1958 Studebaker Packard Hawk

Coupe

289 cid

Flight-o-matic

AZ270871

Clear

Gasoline

Here is my 1958 Packard Hawk, which I bought for $14,900 in 2005 out of Hemmings Motor News, intending to restore it, and I must pass it on to somebody who can restore it, or have it restored. My reserve is thousands less than I paid for the car, and I think somebody will get a good deal on a very rare car here. I got current tags and registration for it a couple of weeks ago, right after the first auction here on eBay, and I've been driving it around some since. It runs fine except for an exhaust leak (which it's always had), shifts normally, etc., and the brakes now work, after I put a new master cylinder, NOS Hydrovac power brake unit in it, three new brake lines, etc. Only 588 of these cars were made back in 1958, all of them were supercharged with a McCullough variable-speed supercharger and, in my humble opinion, it was/is one of the coolest-looking cars made in the 1950s, an era of super-wild and bizarre-looking automobiles, where the styles changed every year, unlike the boxes-on-wheels that they started cranking out in the late 1960s. So, what does the car need? A complete cosmetic restoration, including all sheet-metal underneath the car (these sheet-metal parts are all available in reproduction, from at least two different places that I know of, for a total of about $1500; of course, the cost involved would mostly be the labor of welding it in), plus to have the supercharger rebuilt (it's all there, but apart). The engine runs fine, and has 140-145 psi compression on all the cylinders and doesn't burn any oil. The guy I bought it from insisted on driving it up onto the car carrier himself, and the brakes failed when he got up onto the trailer, and the car "fell off," causing the crunched-in damage you see in the photos on the driver's side. Naturally, he didn't tell me about that, so I had a nice surprise when I took possession of the car in Tucson. I hope that all the new photos I've taken of the car will make it clear that the car is well worth restoring. The people who were interested the first time around on this car didn't seem to care that I was throwing in enough complete pigskins done in a fine black morocco finish to completely reupholster the car; everybody seemed to want to put it back to the original beige leather (apparently, all the Packard Hawks had the same beige leather interior), which I don't understand unless you're going to do a "show car," as the black pigskin morocco is a much higher quality leather than the original smooth cowhide and, since I have it left over from my book publishing business, what the hey, I'll throw it in, if the eventual buyer will use it to reupholster the car, anyway! I'll let the photos speak for themselves, and feel free to email me (dennismcmillan@aol.com) or call me (520-366-6672--I'm on Pacific Time, which is three hours ahead of Eastern Time, so please don't call at 7 a.m.!) with any questions you may have. I hope this car will go to somebody who'll restore it and appreciate one of the coolest rides of the 1950s! Dennis McMillan, Bisbee, AZ