1957 Golden Hawk body part swapping with Silver Hawk

[Bryan]

New to the forum. Ran across a 1957 Golden Hawk in bad shape along side a 1957 Silver Hawk and a 1958 Silver hawk in about the same bad shape. The Golden Hawk has auto transmission with complete motor but missing the Supercharger. 1957 Silver Hawk has motor. Questions: 1. Will the heads & intake from the SH fit the GH's motor if the motors are both 289? Read the GH heads might be lower compression due to the Supercharger. 2. Are the minor frame parts the same between the 57 & 58 Silver Hawks and the 1957 Golden Hawk? Would the hoods, trunk lids, doors, fenders and fins swap from the Silver Hawks to the Golden Hawk? Will try to get pics in next few days and ask whether they are worth buying.

[StudeRich]

Pretty much ALL '53 Starliner Hardtops to '58 GH's, and even some up to '64 GT Hawks and '53 to '61 Coupes have SOME interchangeable body parts, sure there are a few exceptions to be correct, but they mostly all fit.

As far as your '57 HT to '57 & '58 Coupes, the major difference is in the Frame outriggers, doors and windows.
Keep in mind though that the Transmissions and driveshafts do not interchange between '57 & '58 because of the One Piece Driveshaft and Long Tail Trans. in the '58.

To get all the exactly correct answers, the Studebaker Chassis and Body Parts Catalogs are PRICELESS and very well written, well Illustrated and easy to read.
They are available at: http://studebakervendors.com Studebaker Vendors, on CD ROM Disc. or a stack of paper Book Copies.

You can compare years and models to tell exactly what changed between the years, but you will find that unlike the other Big 4 makes, VERY little could be changed for COST reasons, meaning there were no Millions available to do that.

Yes you can swap the Heads and get a bit more power than stock if you run the 537555 casting number Heads and the Supercharger.
You can even use 224 or 259 Heads or most any parts, as the engines are mostly all the same except the Crank and Pistons for the 3 different C.I.D.'s.

In my opinion, they are only worth buying if at least ONE of the three, has a solid body WITH FLOORS!

[studegary]

The doors from the coupe bodied Silver Hawks will NOT fit the hardtop Golden Hawk. There were VERY small numbers of hardtop Silver Hawks built in 1957 and 1958, but I will assume that you are not referring to these.

[jrlemke]

You could also find a "Hollander" interchange manual, used at many junk yards, that covers those years. They may give more interchanges, as the older Hollanders don't go by part number.-Jim

'

[kurtruk]

And if you still have a local library, the reference section is where you can still find Hollander interchange manuals. Or really old junkyard.

[drrotor]

You can make Silver Hawk fins work on a Golden Hawk by trimming the sheet metal to the same shape at the leading end... much easier if you have the GH fins as a pattern so the chrome will fit properly!

[Bryan]

Silver hawks

The doors from the coupe bodied Silver Hawks will NOT fit the hardtop Golden Hawk. There were VERY small numbers of hardtop Silver Hawks built in 1957 and 1958, but I will assume that you are not referring to these.

Yep..it's the Hawks with the side pillars.

[Mrs K Corbin]

the real question is: is there one with decent floors and pillars? That's the one I'd build. Probably take all 3 to do that tho.

[Bryan]

Went down and looked again with my brother. He said he wouldn't attempt it either. See pics. The lot owner only wants to sell whole cars, but cheap. Could have bought all three but need to stick with my 48 Dodge..

[studegary]

Good parts car, but I would not attempt a rebuild (let alone a restoration).

[paulbearson]

OMG - where were you when I decided to commence restoration of the my '57 GH rust bucket?! LOL Oh well, in the end I will be very happy, but poor!

[swvalcon]

If any of the golden hawks have the engines with the water pump manifold or any of the pulleys or supercharge parts they are worth more than the cars and are well worth saving as someone is always looking for them myself included. If they where close to MN I would grab them just for that.