Another great barn find-- Rare! Opinions please?

[Lynn]

Great car. I am jealous, and looking forward to updates.

[drrotor]

Great car. I am jealous, and looking forward to updates.

OK, so here's a fun update to this '56 Golden hawk project ("Elbert" as my wife and I have decided to name him, after my Late Hot-Rodding uncle...)
After posting a request here on the forum whether anyone had a 374 for sale, a fellow in Florida told me he had an NOS 374 fitted block, which I happily bought and just received back here at home in Seattle. I'm very excited to have found it! This block will be completed using the rest of the 352 that's currently in the car, and I'll save the 352 block for anyone who might want it in the future should I ever decide to sell the car. Not likely to happen anytime soon, however...
It's going to be sad to have to cut that spiffy original "Packard" strapping off of the original pallet when the time comes!
BTW-- another friend has an NOS Packard crankshaft which is FORGED, and he claims is quite rare. It's not cheap. Should I try to come up with the bucks for it?

[JRoberts]

I always say it is your car do what you wan with it. In this case I like what your goal for this great car is. If it were me no matter what was done to it, I would have to drive it and I mean really drive it. Congratulations on a great find. Keep us up on what is going on with it.

[Randy Bohannon]

The pictures of the 56 GH were taken in my garage many years ago. I bought the car in Idaho Falls where it sat for several years, drove it to Tacoma, WA and parked it in my barn where the pictures were taken. It ran great and sounded great with a pair of cherry bombs!
On the drive from Idaho Falls, a 5.0 l Mustang taunted me but couldn't keep up - especially higher speed. Stopped to talk - he didn't know what it was and could not believe the size of that big Packard with with 2 4's. The car was not cleaned up either.
I had too many projects so I sold it to Brent Hagen who cleaned it up etc. Lost track of it from there on.

Randy Bohannon
'52 Commander Starlight V8
'63 R2 GT SuperHawk
'64 Daytona Convert V8

[WinM1895]

Giddy and excited-- this has been quite a year for great barn finds for us! A few months ago we scored a '63 Daytona Convertible, a '52 Champion 2-door sedan, and a '57 Transtar 1/2 ton. All had very low mileage and had been stored 35 and 40 years. All three have now been returned to running condition, and we regularly drive the Truck and the Champion. Lots of fun! Well, now we've really scored a good one, I think! I have big plans for it.

Great enough to find a solid complete unmolested '56 Golden Hawk, but how about one with manual trans and O.D. as well as Power Steering? And how about with Dual Quads? By all indications this car has been outfitted like this since the beginning. The birth certificate shows the trans and P.S. to be original, and the 2 4's have all original and correct carburetors, linkage, filters, etc. as compared to the factory pictures from 1956.

I once owned a '56 Golden Hawk with T-85 O/D, P/S, non push button radio, dual rear antennas, assembled in Vernon CA

Measure the bolt circle pattern before buying Chrysler wire wheels, because Chrysler Imperial wheels will not fit Studebakers.

I bought what I thought were Chrysler wire wheels along with nice white wall tires for my 62V-K6, went to mount them...damn!

[drrotor]

Thanks for that tip! I didn't realize Imperial wheels have a different bolt circle. I just knew Chrysler wheels, generally speaking, are the same. Interesting.

[drrotor]

The pictures of the 56 GH were taken in my garage many years ago. I bought the car in Idaho Falls where it sat for several years, drove it to Tacoma, WA and parked it in my barn where the pictures were taken. It ran great and sounded great with a pair of cherry bombs!
On the drive from Idaho Falls, a 5.0 l Mustang taunted me but couldn't keep up - especially higher speed. Stopped to talk - he didn't know what it was and could not believe the size of that big Packard with with 2 4's. The car was not cleaned up either.
I had too many projects so I sold it to Brent Hagen who cleaned it up etc. Lost track of it from there on.

Randy Bohannon
'52 Commander Starlight V8
'63 R2 GT SuperHawk
'64 Daytona Convert V8

Randy-- PM sent.

[Colgate Studebaker]

Ken, concerning the NOS forged crank, if it were me trying to make a decision whether to buy or not, I'd talk to Jack Vines for his highly regarded opinion. Like you I have wrenched for more than 40 years, and in instances like this I will lean heavily on opinions of "experts" the likes of Jack. I also prefer to "do it right", as it's easier to do it right the first time than "redo" it again later. Just my 2 cents worth for your consideration. You have a beautiful project there. Good luck with it, Bill.

