1957 Silver Hawk: What color was the carpet?

[Dwight FitzSimons]

A fellow member of the Greater Virginia Chapter has been restoring a '57 Silver Hawk for the past several years. It is now painted (original black) and he is ready to have the interior done. He isn't interested in waiting a long time for the Studebaker specialists to get to it, so he is going with a local upholstery shop, with the intent to keep it as original as possible. The interior is red and white. The question is: What is the correct color for the carpets, red or black?

-Dwight FitzSimons, Editor, Greater Virginia Chapter

[StudeRich]

I guess what ever Color looks good to him, it won't make any difference since the lower (only) trim level '56 and '57 Hawk Coupes had Rubber Mats.

[TWChamp]

I think a red and black short loop tweed carpet would look good.
I like stock, but don't like the idea that the rubber can trap moisture.

[Dwight FitzSimons]

Say, there's an idea I like! Carpets made of the salt-and-pepper, red-and-black carpet material used in '63 Avantis would look great with the black exterior and red/white interior. I don't know if Lin wants to put that much money into it, though. He's going to have a local uph. shop make the carpets along with re-doing the rest of the interior.

StudeRich, did the '57 Silver Hawk come with carpets front and rear with the upper trim level?
-Dwight

[StudeRich]

No, that is why I said "ONLY" Trim Level, there was only the ONE lowly level until the 1959 Silver Hawk!

[Dwight FitzSimons]

Thanks, I'll pass that info on to Lin, the owner. In a sense black carpets would better represent the original (black) rubber mats.
-Dwight