1957 Studebaker GOLDEN HAWK

GOLDEN HAWK Coupe

8 - Cyl.

Manual

Gasoline

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 1957 STUDUBAKER GOLDEN HAWK, FACTORY SUPERCHARGED 289 CI MOTOR, FLIGHT-O-MATIC TRANSMISSION, TWO OWNERS FROM NEW! VIN # 6100128 BODY AND TRIM # 57H-K7 46 This 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk is an example of one of the best years of the Golden Hawk model run and represents a bygone era of Studebaker cars that will never be seen again… The condition of this car is very nice and well presented. The car shows very few signs of age and shows 2,131 miles on the odometer. I am the SECOND owner from new. I purchased the car from the original owner’s daughter after he passed away some years ago. Notable options include: -Flight-O-Matic Transmission -Power Steering -Original Working Radio -Twin Rear Antenna Kit BODY: This Golden Hawk wears gold paint with white inserts, and was originally a gold car with white inserts. As you can see from the photos and your personal inspection, the car is very straight. It is originally a Nevada car, spent most of its life there, and consequently, is very solid and sound. The paint is in very good overall condition, having been professionally restored several years ago. There is no checking, fading, or cracking evident in the finish. The glass and seals are in excellent condition and there are no leaks evident. INTERIOR: The interior is trimmed in the correct gold leather interior scheme. The seating areas are in very nice condition, as are the door panels and dashboard. The carpet is factory correct and was installed when the car was restored. All of the accessories, including the climate control, radio (factory installed), are in perfect working order. All of the windows roll up and down and work with no problems. The trunk is in very nice condition, the trunk covering in excellent condition with no rips, tears, or missing pieces, and the spare tire and wheel are present and in very good condition. UNDERCARRIAGE: The underside of the car is commensurate with a well cared for car. Again, it is extremely solid and very well preserved, with no evidence of any damage. While it has been previously restored a number of years ago and is no longer in concours condition, it is in very nice and presentable condition. A new gas tank, fuel and brake lines have also been recently installed. ENGINE and ENGINE COMPARTMENT: The powerplant in this Golden Hawk is the original 289 CI/275 HP @4800 RPM with a belt driven McCullah variable ratio centrifugal supercharger. The same basic engine went on to set land speed records in the Studebaker Avanti. The supercharger was rebuilt by John Urb in Nevada where modifications were made to increase boost and durability substantially. All aspects of the motor are in perfect working order, and the compression ratio is exactly where it should be. The engine bay is completely original, with all components in operational condition. Every detail of the engine compartment is “Studebaker Correct” and well preserved. There is some very minor wear to certain painted surfaces due to age, but overall, it is very presentable. TIRES AND WHEELS: The Firestone Deluxe Champion tires are in almost new condition and do not show any wear. They are the correct and original style and size but are radials for comfort and safety. The wheel covers are the correct Studebaker Golden Hawk wheel covers and are in restored condition, with very minimal wear evident. All of the center caps are original with sharp graphics and are also in very nice condition. OVERALL DRIVING IMPRESSIONS: This Studebaker runs and drives as should – It’s barely broken in! The 289 CI V8 powerplant runs and accelerates smoothly and very quickly and the Flight-O-Matic transmission shifts as it should. The car drives around town and on the open road with no squeaks, creaks, or rattles. It has had all of the necessary service recently performed including oil-change, tune up, installation of new battery, and transmission and differential service. It needs absolutely nothing to drive, show, and enjoy. All of the mechanical aspects of the car work as they should. PLEASE NOTE: This 1957 Studebaker still retains all of its original or N.O.S. components! This means the engine, transmission, rear end, etc. are original or correct to the car. All of the numbers, markings, etc., are correct. THIS GOLDEN HAWK HAS NEVER BEEN MODIFIED IN ANY WAY! It is a restored original and very special car that, as evidenced by the low mileage and condition, has been driven very sparingly and properly cared for during the last 54 years… This Golden Hawk is the most solid, unmolested, and original example I have ever seen. If you’ve never driven a Hawk of this period, you are in for a treat with this one! If you are serious about purchasing this vehicle, I encourage you to come, take a look, and drive it. I can also provide you with additional photos of any specific part you have questions about. You or your mechanic are also welcome to put the car on a lift and perform any drivetrain inspection you wish, including a compression check. The winning bidder will be required to send a deposit of $500.00 within 48 hours of auction close, the balance due within 7 days of auction close. PLEASE DO NOT WASTE MY TIME OR YOURS BIDDING ON A VEHICLE YOU DO NOT INTEND TO PAY FOR. IF YOU BID ON THIS