1958 Packard Hawk: All in All, Not a Bad Way to Go

Packard was such a great luxury car. And I’ve always loved Studebakers too, from the Art Deco-style cars of 1932-33 to the bullet nose ’50-’51s and the Gran Turismo Hawks of 1962 to 1964. But long story short, the merger of the two was not good for Packard. However, it did produce some interesting variations. Perhaps the most interesting offshoot of those times—or most odd, if you prefer—is the one-year-only Packard Hawk.

The Hawk was an extension of the all-new 1953 Studebakers, the sleek Commander two-door hardtop in particular. In 1956, a new, taller hood and trapezoid central grille were added among other new trim details, and they became the Hawk series, with the Golden Hawk the top of the line, complete with a Packard V-8 under the hood.

But starting in 1957, Studebaker’s own 289-CID V-8 was found under the hood of new Golden Hawks, and was supercharged to boot. New and oh-so-trendy fins were added as well. With its power and style, it was one of the more compelling—and fast—choices in new cars that year.

Unfortunately, Studebaker-Packard Corporation was in poor health financially during this time. “True” Packards ended in 1956. 1957 Packard Clippers were essentially super-deluxe Studebakers, though they did receive 1955-56 Packard styling cues, including the instrument panel. But beneath the skin, it was mostly the top Studebaker sedan, the President Classic. A nice car in its own right, but not really a Packard.

Originally, this was to be a stop-gap solution, with all new and truly large Packards to appear a year or two after, partially designed by Richard Teague. But the money never came in, and there never was another all-new Packard, strictly speaking.

That said, there were the 1957 Packard Clippers, available only as a four-door sedan and a four door wagon, dubbed “Country Sedan.” And 1958 brought, surprisingly, additional Packard models.

It was the final year for the company, yet the Packard series, comprised of the Packard 4-door Sedan, Packard Hardtop, and Packard Station Wagon (all without model names) got a heavy, and rather wild, facelift with quad headlamps and unusual double fins on the rear.

Then there was the Hawk. The Packard Hawk was essentially a Studebaker Golden Hawk with a long, low “catfish” style grille, gold Mylar inserts in the fins, leather interior, and a simulated spare tire sunk into the trunk lid, among other minor details.

As an ad declared, “It is designed with that imaginative flair you only expect to find in Europe’s most fashionable automobiles…a regal air that immediately distinguishes its owner as a man of position. Put yourself in that position…behind the wheel of a Packard Hawk, soon.”

While I’m sure few people were fooled, it was all in all a nice car. It still had the swoopy lines of the Golden Hawk, an even more sumptuous interior (borrowed from the extra glitzy and rarely seen Golden Hawk ‘400’), full instrumentation in a handsome engine turned dash, and—best of all—the supercharged 289-CID V-8, with a 3.56-inch x 3.63-inch bore and stroke, and good for 275 horsepower!

The 1958 Packard Hawk had a $3,995 MSRP, weighed in at 3,470 pounds, and only 588 were built. For comparison’s sake, a ’58 Golden Hawk based at $3,282 and sales were slightly better, but still really low, to the tune of 878 units. But then, 1958 was a recession year, and even fat, healthy car companies like GM were losing thousands of sales.

Not too many folks were optimistic about Studebaker-Packard. And indeed, it was last call. Come 1959, Packard was no more, though the corporation continued to be called Studebaker-Packard for several years after the cars’ demise.

And those final cars were not really the majestic luxury cars folks of a certain age at the time had remembered. But the last new car from Packard, this Hawk, was still a pretty cool conveyance. Leather, supercharged V-8, sleek lines, what’s not to like? And a rare birdie, too!

Our featured car was spotted by your author at an SDC Club meet in Iowa City, Iowa, back on August 11, 2018. I was lucky in that I had no idea this show was going on, but my uncle, David Klockau, texted me about it, so I hopped in the Town Car and made the hour jaunt down Interstate 80. I was not disappointed!

In addition to this fine ’58, there was an aquamarine ’58 Golden Hawk, a Wagonaire, a really nice mint green ’53 sedan, and many others. I’d actually been meaning to write this car up for years, but kept forgetting about it. There’s always more shows to attend and cars to gawk at! I’m happy to finally give this final-year Packard model its due.

But wait, there’s even more! While I was working on this column, I ran across pictures of another ’58 Hawk I saw when I visited the Studebaker National Museum (if you find yourself in South Bend, I highly recommend it) back in 2015 with my friend Jim Cavanaugh, an Indianapolis resident and fellow Studebaker nut.

It was fetching in its gunmetal gray paint with saddle tan leather, and I recall gawking at it for some time. At least until I caught the last Studebaker built, a turquoise metallic ’66 Cruiser, out of the corner of my eye, and went scampering away to it! So expect more Studebakers sometime soon.

One final note. In preparing this column, I used some brochures I received from Suzanne Reid. Her dad was another Studebaker fan and owned several. She had a number of booklets and brochures from the ’50s and ’60s and was kind enough to send them to me when they needed a good home.

I was thrilled to receive them and spent quite some time reading through them. They were a great help in pinning down some of the details for this column. I thank you, ma’am!

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