When I bought my restorable 1954 Champion Hardtop in 1996, I noticed that the body number was 117. (To be more precise, 15G-K5 117). This made me wonder if Studebaker started their body number tags with #1, or some other number? Looking at many Studebakers through the years, I don't recall seeing one that had a body tag in the double or single digits. But maybe they exist and I just didn't see one. [?]
This low body tag number made me wonder if my '54 was an early one. (I am aware that the body numbers weren't used in sequence.) I sent for the copy of the production order, and discovered that my car was built on October 27, 1953. And according to the book "Studebaker: The Complete Story", production of the 1954 Studebakers started on October 20, 1953. So mine was an early car, which is no big deal, but I think it's kind of neat.
Unfortunately, the production order didn't say which dealer it was going to. I would have liked to discover that.
Now I wonder how many '54 Champion hardtops still exist that were built between the starting production date and October 27, '53.
This low body tag number made me wonder if my '54 was an early one. (I am aware that the body numbers weren't used in sequence.) I sent for the copy of the production order, and discovered that my car was built on October 27, 1953. And according to the book "Studebaker: The Complete Story", production of the 1954 Studebakers started on October 20, 1953. So mine was an early car, which is no big deal, but I think it's kind of neat.
Unfortunately, the production order didn't say which dealer it was going to. I would have liked to discover that.
Now I wonder how many '54 Champion hardtops still exist that were built between the starting production date and October 27, '53.
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