1958 Packard invoice

[Kdancy]

I found this in a box of literature for the one I am working on-

[BobPalma]

Nice piece; thanks for the post.

That was one loaded PH. With air conditioning, I'm surprised they didn't finish checking things off with a Power Seat.

Is the A/C setup still with the car?

(I copied and sent this to a buddy who lovs 1956 Mercurys. We're always "gigging" each other, so I'm telling him that's the best use I've ever seen for a 1956 Mercury; used as trade material toward a Hawk! <GGG>)

Again; great find. BP

[289stude]

How was a 58 PH available w AC but the supercharged R cars were not. Im assuming a supercharged golden hawk could be ordered with AC also?

[Bill Pressler]

That's the second, '50's Stude or Studepackard, pre-Monroney sticker days, where the price paid seemed wwaaaaaayyyyyy more than what recorded prices for the cars were. I mean, wasn't the base price $3,900-odd? Sheesh, to get up to $5,237 stretches the imagination. Same thing with the '57 President wagon Matt bought. Makes me think dealers charged whatever the hell they wanted to, MSRP be damned.

[JDP]

How was a 58 PH available w AC but the supercharged R cars were not. Im assuming a supercharged golden hawk could be ordered with AC also?

Different setup. In 1958 the PS pump was ran off the back of the generator and the AC evaporator was trunk mounted. Studebaker probably could have added AC to the R series cars, but probably figured it was not worth the money for the demand expected.

[BobPalma]

How was a 58 PH available w AC but the supercharged R cars were not. Im assuming a supercharged golden hawk could be ordered with AC also?

Yes they could, John. Like this PH, there were a handful of Golden Hawks also built with factory air conditioning.

Then why not R2 cars in 1963 and 1964? Best guess: They didn't think the potential market for them would justify the R&D to put them in place. And they were probably right. IMHO. BP

[hausdok]

That's interesting,

Unless my math is seriously flawed, that car should be #559 of 588 made; but, according to that invoice it's #558. That proves that not only the body number on the cowl tags but also the engine numbers can be out of sequence with the vehicle serial number. I don't think it's likely that the engine was swapped out and replaced with one that's exactly one digit off, unless it was done in the factory, which means that finding "matching numbers" on a P.H. is a crap shoot; and, if you don't find them, it doesn't mean a hell of a lot unless the number is so far off sequence that there's no way it could be a question or whether an engine was pulled off the line for some reason causing all remaining numbers to be out of sequence.

Mike O'Handley
Kenmore, Washington
hausdok@msn.com

[Kdancy]

Nice piece; thanks for the post.

That was one loaded PH. With air conditioning, I'm surprised they didn't finish checking things off with a Power Seat.

Is the A/C setup still with the car?

(I copied and sent this to a buddy who lovs 1956 Mercurys. We're always "gigging" each other, so I'm telling him that's the best use I've ever seen for a 1956 Mercury; used as trade material toward a Hawk! <GGG>)

Again; great find. BP

Yes, the original AC system is still with and on the car, with the exception that a sandan type compressor was changed to. The original one is setting in the trunk. The evaporator is an under dash unit. It is a 50's evaporator so I think it's the original one. I'll try to post a picture --

[StudeRich]

That's interesting,Unless my math is seriously flawed, that car should be #559 of 588 made; but, according to that invoice it's #558. That proves that not only the body number on the cowl tags but also the engine numbers can be out of sequence with the vehicle serial number. Mike O'Handley Kenmore, Washington

It was just a rare coinsidence that those numbers happened to be within HUNDREDS of each other Mike.

The Frame and Serial number that went on both the frame and the body door post have absolutely NO match for any other number or sequence, like the Body number or the Engine number, they were all pulled from stock totally at random!

[hausdok]

It was just a rare coinsidence that those numbers happened to be within HUNDREDS of each other Mike.

The Frame and Serial number that went on both the frame and the body door post have absolutely NO match for any other number or sequence, like the Body number or the Engine number, they were all pulled from stock totally at random!

Huh,

I'd never realized that. One reads so much about the importance of matching serial numbers when dealing with old cars. When I've watched the classic car auctions on TV, the commentators are usually analyzing the various number tags to see if they match, so I'd gotten the impression it was kind of a big deal.

Thanks for straightening me out.

Mike O'Handley
Kenmore, Washington
hausdok@msn.com

[BobPalma]

Right, Mike. The only way you can tell if a Studebaker is a "matching numbers" car is if you have a copy of the original Production Order from The Studebaker National Museum.

Then you can see if the car's body number, serial number, and engine number are all the same as those recorded on (i.e., "match") those on the Production Order. BP

[studegary]

The underdash A/C unit is the same as the one pictured in the 1958 Salesman's Data Book, except the nameplate below the two outlets is a light color in the book.
The unit is also the same as I remember the one in my 1960 Lark with factory A/C (my only A/C Studebaker, out of more than 50).

[SN-60]

$5382.36 before trade-----a ton of money in 1958-----but what a car! (at least 588 people thought so.)

[hausdok]

Hi Kerry,

You know, ever since I first saw photos of this car a couple of months ago, I felt like I'd seen the car before. It wasn't until you posted this invoice that I remembered where and it's taken me the past day to dredge up the site 'cuz I couldn't remember how to spell the URL. This car was offered on Trombinoscar a few years ago. The invoice was displayed with the ad and is the same price and serial number. When I saw this invoice I thought, "Not the same car," but then when I found the site I found a black hawk with twin spots like this one with the same buildings in the background as the seller's photos that I'd received a couple of months ago.

Here's the site: http://www.trombinoscar.com/packard/pk5802.html

This is interesting. Those photos are entitled "PHOTOS DE LA PACKARD HAWK GRAN TURISMO 1958" and show it equipped with a lot of garish add-ons. Some photos show it with a continental kit and some without. In CK mode, it was fitted with wire wheel covers - without the CK, stock hubcaps. It used to have a half-gold vinyl roof with a trim band and silver mylar on the fins. He'd plunked the GranTourino script from a GT on the side and trunk lid and replaced the script on the trunk with one from a P.H. nose. Apparently at some point someone said, "it's too much and spent some time returning it to the look of an original P.H. minus the mylar.

Mike O'Handley
Kenmore, Washington
hausdok@msn.com

[Kdancy]

Mike- That's great- glad you found that info, I will give it to my friend---