64 gt hawk build sheet

[swvalcon]

Got my build sheet for the hawk today. Tells how it came from the factory which I knew because car is pretty much all stock and I have the window sticker. Build sheet says car was ordered on 11/25/63 to be shipped on 12/05/63. Didn't quite make it. Sales order number is 81371, line number 9370, factory order number 58735, final assy date of 12/18/63. So it is where it was beleived to be and in the last 3 days of production. Serial number 64v19724 body tag 1577 which all match up. Bob plama any idea how far this car was to the end of the hawk line? Steve

[BobPalma]

Got my build sheet for the hawk today. Tells how it came from the factory which I knew because car is pretty much all stock and I have the window sticker. Build sheet says car was ordered on 11/25/63 to be shipped on 12/05/63. Didn't quite make it. Sales order number is 81371, line number 9370, factory order number 58735, final assy date of 12/18/63. So it is where it was beleived to be and in the last 3 days of production. Serial number 64v19724 body tag 1577 which all match up. Bob Palma, any idea how far this car was to the end of the Hawk line? Steve

We can get close, Steve, but unless someone went through all 478 V8 Production orders from your car's serial number (19724) to the last South Bend V8 car (20202), we can't say exactly how many Hawks were manufactured after yours.

What we do know is this: It's generally accepted that Studebaker built 1,548 1964 Gran Turismo Hawks in South Bend. That means the last body made (not necessarily the last one used, but the last one made) would have carried body #1648, since they started at 101.

If yours is Body Number 1577, that means they only welded up 71 K bodies after yours (1648-1577 = 71). But remember, they only generally, not exactly, used the bodies in the order in which they were welded up.

So your Hawk is probably among the last 100 1964 Hawks manufactured, but I wouldn't want to guess closer than that without looking at the last 478 individual 1964 V8 production orders one at a time...and that isn't going to happen anytime soon! BP

[Randy Ridenour]

My Dad ordered his GT Hawk on the same day (11/25) but somehow it got built 2 days earlier on 12/16. The body tag is 1530, the serial number is 64V19065, and the factory order number was 58677.

[StudeRich]

The last days of South Bend

That is interesting Steve and Randy, that means that in TWO Days they were able to produce APPROXIMATELY 659 V8 Studebakers, or around 330 a day!
Plus a lot of Sixes.

Oh to be standing at that Rollout Door! Where is my time machine?

[Bill Pressler]

While looking for something else, I came across my detail listing of all Hawks and Lark-types built on the last day of production in South Bend, 12/20/63. I listed serial, model, options, and destination per the production order. I did this when I was at the old Newman and Altman probably twenty or more years ago.

I show 28 Hawks built on that last day, although three production orders were not located by me (serials 64V-20158, 20172, and 20176). The last Hawk was serial 64V-20197. The first Hawk built on that last day was serial no. 64V-20117, a Laguna Blue model with white vinyl sport roof, blue vinyl interior, Powershift, A/C, High Performance Package R1, which was a 'Sold Rush' unit and sent to Mobile, AL. What a beaut that car sounds like!

Our Ohio Region SDC newsletter editor, Lary Sherer, owns a last-day GT, serial 64V-20170. It was built Bordeaux Red without a vinyl top but now looks like the brochure car, Astra White with black vinyl sport roof.

The serial number range for V8 Studebakers built that last day was 20111-20202, 92 cars. If 28 were Hawks, they were certainly 'building them out' as typically Hawk sales were far less than Lark-type sales in the '64 model year.