Studebaker-Packard-Hawk series
The Studebaker-Packard-Hawk series were passenger cars manufactured by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation between 1956 and 1964. All vehicles with the exception of the Packard Hawk from 1958 were based on Studebaker designs. The 2-door, 4-seat coupés and hardtops were marketed by the company as "Family Sports Cars". They were further developments of the wonderful 1953 cars designed by Robert Bourke , a leading designer at the Raymond Loewy agency . The 1962 rework as the GT Hawk was done by another well-known designer, Brooks Stevens .
| Model | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flight Hawk | X | ||||||||
| Power Hawk | X | ||||||||
| Sky Hawk | X | ||||||||
| Golden Hawk | X | X | X | ||||||
| Silver Hawk | X | X | X | ||||||
| Packard Hawk | X | ||||||||
| Hawk | X | X | |||||||
| Gran Turismo Hawk | X | X | X |
In 1956 four Hawk models were released, the bottom three of which shared the engines with the three Studebaker model lines. The two coupés: The Flight Hawk had the old, but economical in-line six-cylinder SV engine from the Champion , the Power Hawk the 4.2 liter OHV V8 from the Commander . The two hardtops: The Sky Hawk shared the larger 4.7 liter OHV V8 and the luxury equipment with the President and the Golden Hawk stood at the top of the model range. The Golden Hawk, equipped with the large 5.8 liter Packard V8 with 275 bhp (202 kW) output, was voted the best high-performance car of the year. Some people think that by combining the most powerful engine with the smallest and lightest body, Studebaker-Packard created the first muscle car eight years before the Pontiac GTO appeared . The car had the second lowest power-to-weight ratio of all American production vehicles. Contemporary road tests proved that the Golden Hawk the quarter mile mastered faster than the Corvette , the Thunderbird or Chrysler 300 B . Only the Chrysler 300 B came close to the Golden Hawk at top speed.
In 1956, the Packard factories in Detroit and Utica were closed and the Packard V8 engine thus discontinued. In 1957, Studebakers bearing the Packard logo were manufactured and sold in South Bend, Indiana to fulfill contracts with Packard dealers. The Packard V8 was no longer manufactured, and so the Golden Hawk was equipped with the largest Studebaker V8 with 4.7 liter displacement and a compressor and made 275 bhp (202 kW). The range has been simplified: the Sky Hawk was discontinued because it was too close to the Golden Hawk, and the two smaller models were replaced by the Silver Hawk . It was available either with a straight six-cylinder engine or with the 4.2 liter V8. In 1958 there was a more luxurious, redesigned version of the Golden Hawk, which was named Packard Hawk as part of badge engineering .
In 1959, drastic measures were necessary to save Studebaker from ruin: The Golden Hawk, the entire Packard model range and the other Studebaker previously produced disappeared; there was only the Silver Hawk together with the new Studebaker Lark . This was a decisive year for Studebaker, but it turned out that the Lark was exactly what the public wanted. The Silver Hawk served as a crowd puller and was still produced; after being the only remaining Hawk model, it was simply called the "Studebaker Hawk" and production continued until late 1961.
In 1962 a revised Hawk model came out, the GT Hawk . The new styling was well received and the car sold quite well in 1962. From 1963, however, Studebaker sales were in a death spiral. Although the 1964 Super Hawk was the best Hawk ever built with the supercharged machine - it had four-speed transmission, a limited slip differential, front disc brakes, and sporty suspension - its production with the other Studebaker models in the United States was discontinued in 1964.