VEHICLE AND WIN, YOU ARE EXPECTED TO PAY FOR THE VEHICLE AND PICK IT UP IN A TIMELY MANNER! In an effort to protect the eBay user information and to help ensure the authenticity of correspondence between sellers and bidders, eBay’s new listing format does NOT display any bidder information. Nevertheless, I STRONGLY encourage bidders to contact me directly to answer questions or to verify correspondence. Seller reserves the right to not accept bids or sell the vehicle to anyone with a zero or negative eBay feedback rating. For more on the 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk, read on… 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. Styling 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. Power The raised hood and grille were added to allow space for a larger engine,Packard's big 352 in³ (5.8 L) V8, which delivered 275 bhp (205 kW). This big, powerful engine in such a light car gave the Golden Hawk a phenomenal 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 expensive Chrysler was a road-legal NASCAR racing car. The Golden Hawk can be considered, like the Chryslers, a precursor to the muscle cars of the 1960s. The heavy engine gave the car an unfounded reputation for being nose-heavy and poor handling (the supercharged Studebaker engine that replaced the Packard mill for '57 was actually heavier). Road tests of the time, many of which were conducted by racing drivers, seldom mentioned any handling issues. Speed Age magazine of July 1956 tested the Golden Hawk against the Chrysler 300 B, Ford Thunderbird and Chevrolet Corvette, finding that the Golden Hawk could out-perform the others comfortably in both 0-60 mph acceleration and quarter mile times. The fastest 0-60 reported in magazine testing was 7.8 seconds, while top speeds were quoted as 125 mph (201 km/h) plus. Film buffs will remember these performance statistics demonstrably cited as Charlie and Raymond Babbitt (Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman) spot a Golden Hawk in 1988's Rainman. A wide variety of colors (including two-tone, befitting the times) were available. Two-tone schemes initially involved the front upper body, the roof and a panel on the tail being painted the contrast color, with the rest of the body the base color. Later 1956 production had the upper body above the belt line, including the trunk, as the contrast color with the tail panel, roof and the body below the belt line trim being the base color. An increased options list and reduced standard equipment were used to keep prices down compared to the previous year's Sdebaker President Speedster, which the Golden Hawk replaced. Even turn signals were technically an option. The Golden Hawk was matched with three other Hawk models for 1956, and was the only Hawk not technically considered a sub-model within one of Studebaker's regular passenger car lines; the Flight Hawk coupe was a Champion, the Power Hawk coupe was a Commander, and the Sky Hawk hardtop was a President. 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 dressed-up 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. Styling also changed somewhat. A fiberglass overlay on the hood was added, which covered a hole in the hood that was needed to clear the supercharger, which was mounted high on the front of the engine. The tailfins, now made of metal, were concave and swept out from the sides of the car. The fins were outlined in chrome trim and normally were painted a contrasting color, although some solid-color Golden Hawks were built. Halfway through the 1957 model year, a luxury 400 model was introduced, featuring a leather interior, a fully upholstered trunk, and special trim. Only 41 of these special cars were produced, and a mere handful are believed to exist today. One of them is currently housed at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend. For 1958, the Golden Hawk switched to 14 in (36 cm) wheels instead of 15 in (38 cm), making the car ride a little lower. The 15-inch wheels, however, were available as an option. Other styling changes included a new, round Hawk medallion mounted in the lower center of the grille, and the available contrasting-color paint was now applied to both the roof and tailfins. Several minor engineering changes were made for '58, including revisions to the suspension and driveshaft that finally allowed designers to create a three-passenger rear seat. Earlier models had seating for only two passengers in the rear because the high driveshaft "hump" necessitated dividing the seat; a fixed arm rest (later made removable because of customer requests) was placed between the rear passengers in earlier models. In January 2011, Barrett-Jackson auctions sold a 1957 Studebaker Hawk for a final hammer price of $99,000. End of the Line Like many more expensive cars, Golden Hawk sales were heavily hit by the late-1950s recession, and the model was discontinued after only selling 878 examples in 1958. The Silver Hawk remained as the only Hawk model; it was renamed simply the Studebaker Hawk for the 1960 model year. On Jun-08-11 at 06:04:00 PDT, seller added the following information: Just to clarify a few things: The transmission is an automatic, not a manual, the tires are Firestone as described but are bias-ply, not radials, and the gas tank was re-lined. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks for your interest!