper hangs below. 15" body colored
wheels with shiny Studebaker wheel covers and wide whitewalls are
on all fours.
Interior
The interior has totally undergone a redux at one point in time,
with now a full gray cloth covering. Gray broadcloth, showing some
staining and aging covers the doors with a gray vinyl strip below.
Chrome and bakelite pepper the panels in the form of window cranks
and door releases. Moving inside we slip into the comfy gray
broadcloth covered bench seat with its wide tuck and roll stitching
and red checkering. A matching bench is in the rear and provides
ample room for 3. The original black 2 spoke steering wheel fronts
gray steel spartan elegance of the dash. A half round speedometer
is in front of the driver and dead center is a slatted radio
speaker and to the right is a large glovebox. All of this is
artistically underlined by a thin chrome strip. Soiled gray
carpeting floods the floors and above is a tight felted gray
headliner.
Drivetrain
A lift of the hood reveals a patina riddled engine bay with a 170ci
inline Flathead 6-cylinder. This mill is fed by a 1bbl carburetor
residing under an oil bath air cleaner in black. Attached on the
back is a 3-speed manual transmission which sends power back to a
4.10 geared rear axle.
Undercarriage
Surface rust covers nearly every part of the undercarriage, however
no invasive rust is noted. Drum brakes are on all 4 corners and a
single exhaust system handles the exhale. For the ride, independent
coil springs are seen up front and in the rear is a leaf spring
arrangement.
Drive-Ability
As with most of the barn finds that come through our doors we did
not attempt to start this Champion. We can say however, that the
engine turned over by hand.
A rarely seen model in barn find plus condition. Complete on the
trim, badging and chrome front, a redone interior and no invasive
rust to note on the undercarriage. Hone in on your bodywork skills
and you could have yourself a classic that stands out from the
crowd, right out of South Bend and gracing our East Mallway.
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special
interest automobile showroom, featuring over 650 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.