By: Bobby Webb
Were they ahead of their time?
The Hawks were some of the most beautiful cars on the road in the fifties. Maybe the company didn’t have the marketing power and name recognition the General Motors and Ford had but they certainly had the car. Its low lines were ahead of everyone else. The 1956 Power Hawk pictured below is a perfect example of the beauty of these automobiles.
My Favorite – 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk
By the mid-’50s, more than half of all American families owned an automobile, and sports cars had become popular with car-buyers of all ages and backgrounds. Offering a comfortable ride and room for five passengers, the ’57 Golden Hawk—Studebaker’s distinctive hardtop coupe—combined the best elements of a sports car and a family sedan. With a body design based on the ’53 Studebaker Starliner, the Golden Hawk featured two-tone paint, a full-size trunk, and outward-leaning tail fins. A square grille, wraparound rear window, and wide, low body rounded out the popular design.
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.
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.
The heavy engine gave the car an unfounded reputation for being nose-heavy and having poor handling but the road test of that time seldom mentioned handling problems.
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
Most of us during those days were fans of Fords, Chevrolets, or Plymouths but when one of the few Studebaker Hawks in the community would drive by, all of us would stop what we were doing and take a good look. They were beautiful cars to look at.
I have included a video below that does an excellent job of describing all of the Hawk models from 1956-1964.
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