The Studebaker Golden Hawk is a two-door pillarless hardtop personal luxury car produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, between 1956 and 1958.
Styling
The last automobile until the Avanti to have styling influenced by industrial designer Raymond Loewy's studio, the Golden Hawk took the basic shape of the 1953–55 Champion/Commander Starliner hardtop coupe but added a large, almost vertical eggcrate grille and raised hoodline in place of the earlier car's swooping, pointed nose, and was introduced as the Studebaker Speedster. At the rear, a raised, squared-off trunklid replaced the earlier sloped lid, and vertical fiberglass tailfins were added to the rear quarters. The Golden Hawk was two inches shorter than the standard Hawk at 153.6 inches.
Power
The raised hood and grille were added to allow space for a larger engine, Packard's 352 in³ (5.8 L) V8, which delivered . The fastest 0-60 reported in magazine testing was 7.8 seconds, while top speeds were quoted as plus.
The 1956 model powered by a Packard engine entered the famous Mille Miglia race in Italy.
Options
A wide variety of colors (including two-tone paint 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 in the base color. Later 1956 production had the body above the body trim line, including the trunk, in the contrast color with the tail panel, roof, and the body below the body trim line being in the base color. The interior included an engine turned dash.
An increased options list and reduced standard equipment were used to keep base price down compared to the previous year's Studebaker Speedster, which the Golden Hawk replaced. Even turn signals were an option.
The Golden Hawk was matched with three other Hawk models for 1956, and was the only Hawk not technically considered a sub-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.
1957–1958: The Golden Hawk
The Golden Hawk was continued for the 1957 and 1958 model years, but with some changes. Packard's Utica, Michigan, engine plant was leased to Curtiss-Wright during 1956 (and eventually sold to them), marking the end of genuine Packard production. Packard-badged cars were produced for two more years, but they were essentially rebadged Studebakers, including Packard Hawk – the restyled Golden Hawk. The Packard V8, introduced only two years earlier, was therefore no longer available. It was replaced with the Studebaker 289 in³ (4.7 L) V8 with the addition of a McCulloch supercharger, giving the same output as the Packard engine. This improved the car's top speed, making these the best-performing Hawks until the Gran Turismo Hawk became available with the Avanti's R2 supercharged engine for the 1963 model year.
The Golden Hawks were long. A padded dash was standard. Padded dash boards were standard.