Archaeologist trying to Identify Car

mjolle

I located several body panels to a car while in the field recently and have hit a wall trying to properly identify it. One body panel, most likely the trunk door, had the word "Champ" in 50's-60's type cursive on it. That is really all I have to go on. A web search found a version of the Mitsubishi Lancer made by Plymouth in the 80's, but that is far too recent for this component. The panels appear to be from an older model car, not a hatch-back. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

fintail

Most likely candidate I can think of is an early 60s Studebaker pickup:

Mr_Shiftright

Is it possible that some of the cursive script could have broken off, and that it once read "Champion"? If that's the case, then a Studebaker is by far your most likely candidate, as Mr. fintail suggests. Studebaker used the Champion name for many years.

Do you have a photo you can post?

mjolle

It may be possible that it is the Studebaker pickup. Are you familiar with what panel that would have come off of? Champ had a rivet hole on the "C" and the "p", but nothing further on. It is unlikely that the name plate would not be fixed at the end by a rivet. This leads me to believe that it was a "Champ" and not Champion. My only reservation with the pickup is that the panel looked as though it was from a trunk door not a tailgate.

mac24

One vehicle you can positively rule out, is the Rolls Royce engined Austin Champ!

uplanderguy

I honestly cannot think of a Studebaker Champion from the '40's or '50's (last model year was '58), that had any cursive "Champion" nameplate on the decklid. Earlier ones had a printed "Champion" nameplate on the trunk handle, and later '50's models had only "Studebaker" across the trunk lid.

That "Champ" pickup nameplate was only on the front doors. Like everybody else, Stude trucks had "Studebaker" in painted letters across the tailgate.

Mr_Shiftright

That's why I asked him if the script was actually broken or if we could see a picture of the panel. The description, otherwise, doesn't seem to add up.

I think there was a rather obscure German minicar called a Champion, but odds of it being that are astronomically small.

It could also be part of a dealer's name. Back in the day, you did find dealer's names in chrome script.

mjolle

Here is a photo. The pickup sounds better and better. How about the trunk of a '41 Studebacker? Or was that a 'Champion'?

texases

Any way to see a picture of the whole panel? We'd get you an aswer real quick!

Mr_Shiftright

This is from a 60s Stude pickup:

texases

Well, here's a Studebaker Champ pickup door emblem, looks like a match:


From this Ebay Item

That's what I get for not looking - fin got it already...

Mr_Shiftright

This website shows some of the various "champion" scripts one finds on Studebakers:
CHAMPION SCRIPTS

uplanderguy

Studebaker did use "Champion" nameplates on the hoods of some late '40's and early '50's models, but looking at Studebaker International's online catalog, none had the style of print or spacing of letters that emblem does. Strange indeed.

berri

I don't know squat about this really, but find it interesting nonetheless. Maybe I'm just a bit of a nostalgic. Anyway, this got me to looking at an old car spotters guide book I have. It showed a drawing of the interior dash of a 46 Champion having a script Champion logo on it. So maybe the part comes from the interior of some WWII era model?

I've always had a bit of a fascination with the independent makes of US vehicles from the 50's. That may come from growing up in a lower middle class Chicago suburb neighborhood where most people drove used cars, and independents tended to sell cheaper used so there were more than a few around my blocks.