Lark pickup.

[swvalcon]

I've posted a picture of a lark pickup champ High bred that I hope one day If I live long enough can copy. Several people have said wonder what the rear looks like and I kind of wondered that myself. Well I found a picture of a rear shot and I like that also. Only thing I think I would add is a hard cover on the opening of the box that would lift up with air shocks from the rear

[NCDave51]

Way cool.

In mentioning the Champ, do you think this yellow example was indeed a Champ cab/clip first and then married with a custom Lark rear project??

I ask this because they nailed the stamping/shape of the back of the cab and sliding window, if so.

Nicer proportions than my Champ.

[Milaca]

Would you mount this on a pickup chassis or a car chassis?
I think it could look even nicer if the cab and bed were one-piece (like an El Camino/Ranchero or 1961-63 Ford unibody F-100).
It's too bad that Studebaker didn't offer a car-chassis pickup to compete with the then popular Ford Falcon Ranchero. It may not have sold well for Studebaker, but at least we would have them to cherish today!

[swvalcon]

NC Dave . I think they did just what I have in mind. I have a beat up Champ cab that I will cut though the floor at the front edge of the rear door post and graft the whole champ rear cab panel to either a two door or four door lark. All depends on what I find as the base for the project, A 2 dr wagon would be a nice and much easier base but I wouldn't want to cut up any thing that was to nice. I could use a 2or 4 door lark and then use the rear of a 4 dr wagon and use part of the rear door to build the box. I think either way the frame needs a small addition or the box will end up looking small. If lucky it would fit without this but that's one of those things that shows it's face after you cut it apart and start running a tape on everything. As you can see I've spent some time looking at that first picture trying to envision just how it was done. If the base came with a Stude v8 I would leave it that way. If no motor or trans it would get a LS with 4 speed electronic trans. What I want is a everyday driver custom that I can drive cross country if I feel like it. The more I look at that rear shot of the car I kind of think they used a 4 dr wagon to build the box. Almost looks like I can see where they grafted the rear half of the door just forward of the wheel.

[NCDave51]

I salute you, swvalcon. What a great vision for a project.

[Milaca]

Here is the rear of a 1960 wagon:



Here is the rear of a 1960 convertible (rear is the same for a sedan or hardtop):

[jwitt]

I pretty certain they used a lark 2dr rear to make the box. The gas door in the rear panel is from a sedan or hardtop. Wagons had the gas fill in the side like the pic above. It is a super nice build

[swvalcon]

Brent the wagon would be the easy way to go but be a shame to cut up one that nice. Just need to cut it at the door, put on the rear cab. and then move the back half far enough to make room that's where the frame stretch comes into play. Then cut off the roof at the belt line and build a front panel for box.

[Skip Lackie]

Historical note: Studebaker built some model 6E9 and 7E9 Lark pickups for export to South America in 1961 and 62. They had the current-year Lark front sheet metal and Champ T4 cabs on the police/taxi V8 chassis. Pickup beds were made locally, and probably did not match the Lark sheet metal sculpturing. Fred Fox had a picture of one in TW about 25 years ago.

[junior]

Historical note: Studebaker built some model 6E9 and 7E9 Lark pickups for export to South America in 1961 and 62. They had the current-year Lark front sheet metal and Champ T4 cabs on the police/taxi V8 chassis. Pickup beds were made locally, and probably did not match the Lark sheet metal sculpturing. Fred Fox had a picture of one in TW about 25 years ago.

Skip, not too sure what you mean by 'matching the Lark sheet metal sculpturing' but those Lark-amino's from Argentina (I think) were really good looking and put the American Champs with the mismatched Dodge boxes to shame in the esthetics dept. I spent a couple of weeks in Argentina and was kind of hoping to see one but no go...were lots of cool old Ford, GM light and heavy duty trucks from the 60's still in service though, and saw plenty of the cool SA Dodges and Ramblers that we never got in NA too. Cheers, Junior

[Milaca]

The 'other' Argentine Champ - Studebaker Drivers Club Forum
Yes, these look much more appropriate.

[Milaca]

If they would have had a cab and bed conjoined, it may have looked more like this 1961 F-100 unibody:

[Skip Lackie]

The 'other' Argentine Champ - Studebaker Drivers Club Forum
Yes, these look much more appropriate.

Thanks for posting. Somehow I missed that thread from last year.

[Frank54]

The Ford Unibodies are cool looking, but were really a failure for Ford. Too much frame flex/twist. The Champ’s 1949 designed frame would have had the same problem.

[Milaca]

The Ford Unibodies are cool looking, but were really a failure for Ford. Too much frame flex/twist. The Champ’s 1949 designed frame would have had the same problem.

Was it an issue for the short-bed models, or only a problem for the long-bed models?