Oregon State Police Champ pickup

[ChampCouple]

I vaguely remember my dad buying our '61 Champ at an Oregon State Police auction. Probably around 1964 or so. When I asked him, if the pickup was one the State Police had taken into possession for some reason, or had it been an actual State Police pickup, he said it had been an actual State Police pickup.

I am ordering the production order for the pickup, maybe it will tell if it was sold to Oregon. No reason to doubt my dad, but something in proof would be pretty neat.

Does anyone from Oregon, or elsewhere, have any information on the Oregon State Police buying pickups from Studebaker to put into service?

Thanks.

[8E45E]

Not sure too many police departments ordered Champ trucks, but other government services like Caltrans, various municipal departments and the National Parks Service ordered some.

Photo of a City of Los Angeles unit here: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...light=caltrans

Craig

[(S)]

SOunds very cool. I don't know anything about the truck line options beside HD engines/ Trans/ Gen type truck stuff.

[Lou Van Anne]

The Caltrans Champs I remember seeing were the highway orange.....

Not sure too many police departments ordered Champ trucks, but other government services like Caltrans, and the National Parks Service ordered some.

Photo of a Caltrans unit here: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...light=caltrans

Craig

[studeclunker]

I have a '62 and used to have a '60 Champ who had orange under their blue paint.
A point in fact: CalTrans is an independent corporation separate from California Department of transportation. Cal DOT owned Champs. CalTrans never has.

[ChampCouple]

Very interesting information. As coincidence, I work for a company that makes traffic counters, and CalTrans is one of our customers.

Hopefully there are some National Park Service photos of their Champs, that would be very cool to see.

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

As a college student in the mid 1960s, I used to hang out (and even worked part-time) at Courtesy Motors Studebaker in Corvallis, Oregon. I had a conversation with a Studebaker owner there - it turned out he was an Oregon State policeman.
They must of had a fair sized fleet of these dark blue Champs, since it was not unusual to see one back then. He told me they used them to patrol mountain roads, meaning mostly unpaved roads. They were 259” V-8, 4 speed, 3.73 rear axle ratio, with 16” wheels. He said once in a while he actually stopped speeding cars on the freeway, and he said nobody ever got away from him.
Oregon State patrol cars at the time were dark blue - and so were these Champs - except the dark blue was metallic, and quite a pretty color.

[ChampCouple]

As a college student in the mid 1960s, I used to hang out (and even worked part-time) at Courtesy Motors Studebaker in Corvallis, Oregon. I had a conversation with a Studebaker owner there - it turned out he was an Oregon State policeman.
They must of had a fair sized fleet of these dark blue Champs, since it was not unusual to see one back then. He told me they used them to patrol mountain roads, meaning mostly unpaved roads. They were 259” V-8, 4 speed, 3.73 rear axle ratio, with 16” wheels. He said once in a while he actually stopped speeding cars on the freeway, and he said nobody ever got away from him.
Oregon State patrol cars at the time were dark blue - and so were these Champs - except the dark blue was metallic, and quite a pretty color.

Thanks for the reply. That is very interesting, I will relay this information on to my dad. He told me the pickup was what he called midnight blue at one time. And this one is the 259, 4 spd, but not sure about the rearend. Again, thanks for the info, much appreciated!

[8E45E]

Hopefully there are some National Park Service photos of their Champs, that would be very cool to see.

Here is an ex-NPS Champ:



Craig

[ChampCouple]

Thanks Craig! The narrow box too. And that pickup looks to be in much better shape than ours.

I would doubt it, but curious to sand the doors on ours, and see if the old police logo is still underneath all the layers of paint. Not sure if they would have just painted over the original color and logo, or sanded it down first.

Thanks again for the photo!

[8E45E]

The narrow box too. And that pickup looks to be in much better shape than ours.

Now I'm really interested in seeing what your Production Order has to say!

A note about this truck. It's your typical "Looks better in the picture" shot of it where it has sat for a good thirty years when I took this photo a little over a year ago. The owner passed away some time ago, and the son figured its worth the shade of green its painted and finally did sell it when the family put the property up for sale. The truck has since moved about 180 miles north of here which is probably a GOOD thing. An enterprising individual publishes an annual calendar featuring one of that neighborhood's most common alley fixtures:



Craig

[Commander Eddie]

Not sure too many police departments ordered Champ trucks, but other government services like Caltrans, various municipal departments and the National Parks Service ordered some.

Photo of a City of Los Angeles unit here: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...light=caltrans

Craig

Actually, in Oregon, Studebaker Champ trucks were used by the State Corrections system. I have a friend who remembers driving them when he worked at the Salem State Penitentiary. He said he knew of at least a dozen doing service for the State.

[ChampCouple]

Now I'm really interested in seeing what your Production Order has to say!

A note about this truck. It's your typical "Looks better in the picture" shot of it where it has sat for a good thirty years when I took this photo a little over a year ago. The owner passed away some time ago, and the son figured its worth the shade of green its painted and finally did sell it when the family put the property up for sale. The truck has since moved about 180 miles north of here which is probably a GOOD thing. An enterprising individual publishes an annual calendar featuring one of that neighborhood's most common alley fixtures:

Craig

The story some of these trucks could tell...... I like the calendar, my town could do something very similar!

[ChampCouple]

Actually, in Oregon, Studebaker Champ trucks were used by the State Corrections system. I have a friend who remembers driving them when he worked at the Salem State Penitentiary. He said he knew of at least a dozen doing service for the State.

Thanks Ed, that's good to know too. State of Oregon must have bought quite a handful of the Champ pickups.

[Studebakercenteroforegon]

Thanks Craig! The narrow box too. And that pickup looks to be in much better shape than ours.

I would doubt it, but curious to sand the doors on ours, and see if the old police logo is still underneath all the layers of paint. Not sure if they would have just painted over the original color and logo, or sanded it down first.

Thanks again for the photo!

The “Oregon State Police” on the doors were not painted on but a sticker or decal. They were removed when sold, so you won’t find anything of note under the paint.