Studebaker Golden Hawk |
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Wikipedia: Studebaker Golden Hawk
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History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Studebaker Golden Hawk page on 18 September 2018, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Studebaker Golden Hawk is a two-door pillarless hardtop coupe type car produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, between 1956 and 1958.
The last Studebaker until the Avanti to have styling influenced by industrial designer Raymond Loewy's studio, the Golden Hawk took the basic shape of the 1953–55 Champion/Commander Starliner hardtop coupe but added a large, almost vertical eggcrate grille and raised hoodline in place of the earlier car's swooping, pointed nose. At the rear, a raised, squared-off trunklid replaced the earlier sloped lid, and vertical fiberglass tailfins were added to the rear quarters. The Golden Hawk was two inches shorter than the standard Hawk at 53.6 inches.
The raised hood and grille were added to allow space for a larger engine, Packard's 352 in³ (5.8 L) V8, which delivered 275 bhp (205 kW). This comparatively large, powerful engine in such a light car gave the Golden Hawk an excellent power-to-weight ratio (and thus performance) for the time; of 1956 American production cars, the Golden Hawk was second only to Chrysler's 300B by that measure — and the Chrysler, which cost considerably more, was essentially a road-legal NASCAR racing car. The Golden Hawk, like the Chryslers, is a precursor to the muscle cars of the 1960s.
1957–58: The supercharged Golden Hawk
The Golden Hawk was continued for the 1957 and 1958 model years, but with some changes. Packard's Utica, Michigan, engine plant was leased to Curtiss-Wright during 1956 (and eventually sold to them), marking the end of genuine Packard production. Packard-badged cars were produced for two more years, but they were essentially rebadged Studebakers. The Packard V8, introduced only two years earlier, was therefore no longer available. It was replaced with the Studebaker 289 in³ (4.7 L) V8 with the addition of a McCulloch supercharger, giving the same 275 hp (205 kW) output as the Packard engine. This improved the car's top speed, making these the best-performing Hawks until the Gran Turismo Hawk became available with the Avanti's R2 supercharged engine for the 1963 model year.
| Type & Item # | Name | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Die Cast - Anson Classic 30384 | 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk | 1:18 scale, gold |