Next to the Gran Turismo, the Golden Hawk may be the most desirable of the Hawk series of automobiles because it was a pillarless hardtop and could be had with a supercharged V8. It was produced for three model years, 1956-58, and saw only 9,305 copies made in total (plus 588 of the Packard Hawk, which was rebadged with a famous “fishmouth” grille). This 1956 Golden Hawk is a running, driving project that has some rust and is said to be complete. Located in Los Gatos, California, the rare car is available here on eBay. The bids have reached $3,575 while the reserve has not.
All the Hawk automobiles can trace their roots back to 1953 and the Champion/Commander/ Starliner. A plethora of them would be built at one time or another: the Hawk, Silver Hawk, Flight Hawk, Power Hawk, Sky Hawk, Golden Hawk, and the Gran Turismo Hawk. The Golden Hawk was an extension of the Studebaker Speedster that had a one-year run in 1955. The car had an almost vertical egg-crate grille and raised hood line in place of the earlier car’s swooping, pointed nose. Outback, a raised, squared-off trunk lid replaced an earlier sloped lid, and vertical fiberglass tailfins were added to the rear quarters.
A 275 hp 352 cubic-inch Packard V8 was used in 1956 only. Studebaker-Packard sold off the plant these engines were built it, so the Golden Hawk switched to a Studebaker 289 V8 with a supercharger for 1957-58. The ’56 had a great power-to weight-ratio for the era and the Golden Hawk was second only to Chrysler’s 300B by that measurement. Both these autos served as role models for the muscle cars that would come out of Detroit beginning in the 1960s. 1956 was the second largest of the three years of Golden Hawk production at 4,071 cars, like the seller’s.
Two sets of photos of the seller’s car are provided. Currently, it wears primer grey over most of its body, but before that, it was silver over burgundy which looked sharp when new. The primer may have just been applied as a rust inhibitor as a fair amount of it is brewing along the rocker panels and inside the trunk. The floorboards look to have plenty of surface rust and where that is holes are sure to follow. We’re told there is no Bondo or filler in the Studebaker.
The Packard-supplied V8 runs and the car moves with a 3-speed manual overdrive transmission. But we don’t know how well it does that, so maybe you should stick to the neighborhood at first. The odometer reading is 41,000 miles, but that could very well have turned over after 65 years. The upholstery looks good, but the door panels and carpeting are MIA. Hagerty estimates that a topflight example of one of these cars could be worth $60,000, while Fair condition should peak at $16,000. If the seller’s reserve isn’t crazy, it may leave a decent amount of room the fund the restoration.
After seeing the BIN price of the triple white `79 Continental sedan yesterday of $150K, I would be very leery of this owner’s reserve. IMHO, given the condition and missing parts, anything much more than $8K is pie-in-the-sky dreaming on the seller’s part.
Rare car with that engine set up. Lots of work but depending on how bad it is it should be saved
It’s funny anyone would think primer as a rust protector. I guess maybe if it’s the enamel 2 part primer, but most are porous as hell for buildup and easy sanding.
Look at all that rust!!!!
Is that a SPARKOMATIC shifter sticking up out of the floor? That’s what comes to my feeble mind
My dream car as a kid. My cousin had a bllack one with the 3 speed manual. I loved that car.
I suspect this car left the factory with an Ultramatic transmission. If it was factory equipped with stick shift, it would have been column mounted. The one shot of the column appears to have had the automatic trans shifter lever and the quadrant selector cover has been removed.
One of the hardest parts to find for this car is missing: The entire Tachometer, the tach wiring, and the tach sender under the distributor cap. If it had the tach drive sensor, the cap would be sitting a couple of inches higher. That sensor is not the same as on the 1957 and later Studebaker V8 distributor. It’s only used on the 1956 Golden Hawk.
The color on the engine has me questioning if it’s original to the car. Packard provided their V8 to 2 other companies: Studebaker and Hudson. The Hudson versions were painted in this color, early Golden Hawks had a more red color, and the valve covers were chromed and had red & yellow stickers on top. Later 1956 Golden Hawk engines were painted the same light blue as the Studebaker 259 & 289 engines. It’s not from a Packard either, as they had embossed Packard lettering on the valve covers.
I suspect [and this is only an educated guess] the engine and transmission on this car came out of a 1956 stickshift Hudson, and I think the engine serial number would bear this out. And if it’s a Hudson Engine, it’s a Packard Clipper 320, not the 352.
Well said, Bill. Lot of good information about a 65 year old car.