The Packard Hawk is a model of automobile. It was the sportiest of the four
Packard
Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958.
One of the "Thr ...
-badged
Studebaker
Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers M ...
s produced in 1958, the final year of Packard production.
History and description
The
Packard Plant
The Packard Automotive Plant is a former automobile-manufacturing factory in Detroit, Michigan, where luxury cars were made by the Packard Motor Car Company and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation. In 2022, it was scheduled for demoliti ...
in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
had been leased to
Curtiss-Wright
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation of Curtiss, Wright, and v ...
(and would be soon sold to them), and Packard models in this dying-gasp year were all rebadged and retrimmed Studebaker products. The 1958 Packard Hawk was essentially a
Studebaker Golden Hawk
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 in ...
400 with a fiberglass front end and modified deck lid. It was positioned as an alternative to the market favorite
Ford Thunderbird
The Ford Thunderbird (colloquially called the T-Bird) is a personal luxury car produced by Ford from model years 1955 until 1997 and 2002 until 2005 across 11 distinct generations. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was pro ...
, which offered an all new version in 1958 as well.
Instead of the Studebaker Hawk's upright Mercedes-style grille, the Packard Hawk had a wide, low opening just above the front bumper and covering the whole width of the car. Above this, a smoothly sloping nose, and hood—reminiscent of the 1953 Studebakers, but with a bulge as on the Golden Hawk—accommodating the engine's
McCulloch supercharger that gave the Studebaker 289 in³ (4.7 L) V8 a total of 275
bhp
BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...
(205 kW). At the rear, the sides of the fins were coated in metallized
PET film, giving them a shiny metallic gold appearance. A fake spare-tire bulge adorned the 1953-style Studebaker deck lid. ''PACKARD'' appeared across the nose, with a gold Packard emblem in script—along with a Hawk badge—on the trunk lid and fins.
The interior was full leather, with full instrumentation in an engine-turned dash. As on early aircraft and custom boats, padded armrests were mounted outside the windows, a rare touch.
The styling was definitely controversial, often described as 'vacuum-cleaner' or 'catfish' by detractors. The styling has come to be appreciated more today than in its debut. Only 588 were sold, with Packard's impending demise a likely contributing factor. Most were equipped with the
Borg-Warner
BorgWarner Inc. is an American automotive supplier headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The company maintains production facilities and technical systems at 93 sites (as of June 6, 2022) in 22 countries worldwide and has around 49,000 employ ...
three-speed automatic transmission. Approximately 28 were produced with the B-W T85 3-speed w/overdrive manual transmission. Studebaker-Packard was the first manufacturer to popularize the
limited slip differential
A limited-slip differential (LSD) is a type of differential that allows its two output shafts to rotate at different speeds but limits the maximum difference between the two shafts. Limited-slip differentials are often known by the generic tr ...
, which they termed Twin-Traction. Most Packard Hawks came with TT. It was certainly the fastest Packard ever sold, since it shared the majority of its components with Studebaker's Golden Hawk. The price was $3995, about $700 higher than the Studebaker model, but with a more luxurious interior. Electric window-lifts and power seats were optional extras.
Its rarity and status as the best-regarded of the 'Packardbaker' final-year cars have made the Packard Hawk quite collectible. Values are roughly double those of the equivalent Studebaker, although they are still low by comparison with Corvettes and Thunderbirds. Because a Studebaker drivetrain was used, mechanical parts are more readily available, although body and trim parts are more difficult-to-impossible to find. While it is a unique car, current restoration costs almost always exceed the selling price.
Specifications
;Engine
*Type: Cast iron 90° V8, Silver Light dish-type pistons
*Displacement: 289 cubic inches
*Bore X stroke: 3.56 X 3.63 inches
*Compression ratio: 7.5:1
*Power @ rpm: 275 hp (205 kW) @ 4,800 rpm
*Torque @ rpm: @ 3,200 rpm
*Valvetrain: In-head valves, solid lifters
*Main bearings: 5
*Ignition: Delco-Remy breaker-point
*Fuel system: 2-bbl Stromberg 380475 downdraft carburetor, McCulloch
supercharge
In theoretical physics, a supercharge is a generator of supersymmetry transformations. It is an example of the general notion of a charge in physics.
Supercharge, denoted by the symbol Q, is an operator which transforms bosons into fermions, and v ...
r, max
*Lubrication system: Full-pressure, gear-driven
*Electrical system: 12-volt, 30 amperes
*Exhaust system: Cast iron, dual exhaust
;Transmission
*Type: Borg-Warner Flightomatic automatic
*Ratios
**1st: 2.40:1
**2nd: 1.47:1
**3rd: 1.0:1
**Reverse: 2.0:1
;Differential
* Type: Semi-floating hypoid, Twin-Traction Spicer-Thornton
limited slip
* Ratio: 3.31:1
;Steering
* Type: Power assist, Saginaw recirculating ball
* Ratio: 19.2:1
* Turns, lock-to-lock: 4.5
* Turning circle:
;Brakes
* Type: Four wheel, power-assist Wagner hydraulic
* Front: Cast-iron finned drum, 11 X 2.5 in
* Rear: Cast-iron drum, 10 X 2 in
* Swept area: 172.8 sq in
;Chassis & Body
![1958 Packard Hawk Convertible](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/1958_Packard_Hawk_Convertible.jpg)
* Construction: All-steel, box section, double-drop side rails, 5 crossmembers
* Body style: Two-door, five passenger hardtop, soft top prototype
* Layout: Front engine, rear-wheel drive
;Suspension
* Front: Individual unequal-length upper and lower control arms, coil springs, hydraulic shocks, anti-sway bar
* Rear: Live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs, hydraulic shocks
;Wheels & Tires
* Wheels: Kelsey-Hays tubeless 5-lug stamped steel
* Front/rear: 5.5 X 14 in
* Tires: Classic bias-ply
* Front/rear: 8.00 X 14 in
;Weights & Measures
* Wheelbase:
* Overall length:
* Overall width:
* Overall height:
* Front track:
* Rear track:
* Shipping weight:
;Capacities
* Crankcase:
* Cooling system:
* Fuel tank:
* Transmission:
;Calculated Data
* Bhp per c.i.d.: 0.95
* Weight per bhp:
;Performance
* 0–60 mph (96.5 km/h): 12.0 seconds
* ¼ mile ET: 16.7 seconds @
* Top speed:
* Fuel mileage: 12 mpg city, 20 mpg highway
;Production
* 1958 Packard Hawk: 588
Sources
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External links
Packard Automobile Classics, Inc. - The Packard ClubPackard Motor Car InformationHomepage of the National Packard Museum
{{Packard
Hawk
Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica.
* The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...
Coupés
Cars introduced in 1958