Needing Help From the Studebaker Community

[SilverHawkDan]

As the project manager for The Bucket List Dream Team land speed race car I find myself in need of some insight. We have decided to run a 1958 Packard Hawk look alike next year. That being said the problem I am having is I have seen very few of these cars in my lifetime and when I did I didn't pay them much attention as I always thought they were designed off of a cat fish. But now that I live in the world of aerodynamics where air flow is king I have taken a long hard look and realize that of all the body styles offered on the original 53 design the Packard Hawk is the best of all of them as far as airflow goes. So now that we have located all the parts we need to convert our 55 President I need to get a close up and long look at one of these cars in person. I will be fabricating some of the parts as it is just not cost effective to pay for gold when tin will do. SO I live in Santa Maria, California and I am hoping that someone lives close to me who has one of these cars and will allow me to spend an hour or so inspecting and measuring it for our project. No harm will come to the car and I can assure you it will help our project move forward so that we can meet our goal of debuting the car in April of next year. Please PM me if you can help us out. I am confident that as like in the past the Studebaker community will rise to the challenge once again.
Dan

[StudeRich]

Will a REALLY GOOD Picture Help?

The good News is, there is really nothing Special or Aerodynamic about anything past the Firewall (rearward) that any '57-'61 Hawk does not have.
Definately FINS for high speed stability.

[kurtruk]

Find out who keeps the Packard Hawk registry.

[packardHawk58]

Hey Dan, you should have asked me yesterday when we where talking!
I have a spare complete car sitting at a freight company in Stanton, I hope that is not too bad a trip for you? hour and half?
If you can't find one nearby then I will organise it.
So Rich, you reckon a front of a PH is no different in aerodynamics to say the front of a Golden Hawk?
Where you not an engineer at Boeing?

[StudeRich]

See UPDATE to Post 2, Brian.

[packardHawk58]

Sorry Rich, I miss read your statement!

Dan, I had a thought if you want to go down to Stanton and haul my car back to your workshop you can have it as long as you need.

[SilverHawkDan]

OK does anyone here not get the awesomeness of this offer? Yes Brian and I talked this afternoon and I will be going down and getting the car to take to our shop to make molds of all the parts we will need or want to fabricate. This is a great help to our effort. Studebaker people are the best.
Dan

[Xcalibur]

If the Pack Hawk aeros were really that much better than the regular C-Ks I'd have thought they'd have been run all along at B'ville. I'd have to see some data at this point, me thinks.

[SilverHawkDan]

If the Pack Hawk aeros were really that much better than the regular C-Ks I'd have thought they'd have been run all along at B'ville. I'd have to see some data at this point, me thinks.

At this point the aero advantage statements are all coming from aerospace and airplane engineers. We will be running the completed car through the wind tunnel so we will have hard numbers after about May. I think the biggest advantage that the Packard Hawk enjoys over the other Hawks is the lack of that big air blocking front grille. I still contend that a 53 or even a 55 enjoys a slight aero advantage over all of them. Outside of the roadster bodied vehicles the vehicle that has set the most records at Bonneville is the 53 thru 55 Studebaker.

Just a reminder we are running in the "Factory Production Supercharged" class and as such the car must appear to be close to the original in body shape with all body panels being in their original position and retaining the original shape. There are as we know only three options for this class. The Golden Hawk, the Packard Hawk and the Avanti. I choose the Packard Hawk as the Avanti has too many disadvantages to overcome and the Golden Hawk has the big front grille.
Dan

[S2Deluxe]

There are as we know only three options for this class. The Golden Hawk, the Packard Hawk and the Avanti.

Please forgive me Dan, if I'm just ignorant, but I don't understand? While they would likely be at a dissadvantage aerodynamicly, competing against a Packard Hawk, I don't see why the other supercharged '57 - '58 or '63 - '64 models couldn't be an option, as well, for this class?

Mark

[SilverHawkDan]

Mark,
You are right on. We originally were going to built the car as a 1957 Golden Hawk but the aero engineer on the race team saw some pictures of the Packard Hawk and urged us to build it for two reasons. One the car is aero clean and two it will be one cool and different looking Bonneville car. We have yet to find a single picture of a Packard Hawk at Bonneville. So we may well be the first. I am just overseeing this project and the team members are giving input and suggestions just as the people here on the forum are welcome to do. If we had not been able to locate at a reasonable price the parts needed to build a Packard Hawk the car would have been a Golden Hawk. We did not consider the GT Hawks as they do not have the fins that add to aero stability at over 175 mph. Again, this is according to the aero engineers on the team. Stay tuned as this project is just beginning the build stages and should prove interesting to follow. As always please feel free to share your thoughts or observations at any time. No one will think you are ignorant or any other thing. Many eyes make sure that things don't get missed along the way. I learned that when building the Bucket List Dream Avanti.
Dan

[Noxnabaker]

I wouldn't use the G.T.Hawk Mark; compared with earlier Hawks, for two more reasons - not only the lack of fins: the rear part of the roof & the more stand-up grill.
But who am I to know, just my first thoughts.

[S2Deluxe]

I wouldn't use the G.T.Hawk Mark; compared with earlier Hawks, for two more reasons - not only the lack of fins: the rear part of the roof & the more stand-up grill.
But who am I to know, just my first thoughts.

That's pretty much the way I had it figured, also!

Mark

[StudeNewby]

You mean to tell me that those fins were actually functional? Who knew! Seriously, I thought they were just Buck Rogers styling!

[SilverHawkDan]

Mike,

The fins combined with the higher deck lid actually direct air off the fins back surface onto the deck lid and it actually creates down force. Not as much as a wing but down force none the less. The outside surface is curved and if you work around airplanes you are familiar with that design. It serves to help stabilize the back of the car at higher speeds (over 100). So when we have the Packard Hawk wind tunnel tested you will be able to watch the video and see just how the fins work.
Dan