[bezhawk]

Regardless of the crank used, check the line bore for straightness. The use the Oldsmobile oil pump conversion. Use the Chrysler disk valve version of the lifters, instead of the ball valve Packard OEM type. Use new timing components.

[WinM1895]

[/QUOTE]
If you'd be interested, I have some 56J parts that I have no use for.

A pair of these V shaped mouldings (on the rear fenders just below the roof), that have very nice chrome with only a few minor pits (about the size of the head of a pin).

A pair of front fender lamps that have some pitting, but would re-chrome very nicely.

NOS vacuum advance for the dizzy.

I also have a used left rear tail lamp (no lenses) for a 1962/64 GT Hawk.

The price for all these parts will be very fair, much cheaper than you would pay on ebay.

Bill, the owner of Early Ford Store in San Dimas CA has a NOS 56J Tach drive.

[GTCruiser]

What a beauty! I thought the photos were before and after restoration, not just cleaning!

[T.J lavallee]

Nice original...and remember...they're only original once.

[drrotor]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]63228[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]63229[/ATTACH]

If you'd be interested, I have some 56J parts that I have no use for.

A pair of these V shaped mouldings (on the rear fenders just below the roof), that have very nice chrome with only a few minor pits (about the size of the head of a pin).

A pair of front fender lamps that have some pitting, but would re-chrome very nicely.

NOS vacuum advance for the dizzy.

I also have a used left rear tail lamp (no lenses) for a 1962/64 GT Hawk.

The price for all these parts will be very fair, much cheaper than you would pay on ebay.

Bill, the owner of Early Ford Store in San Dimas CA has a NOS 56J Tach drive.[/QUOTE]

PM has been sent.

[RadioRoy]

"...there are many qualified rod builders out there that build cars better than the factory ever could have. I recognize that. There are far more knuckleheads who have no idea what they're doing, have no budget, not many tools, and even less experience. Many whole, good, complete cars have been destroyed by underfunded, inexperienced car-guys with no engineering training who are not qualified to build a dependable, safe car.

Stock, original, restored cars were designed by teams of highly trained and educated people, and often were designed with multi-million dollar budgets to drive safely and dependably. How many home builders do? Same with professional designers and stylists..."

======================================================

Bravo! I have been saying this for years, but not as eloquently as you have just done. Thank you for that!

[StudebakerGene]

"...there are many qualified rod builders out there that build cars better than the factory ever could have. I recognize that. There are far more knuckleheads who have no idea what they're doing, have no budget, not many tools, and even less experience. Many whole, good, complete cars have been destroyed by underfunded, inexperienced car-guys with no engineering training who are not qualified to build a dependable, safe car.

Stock, original, restored cars were designed by teams of highly trained and educated people, and often were designed with multi-million dollar budgets to drive safely and dependably. How many home builders do? Same with professional designers and stylists..."

======================================================

Bravo! I have been saying this for years, but not as eloquently as you have just done. Thank you for that!

Blah, blah, blah, You guys ever hear of SEMA, That's marketers of Specialty equipment, How about a pro-touring car. The digestion part of this thread seems to be strictly "purist" related and I'm OK with that as I've said. What I'm not comfortable with is all the finger pointing as to why our custom cars are "foolish" because we don't want that " antiquated" stock driving, no braking, no control, no parts availability aspect. You guys can drive them stockers all day long and I hope you are content with that but don't expect us custom builders to agree with you--- it's not going to happen! I would never walk up to someone's prized vehicle, stock or not and start berating him for the improvements that he made and ya'll shouldn't either. That individual spent their hard earned money on what they have and they are proud of it--- just like you! In the future the poster should post, "rare car found, purists opinions please." would have saved all this bull sh*t bickering. I don't take anyone calling my cars or my abilities "foolish," not for a minute! My C.E. and my Champ will outrun, out brake, out stop, and out maneuver almost any of your stockers out there and with the A/C on. Like Drrotor said. "you build em your way and I'll build them mine," but don't try to shove your "purists" rant at us, it ain't selling here! This is the Studebaker Drivers Club Forum not the Studebaker Purists Forum!