Actually, it was a pretty interesting company.  For 114 years Studebaker built buggies, horse drawn wagons, trucks, and fine automobiles. Brothers Henry and Clem Studebaker began doing business in February, 1852, when they opened a blacksmith shop in a small Indiana town located on the  St. Joseph River, near the Michigan border. On that first day of business, they made 25 cents profit for shoeing one horse, but by the end of that year they had built and sold two wagons.

Three more brothers soon joined the business, most notably John M. Studebaker, known as "Wheelbarrow Johnny." He made  $8,000 producing and selling wheelbarrows to miners in Hangtown, CA, now Placerville, during the California gold rush, and brought much needed capital back to South Bend. John ran the company long after the other brothers passed away, and survived until March, 1917. He took the company into the auto business, although Studebaker continued building wagons until 1920. If you've ever seen a Budweiser beer wagon pulled by Clydesdale horses, then you probably saw a Studebaker wagon. Gee, I wish I'd see one pull up in front of my house!

In its best calendar year of production,  1950, Studebaker built 268,099 autos that came to be known as "Bulletnoses" and 52,146 trucks. Studebaker was the only company that made the transition from producing horse drawn wagons to motor vehicles, and the only auto company to emerge from receivership during the great depression and get back into the business. 

By 1956, performance was a seller and Studebaker wanted a piece of the action. The result was the Golden Hawk,  a tire burning two door pillarless hardtop coupe produced  between 1956 and 1958. The last Studebaker until the Avanti to have styling influenced by industrial designer Raymond Loewy's studio, the Golden Hawk took the basic shape of the 1953 Champion / Commander Starliner hardtop coupe and  added a large, almost vertical egg crate grille and raised hood line in place of the earlier car's swooping, pointed nose. The new model had  a raised trunk lid and finned rear quarters.

The grille and raised hood were designed to accommodate Packard's big 352 V8 rated at 275 bhp. This big, powerful engine in such a light car gave the Golden Hawk a phenomenal power to weight ratio. 

Of all 1956 American production cars, the Golden Hawk was second overall only to Chrysler's 300B. The Golden Hawk can be considered, like the Chryslers, a precursor to the muscle cars of the 1960s. The heavy engine gave the car a reputation for being nose heavy and poor handling, but road tests of the time disagreed. Speed Age magazine of July 1956 tested the Golden Hawk against the Chrysler 300 B, Ford Thunderbird, and Chevrolet Corvette, finding that the Golden Hawk could out perform the others comfortably in both 0-60 mph acceleration and quarter mile times. The fastest 0-60 reported in testing was 7.8 seconds, while top speeds were quoted as 125 mph plus. 

A wide variety of colors, including two tone schemes, were available. Two tone schemes initially involved the front upper body, the roof and a panel on the tail being painted the contrast color, with the rest of the body the base color. Later 1956 production had the upper body above the belt line, including the trunk, as the contrast color with the tail panel, roof and the body below the belt line trim being the base color.

An increased option list and reduced standard equipment were used to keep prices down compared to the previous year's Studebaker President Speedster, which the Golden Hawk replaced. Even turn signals were technically an option.

The Golden Hawk was matched with three other Hawk models for 1956, with each of those considered to be a model within one of Studebaker's regular passenger car lines; the Flight Hawk coupe was a Champion, the Power Hawk coupe was a Commander and the Sky Hawk hardtop was a President.


The Golden Hawk was continued for the 1957 and 1958 model years, but with some changes. Packard's Utica, Michigan plant was leased to Curtiss-Wright during 1956 and eventually sold to them,  marking the end of genuine Packard production. Packard cars were produced for two more years, but they were essentially modified Studebakers. The Packard V8, introduced in 1955, was therefore no longer available and  was replaced with the Studebaker 289 small block V8 with  a McCulloch supercharger, giving the same 275 horsepower output as the Packard engine but weighing approximately 180 pounds less.

 This improved the handling and top speed, making these the best performing Hawks until the Avanti supercharged GT Hawk of 1963. Bronze 1957 below. Grey 1958 below that. 

Styling also changed somewhat. A fiberglass overlay on the hood was needed along with a hole in the hood underneath it to clear the supercharger which was mounted at the top front of the engine. The tailfins were larger and concave on the sides, outlined in chrome trim and painted a contrasting color. 1958's Golden Hawk had 14 inch  wheels instead of 15 inch, making the car ride a little lower.

The other models in the Hawk range changed in 1957: the Golden Hawk replaced the Sky Hawk, and a new Silver Hawk replaced the Flight Hawk in a 6 cylinder model and the Power Hawk in an 8 cylinder model.

Halfway through the 1957 model year, a luxury 400 model was introduced featuring a leather interior, a fully upholstered trunk, and special trim.

Like many more expensive cars, Golden Hawk sales were heavily hit by the 1958 recession, and the model was discontinued after only selling 878 units. The Silver Hawk remained as the only Hawk model; it was renamed as simply the Studebaker Hawk for the 1960 model year.


Make Studebaker 
Model Golden Hawk 
Engine Location Front 
Drive Type Rear Wheel 
Production Years for Series 1956 - 1958 
Body Designer Raymond Loewy

Price $3,061.00 
Weight 3360 lbs 

Performance 
0-60 mph 7.8 seconds. 
1/4 Mile 16.3 seconds. 
Top Speed 125 mph

Engine Configuration V 
Cylinders 8 
Aspiration / Induction Normal 
Displacement  352 cu in.
Valves 16 valves. 
2 valves per cylinder. 
Valvetrain OHV 
Horsepower 275 BHP  @ 4600 RPM 
Torque 380 Ft-Lbs  @ 2800 RPM 
HP to Weight Ratio 12.2 LB / HP 
Bore 4.00 in 
Stroke 3.50 in 
Compression Ratio 9.50:1 
Transmission Information 
Gears 2 
Transmission Automatic 
Final Drive 3.92 

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