Unrestored Beauty

Charles Askren has no plans on restoring his classic show car. “It has 61,000 original miles and is totally unrestored,” said Charles, pointing out that the roof still boasts the original paint.

That’s pretty impressive considering that the blue Studebaker Champion Regal he takes to shows rolled off the South Bend, IN assembly line in 1952.

The Champion line was first introduced by Studebaker in 1939 and was seen as a crucial model toward keeping this manufacturer afloat after some poor sales years. When the engineers were told to come up with a totally different type of car they did just that. They utilized some pretty extensive marketing research to see exactly which features the general public wanted and included them in the design.

What probably made this car truly unique for the time was its weight. The engineers were basically told that weight was the enemy and so they managed to create one of the lightest cars for its size during that era.

With a very efficient flat head six that actually outlived the life of the car and an affordable sticker price, this became one of Studebaker’s most popular cars every, continuing to roll out of South Bend through 1958.

Charles’ ’52 is a third generation Champion. In 1947 Studebaker totally redesigned the Champion along with its stable mate, the Commander. This made them the first two totally new cars to be manufactured after World War II.

This isn’t the first Studebaker Charles has owned. “I had a ’51 before I got married,” he said.

He found this one for sale on line from IL about five years ago. “I’m only the third owner,” he said, adding that the previous owner had garaged the car.

Still, this year for the Champion was pretty special. “This is the only year without the round medallion on the horn,” said Charles of one of the unique features his Champion sports. Also, a 1952 convertible was the pace car at that spring’s Indy 500.

While Charles doesn’t drive his Champion on the Brickyard at Indy, he does put about 3000 miles a year on it driving back and forth to shows where he’s been quite successful over the years, bringing home numerous trophies.