1947 studebaker champion

Hello Everyone,
I ran across a 1947 Studebaker champion 4
door listed to sell at an auction. I surprised
myself with how much I liked it. So, were
these good cars? Could one be made
dependable enough to take on a cross country
trip ? Also, where would someone find
knowledge and experience to make such a
vintage machine go ? I'm just thinking and
wondering..............thanks for your time.
Tom

Of course it can be made to run and run well. It is after all a car, just a little old.
Finding parts COULD be a problem but with the interest in old cars and the internet that might be as bad as it sounds.
What do you want to do? Restore it or turn it into aneat looking daily driver? Restore you may searching to motor parts as well as body parts. But motor parts can be custom made if nothing else--it's only money.
Watch POWERBLOCK.com some weekend and see some of this stuff get done.
If you want the car to run like a modern vehicle again watch POWERBLOCK to see how they put modern equipment under old vehicles.
OH and GOOD LUCK it'll be a blast.

It will be pouring money down a rathole. If you wan t to do a Stude find a V8 Commander. They were great little fast, economical cars.

Gordo

Thanks Gordo. I was avoiding bad mouthing the Studebaker. Brother in law owned one back in 1955. Burned a LOT of oil. Had it overhauled and it still burned a lot of oil. 0 to 60 was figured in minutes. If you want to take it to car shows you should trailer it. It would be a rare car at a show. It was a just ok car in its time but it might make a good show car.

Cross country in a Champion.Whats the matter can't
find a Covered Wagon and a team of Oxen?

(quoted from post at 21:07:44 08/16/10) Cross country in a Champion.Whats the matter can't
find a Covered Wagon and a team of Oxen?

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tudebaker did make the wagons before the cars, so an even more antique conveyance.

Rain Cloud. FORGET IT POST HASTE. Crank shaft was so SOFT the bearings would rub it flat reguardless of the oil that was used. Overhauled one and like the fellow said, Burned oil faster then opec could supply it then the bearings ,crank,rods etc fell apart. Just JUNK. LOOKED nice but thats as far as it went. JMHO.
LOU

check these folks out.
http://www.studebakerdriversclub.com/

I was born in SouthBend when everyone there that had two cars, one was a Studebaker and my family was no exception. Had Larks and Silver and Golden Hawks. My grandfather's daily driver was a Champion, although he and my other uncles like their Commanders as well. A couple of years ago a fella had a Studebaker pickup for sale just above the Michigan state line in Edwardsburg, and it was mint. I went up a couple of days later, but it was gone. Stupid me, snoozed and lost.

Tell you the truth, I'm tinkering with the idea of picking up a two door Champion and putting a Hemi in it. When I say Hemi, I mean real Hemi, not those things they make today and call Hemi. I mean lift the all heavy steel front end off the ground at the same time the rears are dancing and bobbling from side to side about six or eight inches off the ground kind of Hemi. I got nothing against Henry J. Willys Fords, but there've been plenty of them. I cruised by the old factory a few years ago, and the neighborhood aint at all safe these days, but if that buildings still standing, I'd kind of like to do a burn out from one end to the other in a Hemi Champion, on the third floor, across every single wood plank. I wonder if I could get one of the freight elevators to work. Then again, they may have torn it down in the past year or two.

I did my first ever burn out on the concrete slab beside in our farm house in my Dad's silver hawk, 289, three on the tree, and I was maybe eight years-old. No joke. Our parents were gone somewhere in the Chevy, my big brother dug out the keys and talked me through it, and he was about ten. About 1968. I don't think our father ever noticed the burned rubber, and it sure did it. He never said anything about it. Maybe he thought he did it. Was only about 5' long, both tires.

Good luck with your champion, and go with a narrowed 9" Ford rear end, they can handle a real Hemi.

Mark

In the last few years, didn't Studebaker use Chevy 327 small blocks?

I recall when racing stock cars back in the late '60's someone had a Studebaker stock car with an SBC engine. The rules said your engine had to be the same make as the car, but this Stude was legal because Chevy supplied engines to Studebaker.

I had a Studebaker. How many cars back then had a hill holder. If you came to stop on a hill the brakes were designed to hold the car until you moved foreward. Must have not been very good as I didn't keep it long. My Dad scrapped it out. If you want to restore a car and not go on long trips buy it. I'll bet it will go for a lot at auction. stan

I have good memories of the many Studebakers that my family owned. Dad had an old Stude from the thirties. My aunt had a black convertible in the "cornpicker" era. Brother had a '50 that was the fastest car in Medina County Ohio in it's day. Another brother had a '53 Comanche (sp) that was a sweet car. Another brother had a '55 Commander that would run like a striped a$$ed ape. Then he bought a '59 Super Hawk that would spin both back wheels in second gear, without touching the clutch. All these cars had overdrive rearends, with the exception of the '50, and the low gear ratios fooled a lot of so called "hot" cars off of the starting line.

To answer your question - I don't think I'd try a cross country trip in ANY 63 year old car. Especially one that parts are no longer available for.

But. They were nice cars in their heyday. Electric wipers when most were still vacuum powered. Overdrive transmissions gave good fuel economy, and the associated low rear end gearing gave fast acceleration. The hill holder was something that I never heard of on any other make of automobile. I had lots of fun in the '55 Commander, toying with the Ford V8's at an uphill grade stopsign. I could sit there casually with one foot on the clutch and one on the gas, while Ford was heel and toeing the clutch, brake & gas all at once.

And the kickdown on the overdrive was slick. Like the passing gear in a modern automatic.

I'm sure there were bad times. The company is out of business and long forgotten. But the good times are vivid in my memory.

Paul

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and comments....Sure it might be silly and as for the cross country idea down right dumb. I was just entertaining the the idea of a fun older car, a conversation starter and smile maker....probably won"t do it but I know more about them then before.
Thanks,
Tom

dont know why you couldnt make it work, first thing if your going to drive it, slick the body up nice, remove the engine and tranny, might save those for later in case you run accross some parts to restore, drop in a chevy small block and 700r series automatic and you'll have a dailey driver thats reliable, runs well, and parts are in every street corner parts store, rear end is probably good and bearings for the front end ect are still out there,

The last models came with a small block chevvy didn't they?

(quoted from post at 10:33:40 08/17/10) The last models came with a small block chevvy didn't they?

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s long as Studebaker existed as a business, they used their own engines. After the corporation folded/closed doors, someone bought all the rights to the Avanti & formed the Avanti Motor Corp & built Avanti cars in small numbers & this is where the Chevy engines entered the picture.

yes they did, so this should not be too bad a swap,make a cool ride too there wont be 5 of these parked on the same street

shoot avanti is what im thinking of, but still there are mounts on the aftermarket to mount the venerable sb chevy in virtually anything so this still should be a easy project and well worth the end result

Not quite right. In 1966, Studebaker produced cars in Canada after closing down the South Bend production facilities. The 1966 Studes had Chevy engines (283 and maybe a few 327's, and 230 straight 6's). They also used Chevrolet Powerglides as their automatic transmissions. My best friend had a 1966 4 door with the 283/powerglide. It ran OK, but not as well as the 64 Stude with 289/overdrive he had before that. Unfortunately he wrecked the 64.

The first several years of Avanti production used Studebaker V8's, including some with Paxton superchargers. The supercharged Studebakers were very powerful and fast. If I remember correctly the first factory supercharged Studes were 57 or 58 Hawks, but other models sometimes got the blower motors. I believe that the Avanti got Chevy engines in 1966, probably 327's. The Avanti was the only Studebaker car design that survived after the 1966 models, and it was produced for quite a few years after that, in small numbers, with Corvette engines.