Farewell 1963 Studebaker Gran Turismo "Hawk"

Kinda hate to see her go and it has been 10 glorious years since we found her in a garage in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. A very nice example of design and innovation by a forward thinking out of the box American automaker who in the end just could compete against the Big Three. Being shown today to an interested buyer/collector. We have others to sort of fill the void but tooling down the road in style and revving the throaty dual exhaust V-8 powerplant was quite enjoyable. Old cars are pretty much like a Patek Phiippe, you are just a caretaker for the next generation.

Thanks for the ride down memory lane. I was still in service about '60. '57 Silver Hawk owned by a lady friend got us where we needed to go. Only complaint was a cooked leg from the exhaust routing.
Thanks again, someone is getting a winner!
~Richard

Wow, I was getting ready to graduate from high school when that came out. Quite a car!

My dad always owned Studebakers. They were great cars with some features being advertised these days as advanced.

Luxury car and color I like.:tu

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

My dad always owned Studebakers. They were great cars with some features being advertised these days as advanced.

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This one came with the famous "Hill Holder" feature. My favorite Stude and one I will never sell.

Pretty cars.did not some of those come super charged??

Great looking cars. As a kid watching the TV show Happy Days, I couldn't figure out and still can't as to why when Howard Cunningham aka Mr. C would refer to his Studebaker it seemed like other characters regarded the car as being un-hip.........

Chrisl

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Originally Posted by ChrisL

Great looking cars. As a kid watching the TV show Happy Days, I couldn't figure out and still can't as to why when Howard Cunningham aka Mr. C would refer to his Studebaker it seemed like other characters regarded the car as being un-hip.........

Chrisl

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And how did the Fonz get around in the winter?

This is the only model I ever drove, and the only Studebaker I remember. Back in '62 or '63 when I was 14, a friend who was 18 owned a beat up version of this one. Probably a hundred dollar car at that time. He let me drive it. I always remembered those for the unusual front hood.

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I'm sure that letting that beautiful car go is heartbreaking.

They don't make cars to 'last' these days. They are just 'disposable' like so much of our society.

Today there are Nash car clubs, Lincoln car clubs, Hudson car clubs, Studebaker clubs etc all that will share anything needed to restore another members car including the loaning of parts for duplication, manuals etc.

50 years from now who's going to have access to some deteriorating plastic parts for today's cars? Better yet, who's going to want to 'restore' one? :shrug:

If anyone is interested, there is a Magazine out there called Auto Restorer, it's pricey but there aren't any ads and the articles are usually by Pros who do what they are showing for a living.

We always remember the good and forget the bad.

Sure collectors restore and baby cars so they last forever.

Come back to reality and the average car. Cars from the 50s and 60s rust away to nothing. In those days a 10 year old car was ancient and the service required? Lube and oil change at least 3000 miles. Valve jobs by 50K exhaust systems that last a very few years. Tires were garbage, lighting-forget it, comfort in the car? The old pipe under the front seat for heat and no fan forced ventilation. Seats with no support whatsoever and shocks that had to be replaced every couple of years and springs that broke on a regular basis. I could go on and on.

In fact cars today are 10 times better in every respect except styling.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

We always remember the good and forget the bad.

Sure collectors restore and baby cars so they last forever.

Come back to reality and the average car. Cars from the 50s and 60s rust away to nothing. In those days a 10 year old car was ancient and the service required? Lube and oil change at least 3000 miles. Valve jobs by 50K exhaust systems that last a very few years. Tires were garbage, lighting-forget it, comfort in the car? The old pipe under the front seat for heat and no fan forced ventilation. Seats with no support whatsoever and shocks that had to be replaced every couple of years and springs that broke on a regular basis. I could go on and on.

In fact cars today are 10 times better in every respect except styling.

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Nelson, please go on and on, but I think that what you meant at the beginning of your post was:

We always remember the BAD and forget the GOOD. :w

Great car....It almost looks like an American version of the car James Bond drove in the movie Goldfinger.

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Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Pretty cars.did not some of those come super charged??

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The later Golden Hawk by Studebaker-Packard had a Paxton centrifugal super charger in one model. And, yes, If it didn't blow the Packard engine it was about the fastest thing on the road for its day and would blow the doors off a Jag 140.

That's a great looking car, nice work! Do you have any pictures from when you found it?

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Originally Posted by Geezer

The later Golden Hawk by Studebaker-Packard had a Paxton centrifugal super charger in one model. And, yes, If it didn't blow the Packard engine it was about the fastest thing on the road for its day and would blow the doors off a Jag 140.

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They were always ahead of their time. The entire hawk lineup the Gold, Silver, Power and Flight and of course the Avanti and the standard models the Commander and the President and Grand series.

Too bad they made a business decision to come out with the Scotsman and later Lark which was a piece of garbage and sealed their fate.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

They were always ahead of their time. The entire hawk lineup the Gold, Silver, Power and Flight and of course the Avanti and the standard models the Commander and the President and Grand series.

Too bad they made a business decision to come out with the Scotsman and later Lark which was a piece of garbage and sealed their fate.

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I really like a nice LARK

Love Studebakers, thanks for showing the pictures. When I was in art school, a fellow student borrowed his dad's Golden Hawk and gave a group of us a ride to the mountain region at the centre of Puerto Rico for a night in the forest. What a beautiful machine inside and out, very luxurious. The radio had tubes so it took a while to play. The V-8 engine felt very powerful.