Gold plate Edition?

[jdbass]

My 1st Hawk,(62 Silver?) that belonged to my Grandfather before he passed, was (according to him) a 'special edition' called the Gold Plate Edition, of which only 300 were custom made for the executives of Stude. Corp and their wives. The Hawk was Salmon/Wht (Grandpa also claimed this was the 1st time acryllic paint was used on a car) and had a 'Gold Plate' on the Glovebox door, saying the car had been built for Grace McGarrirgible (best I remember).
Grandpa WAS a pretty notorious BS'er... Anyone ever hear of this? jim

[DEEPNHOCK]

Starting in 1961, you could have your local Studebaker dealer order the little gold plate for your Hawk, and they would engrave your name on it, as well as the number of the plate.
I have a '61 with plate#0911 on it.
The 300 for executives claim is dubious, because I don't think Studebaker even had 300 executives, let alone Studebaker be willing to part with them internally.
Heck, 300 Hawks would be 10% of all Hawk production for most years.
But.... Ya' never know....
But, it makes for fun storytelling.
Thanks for posting!
Jeff

My 1st Hawk,(62 Silver?) that belonged to my Grandfather before he passed, was (according to him) a 'special edition' called the Gold Plate Edition, of which only 300 were custom made for the executives of Stude. Corp and their wives. The Hawk was Salmon/Wht (Grandpa also claimed this was the 1st time acryllic paint was used on a car) and had a 'Gold Plate' on the Glovebox door, saying the car had been built for Grace McGarrirgible (best I remember).
Grandpa WAS a pretty notorious BS'er... Anyone ever hear of this? jim

[8E45E]

If that Hawk was 'salmon/white' it was most likely a '61 Hawk painted P6114 Flamingo. All '61 Hawks, regardless of the main body color had a narrow horzontal band below the fin that was painted Pearl Beige.

Craig

[jdbass]

Yeah... Grandpa was pretty good at 'embellishing' a story... Did they do custom colors, like Salmon/Wht? Or 'after-market'? Never seen another Hawk, that color, since. Kinda 'girly' but NICE. jim
Come to think of it... 61 sounds right.

[studegary]

If it is a 1961 it is a Hawk and if it is a 1962 it is a Gran Turismo Hawk. Silver Hawks were only 1957-1959.
The name tag on the glove box is nothing special, any owner could order one from Studebaker.
Studebaker used regular enamel to paint the cars at that time.

[R_David]

Does anybody have JDBass’s contact info? I own the 61 Hawk with the gold plate that has “Grace McGarrigle” on it. Would like to talk to him about his grandfathers history of the car, but it looks like he isn’t active on the forum anymore.

[6hk71400]

On a similar note, I have seen one 1959 Hawk Tahiti Coral. We had a 1959 Lark Deluxe that color, The Hawk was seen driving on a city street in Phoenix Az

[R_David]

I managed to find Mr. Bass on Facebook and we talked. Now I have the complete owner history from when it was delivered to Warren & Day.
Awesome info!

[StudeRich]

That is awesome Ross that you were able to connect with the Original Owner's Grandson!

Of course we all know that the Advertising Co. sometimes called the '61 4 Speed Hawks Limited Edition "Gran Turismo" Hawks, but never Gold Plate Edition.

[StudeNewby]

True, Rich, and I have seen where the term "Gran Turismo" was used to describe a Hawk (Golden, I believe) in an automotive magazine article as early as 1958. The term was descriptive in nature, of course, and not part of its actual badging at that point. I'll see if I can find the reference.