Here's what I found:
The Champ truck (body tag was 6E-T8)
Front passenger side of the Champ Truck. Fenders are kinda beat up, but overall the cab looks pretty solid. Who knows where the rims/tires are for the front.
Still not sure this is really a 1960, it's the wrong bed if it is. It *could* be a 1961, or they may have replaced the bed at some point. Bed's more solid than it looks, though there's a fair bit of cancer where the tailgate has been sitting on the ground.
Dash is just like my old '59 Lark. I love this dash style, it's just SO simple and clean.
Upholstery is toast, but that's standard procedure on something like this.
Engine is complete and assembled. The nice thing is that this has the V-8 rather than the straight-6. MOAR POWAR!
The front grill and everything is intact if not pretty.
Driver's side of the fenders and cab are much cleaner than the passenger side.
The 1966 Lark 4 door:
This isn't the right engine. The final Studebakers (1965/1966) used a McKinnon engine (Canadian chevrolet).
Based on the bits floating around the engine compartment I can't decide if the engine install was actually completed or not. This is an early Studebaker 259 V-8.
The front is intact, the bumper's got a big whang in it.
And here's what causes old Studebakers to be laid to final rest... rust! If it's here, it's likely to be everywhere. Take a good look at the bottom of the doors.
Here's something that suprised me. The interior's fairly intact for an Arizona car. It makes me wonder where this car came from... lots of rust but an intact interior.
Ruber floormats... nothing holds moisture better than rubber floormats with the horsehair insulation underneath. Lots of rust under there, likely goes completely through in parts.
Again, a surprising interior condition.
Rear end shows that it's A) been painted, and B) has had some serious munging done to it. Trunk lid won't shut and the locking assembly is gone in lieu of a manual trunk release hidden in the back seat.
Here's what I could get to of the undercarriage. Because the tires were rotten it sat really low, almost on the ground.
So, in the end I convinced the wife that these were worth buying for the price. The overall likelihood is that the Champ truck is restorable, but the Lark is truly a parts car. I'll need to find some rims/tires for the truck, haul them out, clean them up, get a better assessment of what I'm looking at, and then store them away until I'm ready to mess with them.
I've wanted a Champ truck since I first saw one, and I'm hoping that this will end up being a good tow rig for other cars.
Cheers!
Jody
