The Studebaker Flight Hawk introduced by Studebaker in 1956 was the lowest-priced model in the four-model Hawk family sports car line that included the Golden Hawk, Sky Hawk, Power Hawk, and Flight Hawk.

Styling

The Flight Hawk was a product of a Raymond Loewy design. It was based on the

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

two-door

coupe A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

that was introduced for the 1953 model year. Like the other 1956 Hawks, the Flight Hawk received a new hood, grille, deck lid, and instrument panel. Flight Hawks otherwise had the minimum amount of exterior chrome. Things like oil filter, backup lamps, radio, clock, windshield washers, outside mirrors, heater, and full hubcaps were available from the factory or could be added through the dealer.

Power

While the other Hawk models were powered by V8 engines, the Flight Hawk came with the Champion's inline six-cylinder engine, rated at . Standard was a three-speed manual transmission, an optional overdrive unit, or a three-speed automatic transmission (known as Flight-O-Matic).

Available models

The Flight Hawk was a two-door pillared coupe (model 56G-C3), which carried a list price of $1,986. There were 560 Flight Hawk Hardtops, model 56G-K7, built for export (499 sold), Canadian use (52 sold), and special order (9 sold in the US). This brought the total 1956 Flight Hawk production to 4,949.

Production

* Coupe, Model 56G-C3, 4,389 total, broken down by manufacturing plant: ** 2,508 (South Bend plant) ** 557 (Los Angeles plant) ** 584 (Hamilton, Ont. plant) ** 740 (Exported to other countries) * Hardtop, Model 56G-K7, 560 total, broken down by manufacturing plant: ** 9 (South Bend plant) ** 52 (Hamilton, Ont. plant) ** 499 (Exported to other countries) Of the four available Hawks for 1956, the Golden Hawk, Sky Hawk, Power Hawk, and Flight Hawk, the Flight Hawk was the second-most popular. The Power Hawk, with 7,095 produced for all markets, was the most popular.

Discontinuation

Studebaker simplified the Hawk line for 1957. This meant the end for the Flight, Power, and Sky Hawks, which were combined into the new Silver Hawk series.

External links

Goldenhawk website with Flight Hawk stats

1956 Studebaker Flight Hawk Owners Register

{{Studebaker Flight Hawk Coupés Cars introduced in 1956