Supercharged ’63 Studebaker Trucks?!
Two Studebaker R2 pickups were built — where are they now?
Studebaker had a brief but prolific period of offering superchargers on its cars, the first being the Golden Hawk. In 1957 and 1958, the Golden Hawk was Studebaker’s top dog in price, sportiness and performance, and as such, it was equipped with a McCulloch supercharger as standard equipment atop its Studebaker 289-cid V-8. Superchargers would become optional on several Studebaker passenger cars in the 1960s, but would you believe there were two Studebaker trucks built with superchargers?
Robert Paxton McCulloch, who founded the company that originally built McCulloch superchargers, sold McCulloch Engineering in the 1940s to Borg-Warner. He continued to dabble in superchargers and even continued to file new patents, and by the 1950s, had new superchargers to offer. He eventually put his new supercharger efforts under the Paxton name. By 1958, McCulloch had sold Paxton to Andy Granatelli who, four years later, sold Paxton to Studebaker Corp. of South Bend, Ind. Incidentally, Granatelli was head of Studebaker’s racing division at this time.
Beginning in 1963, Studebaker began offering the Paxton supercharger atop its 289-cid V-8 on some passenger car models and gave these supercharged cars the R2 designation. Production records exist for the 1963 R2-powered Avanti (1,552 R2 cars built), Lark (327) and the Gran Turismo Hawk (278) — but we’ve never seen mention of an R2-powered Studebaker truck. That is, until the accompanying documents were uncovered by the Studebaker National Museum and sent to us via Old Cars reader Mason Maynard. The period documents — Studebaker Truck Production Order forms — show two 1963 Studebaker Champ 8E7 Series 1/2-ton trucks built with the Paxton supercharger of the 289-cid V-8-powered R2 passenger cars. Not surprisingly, these documents show one of the trucks was delivered to the Paxton Products Division of Studebaker; the second shows the destination as “Indianapolis, Ind. Snider” — likely Snider Auto Service, an authorized Studebaker dealer in Indianapolis.
The R2-powered truck with the earlier serial number (E719327) and earlier order form date (Oct. 18, 1962) is the truck that went to Snider in Indianapolis. The 1/2-ton truck was built on Studebaker’s 122-inch wheelbase, making it a long wheelbase/longbox truck, and it was painted “Parch. White” for Parchment White with trim 1316A. It was further fitted with five Firestone 500 series 8.00-15 nylon blackwall tires, an automatic transmission and 3.73:1 gears in a Twin-Traction differential. Under “Special Options,” the production order form says “Avanti Jet Thrust 289 Engine with supercharger — Dev. 5338” (a regular-production 8E7 Series Studebaker truck had a 259-cid V-8). Truck E719327 had a final assembly date of Nov. 7, 1962.
One day later, on Nov. 8, 1962, the R2-powered Studebaker truck built for the Paxton Products Division of Studebaker underwent final assembly. According to its two Studebaker Truck Production Order forms, it was built on the Studebaker 112-inch truck chassis, making it the short-wheelbase/shortbox version, and it was painted Velvet Black with the same trim (1316A) as the white R2 truck built for Snider. While the tires were also Firestone 500s, they were smaller in size (6.70-15), and a handwritten note on the earlier form states the tires are to have narrow-band white sidewalls. This truck’s forms also differ by noting a three-speed transmission and 4.55:1 gears in its Twin-Traction rear differential. It was fitted with a radio and given VIN E719345.
The second truck is unique for having two separate Studebaker Truck Production Order forms. Both show a final assembly date of Nov. 8, 1962, but the dates the orders were written are almost two months apart, the second form having a “date written” entered as Dec. 17 — more than one month after the truck was built. However, both forms agree with each other, though the later form dating to December 1962 provides more detail in the “Special Options” section of the production order form, probably to reflect changes to it after it left the assembly line.
Under special options, the Dec. 17, 1962, form for the black shortwheelbase Studebaker truck outlines many special features: the Jet Thrust engine with supercharger (R2), of course, but also a T10 passenger car four-speed transmission, dual exhaust, gauges, a radiator with an oil cooler, a special propeller shaft, disc brakes and power steering, all of which were to be added by the engineering department. It appears this truck had an engine change from the Oct. 30 to the Dec. 17 production order forms. Both forms mention the engineering department, with the earlier form identifying a Mr. P. Deblumenthal as the person to whom the truck should be directed. The second form identifies this man as M. P. Deblumenthal, presumably Studebaker engineer Michael P. de Blumenthal.
In 1963 and now, these would be fast, powerful trucks — especially the shortbox/four-speed pickup — and both would certainly be worth remembering 60 years later. So, where are these hot supercharged ’63 Studebaker trucks now? If you recall the trucks, or know of the present location of either one, email oldcars@aimmedia.com.
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