Auto Car | 1958 Packard Hawk | The Packard Hawk is one of the oddest vehicles to ever see the light of day. Built by Studebaker/Packard Corporation, it was the last production car to carry the Packard Name. It was also the fastest production Packard ever built. The 1958 Packard Hawk was the sportiest of the four Packard-badged Studebakers produced. Packard, for the 1957 and 1958 model year, were all rebadged and retrimmed Studebaker products. The 1958 Packard Hawk was essentially Studebaker’s 1957 Golden Hawk with a fiberglass front end and a modified deck lid.
Instead of the Studebaker Hawk’s upright Mercedes-style grille, the Packard Hawk had a wide, low opening just above the front bumper and covering the whole width of the car. Above this, a smoothly sloping nose, and hood, reminiscent of the 1953 Raymond Lowey Studebaker Starliner Coupe, but with a bulge as on the Golden Hawk, to accommodated the engine’s McCulloch supercharger. This gave the Studebaker 289 CuIn (4.7 L) V8 a total of 275 bhp. At the rear, the sides of the fins were coated in a brilliant PET film, giving them a shiny metallic gold appearance. A fake spare-tire bulge, again fashioned from fiberglass, adorned the 1953-55 style Studebaker deck lid. ‘PACKARD’ was spelled out in capitals across the nose, with a gold ‘Packard’ emblem in script, along with a Hawk badge, on the trunk lid and fins.
The interior was full leather, with a fully instrumentation in an engine-turned dash. As on early aircraft and custom boats, padded armrests were mounted outside the windows, a rare touch. The styling was definitely controversial, often described as ‘vacuum-cleaner’ or ‘catfish’ by detractors. Interestingly, the styling has come to be appreciated more today than in its debut.
Most were equipped with the Borg-Warner three-speed automatic transmission. Approximately 28 were produced with the B-W T85 3-speed w/overdrive manual transmission. Studebaker-Packard was the first manufacturer to popularize the limited-slip differential, which they termed Twin-Traction. Most Packard Hawks came with TT. Basic price started at $3995, about $700 higher than the Studebaker model, but with a more luxurious interior. Electric window-lifts and power seats were optional extras.
Distinctive Packard Hawk features rarely seen in Studebakers also included all-leather seating with matching interior trim made of Naugahyde. Dashboards displayed Stewart Warner tachometer and supercharger manifold pressure gauges. The speedometer showed a top speed of 160 mph, and it was published that this car could flat-out run faster top end than the American-made sports cars of the Big Three.
Its rarity and status as the best of the ‘Packardbaker’ final-year cars have made the Packard Hawk quite collectible. The 1958 Packard Hawk was a last-gasp effort to save the once-proud automotive manufacturer from extinction. Only 588 Hawks rolled off the assembly line before the Packard name went defunct. For their time, Packard Hawks were nearly as expensive as Cadillacs and Lincolns, which contributed greatly to their limited marketability. It is estimated that about 200 have survived.
Instead of the Studebaker Hawk’s upright Mercedes-style grille, the Packard Hawk had a wide, low opening just above the front bumper and covering the whole width of the car. Above this, a smoothly sloping nose, and hood, reminiscent of the 1953 Raymond Lowey Studebaker Starliner Coupe, but with a bulge as on the Golden Hawk, to accommodated the engine’s McCulloch supercharger. This gave the Studebaker 289 CuIn (4.7 L) V8 a total of 275 bhp. At the rear, the sides of the fins were coated in a brilliant PET film, giving them a shiny metallic gold appearance. A fake spare-tire bulge, again fashioned from fiberglass, adorned the 1953-55 style Studebaker deck lid. ‘PACKARD’ was spelled out in capitals across the nose, with a gold ‘Packard’ emblem in script, along with a Hawk badge, on the trunk lid and fins.
The interior was full leather, with a fully instrumentation in an engine-turned dash. As on early aircraft and custom boats, padded armrests were mounted outside the windows, a rare touch. The styling was definitely controversial, often described as ‘vacuum-cleaner’ or ‘catfish’ by detractors. Interestingly, the styling has come to be appreciated more today than in its debut.
Most were equipped with the Borg-Warner three-speed automatic transmission. Approximately 28 were produced with the B-W T85 3-speed w/overdrive manual transmission. Studebaker-Packard was the first manufacturer to popularize the limited-slip differential, which they termed Twin-Traction. Most Packard Hawks came with TT. Basic price started at $3995, about $700 higher than the Studebaker model, but with a more luxurious interior. Electric window-lifts and power seats were optional extras.
Distinctive Packard Hawk features rarely seen in Studebakers also included all-leather seating with matching interior trim made of Naugahyde. Dashboards displayed Stewart Warner tachometer and supercharger manifold pressure gauges. The speedometer showed a top speed of 160 mph, and it was published that this car could flat-out run faster top end than the American-made sports cars of the Big Three.
Its rarity and status as the best of the ‘Packardbaker’ final-year cars have made the Packard Hawk quite collectible. The 1958 Packard Hawk was a last-gasp effort to save the once-proud automotive manufacturer from extinction. Only 588 Hawks rolled off the assembly line before the Packard name went defunct. For their time, Packard Hawks were nearly as expensive as Cadillacs and Lincolns, which contributed greatly to their limited marketability. It is estimated that about 200 have survived.
Source : blog.cardomain.com
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