58L-Y8 Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 (edited) For Sale: 1939 Studebaker Champion two door sedan 56k original miles - $11,500 - Dyer, IN - SOLD! 1939 Studebaker champion 56k original miles - cars & trucks - by... (craigslist.org) 1939 Studebaker Champion 2 door 56000 original miles 6 cyl 3 spd manual transmission has rare factory running boards. The car runs great has good brakes and is a dependable running vehicle. This car is mostly original including paint there have been no modifications to body or drivetrain, seat belts have been added by previous owner. The original owner of this car lived in California were it spent most of its life until a few years ago . The body of car has no fillers and frame is very solid car and clean for its age. No Trades Contact: call or text: (219) 3-zero-8-nine-9-five-3 Copy and paste in your email: 98f8fb17db2c3467b84bfc23e1bd6426@sale.craigslist.org I have no personal interest or stake in the eventual sale of this 1939 Studebaker Champion two door sedan. Edited August 20, 2021 by 58L-Y8 SOLD!!! (see edit history) 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryB Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Looks decent considering the originality claim. Interior is in nice shape. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suchan Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Looks like a kiddie car with those little tires. Some tall, bias-profile radials, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John S. Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 First year for the Champion. Nice clean Studie. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
58L-Y8 Posted July 7, 2021 Author Share Posted July 7, 2021 14 hours ago, suchan said: Looks like a kiddie car with those little tires. Some tall, bias-profile radials, please. Think of the 1939-'42 & 1946 Studebaker Champions as 9/10 scale full-sized cars of their times. Lighter, smaller in all dimensions, small engine, designed first and foremost for the utmost in economy transportation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roysboystoys Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 1 hour ago, 58L-Y8 said: Think of the 1939-'42 & 1946 Studebaker Champions as 9/10 scale full-sized cars of their times. Lighter, smaller in all dimensions, small engine, designed first and foremost for the utmost in economy transportation. II wonder if there were multiple trim levels? Seems to have a " DeLuxe" steering wheel. Nice interior for such a Homely car. ( might be politically incorrect) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
58L-Y8 Posted July 7, 2021 Author Share Posted July 7, 2021 (edited) "II wonder if there were multiple trim levels?" The Champions had four or five trim levels over the five years they were produced. Tracking by price: Custom, Custom Deluxe, Deluxe, Delux-Tone and Skyway. Each trim level added a few more standard features reflected in the price spanning $660-$800 for 1940 as an example. Studebaker had been trying to break into the 'low-priced field' for years with cars such as the Erskine and Rockne plus various Dictators. The 1939-'42 Champions finally snapped with the public, returning between 39.5% to 63% of total company sales. The Champion was the last completely new series of cars Studebaker every design and brought to market. All subsequent model years carried prior components and/or platforms forward. The styling was created by Clare Hodgman (Coldspot appliance designer) under the Raymond Loewy Associates contract which Studebaker had entering into in 1936. They were assigned very specific design parameters in overall size, passenger capacity, and especially weight. Loewy was obsessed with his "Weight is the Enemy" mantra, though it was appropriate in this case. Hodgman, in later interviews, related he was influenced by small European cars when developing designing the Champion. Although it's no beauty, it was clean and contemporary for the times. Ask a simple question, get a dissertation... Edited July 7, 2021 by 58L-Y8 added roysboystoys original question (see edit history) 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whygeoff Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Hi all, just joined the forum (as well as over at the Studebaker drivers club). I wanted to chime in because I purchased this car off it's ebay listing after finding the craigslist posting in a Jalopnik article. I've previously owned a '56 MGA and '59 Austin Healey Sprite so I'm relatively familiar with sparse mechanicals but imagine a first-year Champion will present all sorts of new challenges. Looking forward to getting it out here to California in the next couple weeks, I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions that you all can help with! No plans for restoration or modifications beyond a thorough wash and mechanical maintenance with the intent of using it as a grocery-getter and weekend runabout vehicle. ~Geoff 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
58L-Y8 Posted August 20, 2021 Author Share Posted August 20, 2021 Geoff: Welcome and congratulation! Thanks for telling us of your good fortunate purchasing this Champion. Good luck with your experiences with it. Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercub Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Nice score, the car has alot of personality, the front especially. I like the scaled down size, it should be a nimble car for around town. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whygeoff Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 It's a South Bend car (G26449), one of the 2649 Club Sedan Deluxe models built in '39. Rare ≠ expensive but I am curious how many are still around. From what I've seen there's no registry for the G-series Champions. If anyone knows of one please pass on where I can find it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
car crazy Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 On 8/19/2021 at 9:05 PM, whygeoff said: Hi all, just joined the forum (as well as over at the Studebaker drivers club). I wanted to chime in because I purchased this car off it's ebay listing after finding the craigslist posting in a Jalopnik article. I've previously owned a '56 MGA and '59 Austin Healey Sprite so I'm relatively familiar with sparse mechanicals but imagine a first-year Champion will present all sorts of new challenges. Looking forward to getting it out here to California in the next couple weeks, I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions that you all can help with! No plans for restoration or modifications beyond a thorough wash and mechanical maintenance with the intent of using it as a grocery-getter and weekend runabout vehicle. ~Geoff Congratulations, and many miles of smiles ahead.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now