Fastest Existing Golden Hawk

[Studeous]

1 Who has the fastest Studebaker Powered Paxton Golden Hawk in the world ? Quarter mile 1/8th or top speed. It could be R3d or R5d. Or who thinks they do? Who's planning on building one?
2 Who's got the fastest brand X Powered Golden Hawk?

[PackardV8]

So you're limiting it to '57-58 and '63-64 cars?

The fastest timed top speeds I've seen in print for Hawks were a modified '56J at 141, The Granatelli R2 at 140 and Richard Paul's modified 259" 2x4 R3 at 155 MPH.

Bo Burt's very modified Procharger blown GT has gotten down into the high 9-second 1/4-miles.

jack vines

[StudeRich]

It seems that the poster (Richard Burks) is ONLY concerned about '57-'58 Golden Hawks with whatever Stude. V8 and forced induction, so we are talking about only a what? 3400 Lb. Hardtop Golden Hawk?

[Studeous]

Correct as usual SuperStudeRich only the Legendary McCulloch Pumped 57-58.Could have a mod Paxton. Just as long as it has a Stude block for category 1. Brand X blocks category 2.
Great stats PackardV8
We can add a 56J category. Packard block and brand X block.
I guess it's safe to say Bo wins the Stude block GT Hawk 1/4 mile category.

[Xcalibur]

The vid of Bo's one run that was passed about many years ago was 9.99 in the quarter. I still have it on tape somewhere, I think.

[JoeHall]

There are several test articles from 1956, on the 56J: Motor Trend, Speed Age, Hot Rod, etc.. All of them I have read, clocked the 56J's top speed at 120-130 MPH. Some of those tests show pix of a unicycle looking apparatus, attached to the rear bumper. I believe that was for state of the art, "clocking", so the speeds are likely as accurate as was possible then.

I had the 62GT up to 92 MPH (actual) yesterday, when wound up to 4000 RPM before dropping into OD. It may have hit 100-105 if given more time and distance, but I guess that's not gonna qualify for anything the OP is looking for. Anyway, that's the first time in many years I've driven any Stude that fast. Dunno what came over me

[S2Deluxe]

As far as the fastest top speed Stude in exsistance goes, with or without the Stude engine? The well established fact is that this honor belongs to the '53 & '54 C body coupes! There was a mildly chopped '54 Champion coupe I believe had an R3 with a 4 speed in it, that belonged to one of the regulars here a couple of years ago? I don't know, if he has any details he cares to share about it or not, maybe he'll chime in?

Mark

[SilverHawkDan]

While NOT a 57 Golden Hawk body the Avanti I drove at Bonneville DID have a stock 1957 Golden Hawk engine in it. Recorded a top speed of 158.959. Timing slips are available upon request.

[drrotor]

Good Grief that's smokin'!

[SilverHawkDan]

I do believe that the fastest Studebaker powered car as it stands right now is Jim Lange's 1963 Avanti with a Studebaker engine at 223 miles per hour. Although it is twin turbocharged and falls way out of the requested category. Dave Bloomberg's Avanti with 299 and Paxton did reach the 190 mph range and 215 with a single turbo. But stats on the Golden Hawk are few but I do know that Racer Brown road tested a 1957 Golden Hawk for Hot Rod magazine in the March 1957 issue. I will look and see if he had a top speed number.

Just looked at the article and he recorded a top speed of 122.7 mph at El Mirage dry lake bed in 1957. That run was limited to 5200 rpm due to the fact the car was new and the engine not broken in. He estimated the car would achieve a top speed of over 135 mph if broken in and run to the maximum rpm.

[SilverHawkDan]

Just for the sake of discussion I am currently building a 1959 Silver Hawk with a duplicate of the Paxton supercharged 289 that I ran at Bonneville in the Avanti. The engine is a used 1962 engine out of a GT Hawk. It will also have multi port fuel injection and a six speed automatic transmission with a 3:54 final gear ratio. The engine is stock internally with over 80,000 miles on it and the only upgrade is an R series camshaft. Modifications to the oiling system were required for valve cover drain back and supercharger drain. When finished (hopefully this Summer) I will be more than willing to run it flat out to see what it will do as I am just as curious as anyone about it's capabilities.

[SilverHawkDan]

While not the best video quality (camera angle and location and it is really bright out at Bonneville) you can enjoy the sound of the old 1957 Golden Hawk engine at speed. While it is hard to see the tachometer actually got to 5800 rpm which equals about 168 mph. The problem is if you listen closely the engine is slowing down as it was eating up the pistons. We had found aluminum on some of the plugs after the previous run and knew it might not make it the full five miles. I shut it down about 200 feet before the top speed lights but still got the 158.959 timing slip. Always wanted to take the repaired engine and go back to Bonneville as see what a fresh engine could do. We were shooting for 175 or better that week.

https://youtu.be/rKRtEVDrl5E

[55s]

I know some of you believe the top limits to be lower, but my mom used to drive her Speedster #2 at speeds in excess of 130 mph regularly back from the cottage in the early 1960s. In the early 70s, I had my dad's Avanti R2 4 speed (which had been drag raced by the previous owner) up to 146 mph. Both speeds were as read on the speedometer gauge, so there may be some gauge error.


Now you know why I am still hooked on 55s.

[SilverHawkDan]

So not a done deal yet but there is a possibility we will find out the answer to this question. If all goes as planned next August we will know the truth.

[bezhawk]

No Golden Hawk engine would reach 5800 rpm, let alone barely 4800 if you were lucky. The stock valve springs began to float at 4500, and were all in at 4800. Don't believe anything else to the contrary. If so, then it wasn't stock.