1952 Studebaker Champion 4 Door Sedan

Tanner Miller
Longview, TX

Tanner's 52 Champion sedan was originally an all out drag car for a police department's D.A.R.E. program. It ran 11.3's and had a police siren and police lights in the back window. Power was provided by a 355 ci small block Chevrolet with World Products Sportsman II iron heads and Tanner guesstimated it had 425-475 horsepower. A Chevrolet TH350 transmission and Ford 9 inch rear end with 4.30 gears completed the drive train and the car weighed in at 2,800 pounds. The engine was set back and the driver's seat was where the back seat had been, under a full roll cage. Although it wasn't too fast, it was really well built for a whole lot more power than the SBC provided.

The car was raced at a Pinks All Out in Shreveport, LA (was Red River Raceway at the time) and it also ran at the Pine Valley Raceway in Lufkin, TX.

Tanner wrote that the 52 sedan had a removable 50 front clip and that his car was full of personality, but the whole multi color paint job was not to his taste.  It ended up being known as the "Clown Car" at his house and was later sold and moved to Maine.

Recently, Tanner wrote "Surprisingly we have misgivings about ever letting her go in the first place. Owning a car with as much personality as the Studie had is its own treat. To think that with some basic changes, she would be street legal and I could be loping her to work on the rare occasion, and hitting car shows with her. Oh well. She still would need a damn paint job!"