With a chopped top, chopped up floor boards, and ’80s turbine wheels, this winged beast seeks a new owner with the vision and economic fortitude to power this (presumably) one-of-a-kind custom over the finish line. The top chop on this 1958 Studebaker Silver Hawk dates from the 1960s, done for “a famous person,” according to the listing here on eBay. Now the never-finished Palm City, Florida custom can be yours with the high bid in the No Reserve auction. At least a dozen bidders have cast lots so far with the top chance cresting over the $1000 mark as we go to press. The seller encourages creative possibilities with some digital “what if” pictures. Though inspiring, these well-meaning fakes make it confusing to understand what you’re buying.
Let’s assume that’s a real engine and automatic transmission, and not one of the pictures that’s digitally altered with MS Paint or a similar primitive picture editor. At least no one can complain that the floor boards are rusty. Cue the Fred Flintstone comments! The listing mentions that a “Buick 251 Aluminum V8” was removed from the car. With the low cost of film these days, many buyers might appreciate a spate of pictures showing only what they get for their bids.
Joking aside, the chop seems to be well-executed, though filling those modified holes with safety glass may prove challenging. I heard about a place in Turkey (or was it South America?) that makes curved glass for any opening… for a price. A custom hot rod chassis with adjustable coil-overs will impart a dropped stance, complimenting the lowered roof line. Let’s hope that’s not self-etching or water-soluble primer covering the entire car including its trim.
Among other fictional digital possibilities, the seller provides this rendering of what the Studebaker might look like after extensive investments in every area. According to the listing, the chop is all metal, with no body filler beneath the primer. How long before this chopped hot rod Hawk is magazine-ready? Take a guess in the comments below!
Don’t know why you’d chop one of the lowest cars ever built and a rusty one at that. No substitute for dumb.
How to ruin a great looking car 101.
She’s scrap now.
It needs to be unchopped
The Golden Hawk is my dream classic. Looking at this Hawk is depressing. Beautiful lines destroyed by someone with no taste.
1 might think the ‘famous person’ it was built for could be batman… thoughts… ???
More likely, some eejit with a lowered forehead…
A primer shell with a crumbly, rusty inside! Delicious!
it almost looks like they wanted the top as low as the of the fins. I’ll bet this never got finished due to glass. All the gass would have to custom one off pieces and I’ll bet that cost as much as the whole job.
I’m a fan of chopped custom built cars and hot rods, this one just doesn’t seem to look right.
I hope it’s right for someone, it’d be a shame to see it continue to rot.
The builder probably started looking into getting a rear window fabricated and gave up. I can only imagine what a complex, custom-made piece of glass like that costs. It would have been smarter to build the rear window opening to match an existing piece of glass.
I suspect the builder discovered the rear window was made of tempered glass, and when he tried to cut it down, the glass simply exploded. The windshield, while it’s AS-1 safety glass, will be very difficult to cut that much away from both sides while not cracking one side or the other. It takes a VERY skilled glass tech to trim an AS-1 curved windshield, and attempting to do so on a 60+ year old piece of glass is something that should be recorded for YouTube.
The other part of the equation is the base of the windshield [the cowl area] does not appear to have been cut out and re-positioned to line up with the increased slant angle. If so, this means that even on a successful trimming of the top of the windshield, it won’t fit at the bottom. And unless the top itself was widened to account for the side angles, even the sides of the windshield won’t fit.
I would be worried that the people doing the work were not fully aware of the geometry of chopping a vehicle with a curved windshield. The only way to know for sure is to set a correct windshield in place and see how it lines up with the opening.
Take a close look at the photo showing the engine and what’s left of the interior. Blow up the photo and place a straight-edge along the outer edge of the windshield post. It’s not even close to being straight and even.
As someone who has fooled around with Studebaker Hawks for 5 decades, all I see in this car is a good hood and trunk lid, assuming the hood has not been damaged at the hinge points, and the trunk lid is rust free at the bottom edge.
What a terrible thing to do to one of America´s iconic cars. Just terrible.
Where is the rest of the car?
If you were just building a show car, then its a simple buck-n-form a piece of similar thickness plex or lexan. But to be “street legal” it has to be tempered/safety glass.