With only 4,356 built, it’s no surprise that the 1957 Golden Hawk is one of the most prized Studebakers among fans of that long-running South Bend concern. But how far gone is too far gone? We’re about to find out, because this example needs a total restoration, and it’s currently an eBay auction in Conway, South Carolina. The good news is that it comes with a very solid looking parts car, an extra engine, and some other goodies. The bad news is that it might need them all. Still, with a high bid currently sitting at a measly $787, it will be a tempting project for those who love a hot rod independent.

Studebaker was famous for getting the most out of its beautiful 1953 coupes, and while some don’t like the tacked-on fins that the Hawk wore from 1956 to 1961, you have to admit that they were an expedient way to make the car look surprisingly up-to-date.

Another thing Studebaker was famous for, at least in its Hawk and Avanti lines, was purposeful instrumentation, and it can be seen on the Golden Hawk’s engine-turned dashboard. Everything needs some attention, and unfortunately, there’s no saying how many interior pieces (if any) have gone missing from the “15 boxes of parts and literature” that come with the car. The eBay ad mentions that the car has a manual transmission; if that is the case, it would have been a three-speed with overdrive, which would have had a column shifter in 1957. Is that a floor shifter I see? If so, it’s most likely a period modification.

The Hawk’s engine was a 275-horsepower supercharged 289 (not a Ford, a Studebaker-designed powerplant). It doesn’t run, but it will come with the supercharger and brackets.

The red parts car is being included with the Golden Hawk as a “clean body to build,” but we must start asking about the implications of a “rebody” in the restoration world. Although the seller mentions that the Golden Hawk itself has “some rust in the trunk” and some previous floor repair, one would start to wonder if it would be easier to use patch panels from the parts car or just use that body.

The package will come with an extra engine and an automatic transmission, although the seller doesn’t mention if the engine is a 259 or a 289, or if it came from a Golden Hawk itself. The car does come with rechromed front and rear bumpers, two hoods, and the aforementioned 15 boxes of parts.

Here’s a picture of the trunk rust in the Golden Hawk.

And here is the trunk in the parts car.

Yes, a full restoration is a job for the adventurous who knows how to see that job through, even if the job starts with the not insignificant sorting of the bits and pieces that someone took off the car at some point. However, it’s been done before, and if you like Studebakers and have an enterprising spirit, this might be a fun way to pass a year or four.