1958 Studebaker J-8

hardtop Coupe

8 - Cyl.

Automatic

58L6812

Gasoline

O.K. so here we go again. The winner of last week’s auction cannot pay. What can I say? I’m going to try one more time before I put the car away for the winter and work on it further myself. I think that most of the people bidding were truly interested in this automobile. Thank you to all of those bidders. Last week the car bid up to $7605.00 so I am starting at $7000.00 and there is no reserve past that price. Please don’t bid if you cannot buy. Please call Tim at 860 844 0562 if you have any real questions. Best of luck to us all. Up for auction is a 1958 Packard two door hardtop model J-8 v.i.n. 58L-6812. Most people are probably familiar with the rare and odd looking 1958 Packard Hawk but the Hawk accounts for only 588 of the 1422 Packards produced in 1958 by the Studebaker Packard Corporation; 1200 were posted sedans, 159 were a really really odd looking station wagon and 675 were this hardtop we have for sale right here. Based on the Studebaker President of the same year, this car uses fiberglass (factory) hood, grill surround pieces and tail fin pieces to help achieve Packard status. It is a mix of styles with a certain appeal. It uses the Studebaker 289 V-8, four barrel, twin-traction, dual exhaust, power steering and power assisted drum brakes. It has an automatic transmission. This example is best described as a survivor. I mean that in the strict sense. I've looked around and there are very few of these cars left intact. I don't think its going out on a limb to say that there are not 25 of these cars left anywhere. This car seems to have been in pretty regular use, a well kept car until it was parked in a barn up north about 1986. It stayed there until 2006. I bought it in 2007 and have tried to clean it up and tune it up and make it a running car again. The brakes were stuck but I was able to rebuild with what was there. I put a new master cylinder in because the old one was too stuck. I changed the fluids, re-set under the cap and it fired right up. Everything works, all the lights, signals and such. The car is solid. I see no holes in the floors or in the trunk. One of the corner braces (driver's side trunk) is getting thin in the seam--normal Studebaker. The frame is dirty but not at all rusted. I see evidence of patching on the back fender driver's side. Apparently these cars, when used regularly, were known to collect stuff behind those nice wide side trims. The car has been repainted once and my guess is that the car was originally parade red with a parchment white roof. The car looks shinier in some of the pictures because the shots are from different days and it was just cleaner or not; the repaint is thin and my impression is that it is an unfinished work. All of the glass is good except the driver's side door glass which is cracked. The lower trim piece is off of the rear window. I don't know why. The trim pieces are fine and in the trunk. There are some extra things in the trunk including two rear tail light lenses. The interior is original, frayed, dried, etc.. See the pictures. The carpets are missing but everything else is there so you have someplace to start. I have the title. This car is a great investment. I have only driven the car up the street and back, just to see. It seems fine to me. It runs well. It shifts well. It has holes in both of its mufflers and little to nothing in tail pipes. It's stiff and needs to be cared for and driven into some state of normalcy. It needs to have its gas tank cleaned out from all the sitting. Right now I have it running on a nice clean Studebaker Lark tank that is sitting in its trunk. I hope to get its own tank out and cleaned this coming week while we see if anyone wants to take the car home. I like the car but I have too many Studebakers that need me.