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https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6a/57/73/6a5773114658633f3578a9b7b1ad9b61.jpg
I saw this clean local show/driver quality bullet nose coupe at the local specialty dealer yesterday - nice looking car, but no prices on the site or on the cars, which turns me off like nothing else.
That's a nice bullet-nose. I think that era Stude, plus Golden Hawks, are the ones the masses identify the most as Studebakers. My wife likes them. I think they're 'out there' styling-wise, although they were the best-selling Studebakers ever built. They made more profit in '59 on fewer units though.
I went to college at Clarion although I remember cutting that Avanti ad out the Thiel College library which was in my hometown. Really, shame on me for that!
When I was in high school, my school had a huge collection of Geographics going back to at least 1920, if not before. I had to control myself to not "borrow" them (as they were in a disused room, and nobody would have noticed) and pilfer the ads. I recall Olds and Buick ads were big, along with fancier trim Ford and Chevy, Chrysler, Packard, etc.
I believe that that car was not built with the supercharger. With a serial number, the build sheet is easily available from the Studebaker National Museum to confirm. In fact, it has a hood from an earlier Golden Hawk, which has that extra, long piece on top that covers a hole in the hood for that '57-era supercharger to fit!!! (The later supercharged Hawks had a different hood). The tach is obviously aftermarket (supercharged cars from the factory had the tach standard) and the "Supercharged" emblem(s) like this car has were used on only the '63 Avanti.
Minor: Wheels not off-white. Missing grille badge.
Upholstery looks original or NOS.
They retooled that decklid for the '64 model year, so it didn't have the ridges nor the metal overlay which covered them. I like that simple look best but for sure they didn't amortize that cost of tooling over only 1,767 '64 Hawks!
http://www.significantcars.com/cars/1964studebaker/007.jpg
My bet (only that) is that if you were a Stude dealer who would cough up the money for signage and tools, you got the M-B franchise. My hometown dealer sold them from '57-65.
I read in a recent book on Byers Burlingame, the last president of Studebaker and a numbers-cruncher, not a product guy, that after the closure of South Bend, he wished to release M-B Sales, Inc., from the Studebaker umbrella and while in Germany tried to see M-B management who supposedly wouldn't see him. Hard to believe, but the book was written from info in the archives at the Stude Museum. Management wanted out of the car sales business by that time, in general. Stude's U.S. dealer network went from 1,915 to 450 between Dec. '63 and Mar. '66.
I've read 1965 as the end date of that agreement. By that time, my hometown dealer was selling Simca and Sunbeam too. I can remember one Simca in town!
After the Hawk, Avanti, trucks, hardtops, and convertibles, and Studebaker-built engines, were out of the line--in the '65 model year--only the true diehards were buying Studebakers. The guy who bought my '66 was born in 1904, bought my car a month after the last car was built, and traded in a '53 Stude.
My high school nurse, named Isabelle Smith, an older lady who was a real character, drove a slate blue 190SL in the '70's. My dealer friend said they did sell and service that particular car.
https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0118-313025/1958-packard-hawk-sport-hardtop/
I've seen it in person. A first-class restoration.
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2014/11/Reborn-Hawk---1964-Studebaker-Gran-Turismo-Hawk/3743431.html#PhotoSwipe1515003957772
Still, they have been ib business for quite awhile now so not everyone must share out opinion!
But otherwise, they are in the right place at the right time. Three key demographics here - well-paid tech dorks, sketchy offshore money launderer types, and shall I say, fortunate boomers - all three will be attracted to various types of the inventory.
Only 588 of those cars assembled and two at Mecum and both sold.
Then we have the Buyer's Fees on top of that!
I would be afraid to drive the thing! Can you imagine if it got whacked? " Trying to find parts?
To me, the ugliest '58 cars are Oldsmobiles, followed by Buicks. Then, Rambler four-doors.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
I have no idea why that guy paid exactly double the market value for a restored '58 Hawk, but then again, I haven't seen the car.
Just when you think you couldn't make a car any less attractive, THIS comes along: I'm sure Uplander knows this car.
Golden Hawks generally in similar condition as that Packard Hawk have brought big bucks at the auctions, and my thirty years of looking, a lot, at Studebakers for sale in magazines, on eBay, and through the Studebaker Drivers' Club forum, and talking with sellers and buyers, with results reported, has shown me that all other things equal, Packard Hawks bring the most of any Hawks. I wouldn't buy one, but as I said earlier, the most egregious thing on them is the 'toilet seat', to my eyes. At least it doesn't have a musical score down the side like the Olds, LOL. And I grew up on GM.
The auction estimate on that Packard Hawk was $110K-$130K, so Mecum must not have been real surprised by the sale result. As mentioned, both of the Packard Hawks at Mecum sold.
Check out a '56-57 Rambler sedan, a '61 Ambassador, or a '62 Classic two-door sedan. Not from Kenosha, but I'd put an early Valiant wagon in that list too. Check out the '56/57 Nash/Hudson instrument panels too...WTH?
The '63 Rambler Classic looked good to me, but too bad they didn't offer a hardtop, or a V8 of any size until mid-year. The instrument panel, though, still looked kind-of 'googie' to me, with various shapes and their "123456789101112" speedo.
From about '56-62, in my mind, Ramblers have a Russian or "Eastern Bloc" look to them, LOL. They really did get cleaned up for '63 IMHO. Those late forties/early fifties Nashes with no front wheel openings...WTH?
That's true--historic auction results back up that the Packard Hawk brings more $$$ than any other Hawk; however, the auction results also indicate that that last sale was a real outlier, so I wouldn't call it "market" by a long shot. We'd have to see 5-6 more sales like that to reset the bar, otherwise mid $70Ks sounds right, given that it is a '58 Studebaker Golden Hawk underneath and shares lots of other parts, too. And the '58 Studebaker Golden Hawk is almost as rare, just a few hundred more produced.
So the prettier, just as rare Studebaker is worth less than the ugly step-sister by half? That doesn't make sense. It's not a rational bid IMO.
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
All Packard Hawks have a leather interior; only the 41 1957 Golden Hawk 400 models had that same interior.
Lower models without all the extra crap were actually better looking.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
For general shape and lines, I think the Buick beats the Olds that year, but both are way overdecorated to my eyes, anyway. "Pudgy" was in for most mid-level makes in '58.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZycdudaUBs