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We’ll just have to take the owner’s word for it when it comes to the shape this 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk is in, because aside from three pictures, none of which are with the interior, we have nothing to go on for this $14,000 car. Seeing as there’s no reason to doubt the seller, the price could be quite a bargain. Let’s see why that is.
The Studebaker Hawk series was first met by the public in 1956. The Golden Hawk was the company’s top-of-the-line car when it came to personal luxury models, and also their most expensive at the time.
It was based on their previous Champion model designed by Raymond Loewy. The Golden Hawk differed from the Champion by installing an egg-crate front grille and raising the hood line, but the most substantial change was that it had a pillarless hard-top layout with rear fins. As for its same-class competitors, between 1956 and 1958, it was akin to a Cadillac, Lincoln, or a Chrysler Imperial.
It wasn’t a slowpoke either, having a Packard 352-cubic-inch (5.8-liter) V8 engine capable of outputting 275 horsepower (279 ps).
The engine makes this Hawk a rare find because, during 1956, the manufacturer handed over its engine plant to Curtiss-Wright and stopped making the 352 CI engine model. It was replaced with a smaller Studebaker 289-cubic-inch (4.7-liter) V8.
In 1958 ,the Golden Hawk production line sent its last unit out into the wild, raking in a total of no more than 4,100 units. Like many other car manufacturers, Studebaker went the way of the dodo bird, and in 1967, it shut its gates forever.
Now, I've said in the beginning that the $14,000 price tag could be a bargain. That’s because even though this particular Golden Hawk might not be in a Detroit Auto Show display condition for the time being, under the right care, it could sell for no less than $99,000 at auction.
It was based on their previous Champion model designed by Raymond Loewy. The Golden Hawk differed from the Champion by installing an egg-crate front grille and raising the hood line, but the most substantial change was that it had a pillarless hard-top layout with rear fins. As for its same-class competitors, between 1956 and 1958, it was akin to a Cadillac, Lincoln, or a Chrysler Imperial.
It wasn’t a slowpoke either, having a Packard 352-cubic-inch (5.8-liter) V8 engine capable of outputting 275 horsepower (279 ps).
The engine makes this Hawk a rare find because, during 1956, the manufacturer handed over its engine plant to Curtiss-Wright and stopped making the 352 CI engine model. It was replaced with a smaller Studebaker 289-cubic-inch (4.7-liter) V8.
In 1958 ,the Golden Hawk production line sent its last unit out into the wild, raking in a total of no more than 4,100 units. Like many other car manufacturers, Studebaker went the way of the dodo bird, and in 1967, it shut its gates forever.
Now, I've said in the beginning that the $14,000 price tag could be a bargain. That’s because even though this particular Golden Hawk might not be in a Detroit Auto Show display condition for the time being, under the right care, it could sell for no less than $99,000 at auction.
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