New 56 Power Hawk Owner/Caretaker

[Mark’s56powerhawk]

My name is Glenn and I’m brand new to Studebaker. Kind of adopted a 56 Power Hawk with about 90k showing. My cousin Mark who’s very sick is the owner and unfortunately can no longer drive it. I’m attempting to keep the car going and in his honor. He used the car as his driver, mostly to local shows and believe it was in South Bend for an event or two. The car wasn’t driven for about a year. It started up right away and most everything seems to work. From what I understand, recently the brakes were gone through, master replaced, engine was re-built to some degree because of oil consumption. I’m going to have a mechanic look it over for me, I plan on doing the maintenance and minor repair myself. (that’s part of the fun isn’t it? )

Some of my rookie questions: What is suggested for seatbelts, noticed a large metal bar that runs the length of the bench seat in the rear, could a seatbelt be looped around this metal bar? The taillights don’t come on with the headlights, is this normal? The schematic that I found, doesn’t show the taillights being switched on when the light switch is moved to the headlight position. The taillights do come on with the running light position on the light switch, as indicated on that same schematic. Sorry to post such elementary questions to the Pros! Looking forward to meeting some people that can show me around the car a little. Thanks

[Dwight FitzSimons]

Welcome to the Studebaker hobby! I can answer a couple of your questions. There are a number of Studebaker vendors, some specialized, some broad-based (wide variety of parts).
(1) Seat belts for Studebakers have been manufactured. A couple of the largest vendors are Studebaker International (Indiana, studebaker-intl.com) and Stephen Allen (in FL, mystudebaker.com). Also, studebakervendors.com is a collection of numerous vendors. Front seat belts should be anchored to the floor right behind the front seat. Rear seat belts should be anchored (bolted) to the floor right behind the rear seat. Your Hawk didn't come with anchors built into the floor like later Studebakers, so you will have to reinforce the floor for those anchors (very large, thick washers or something like that). Locations for those seat belt anchors should be where Studebaker put them on 1960's Stude Hawks.
(2) The taillights should be on whenever either the headlights or parking lights are on. If not then something is wrong.

You might consider joining the Studebaker Driver's Club (google that). They (we) have an excellent monthly magazine. Also, consider getting the shop manual for your car. They have been reprinted. Good luck.
-Dwight

[Mark’s56powerhawk]

Dwight,
I appreciate the response. The taillights seem to be working now, worked the switch a little bit. See if I can clean with some contact cleaner for now, probably will end up replacing it with new. The switch shown on the schematic is not shown as I’m use to… Live and learn.

Thanks for the direction on the seat belts, we’ll look into that. It’s a strange feeling getting in the car without a belt and harness, guess that’s a good thing.

Thanks again,

Glenn

[Dwight FitzSimons]

I have a '64 Hawk and can take pictures of the seat belt anchors - no problem. Seat belts are very important.

Years ago I had a '56 Power Hawk & a '56 Golden Hawk. They have different toggle switches than 1957-up. As I recall I had to take a switch or two apart & clean the contacts. And that worked.
-Dwight

[Rafe Hollister]

I just bought a Power Hawk 3 months ago... and last week finished a thousand tour thru Oregon. My car is a bit rough, but runs well.
Rafe Hollister

[Mark’s56powerhawk]

Rafe,

Going on a thousand mile trip with an old car probably guarantees an adventure! I enjoy driving an old car like the power hawk, allows you to feel a little like it was back in the fifties… Nothing was a given, can imagine what it was like to keep a car running, especially with the cold temperatures we sometimes get in western NY. The car seems to get a lot of attention, see people trying to figure out what it is and a lot of waving and thumbs up. My first interest in the cars was in 1983, a couple friends and I took a road trip to Myrtle Beach, there was a cool nightclub down there called Studebakers! Nostalgic memorabilia hanging all over with Stude front ends mounted on the walls-really neat place. That kind of fun is over unfortunately but for the time being, I’m driving one.

Curious, does your car have seat belts or have you installed your own?

[Mark’s56powerhawk]

Dwight,
Would you be kind enough to send a picture or so of your seatbelt install? Haven’t found any good info as of yet for attaching to the floor. I strongly agree with you on the importance of seatbelts. Not going to be driving it very much until we have installed.

[Dwight FitzSimons]

Dwight,
Would you be kind enough to send a picture or so of your seatbelt install? Haven’t found any good info as of yet for attaching to the floor. I strongly agree with you on the importance of seatbelts. Not going to be driving it very much until we have installed.

Will do in the morning.
-Dwight

[Dwight FitzSimons]

Attached are four pix of my '64 Hawk. Your floorpan should be the same as mine. My carpet and jute pad are somewhat thick, but these pix should get you close enough. There are 3 pix of the front seat belt anchors and one of the back. There apparently have never been any seat belts in the back on this car, but the built-in anchors are plugged by round rubber plugs. The driver's side anchor plug is right-side center in the pic.

I believe the eyelet anchor bolt is typical of that type of bolt (i.e., symmetrical). SI or Stephen Allen's probably stocks all the hardware needed.

BTW, factory seat belts (outboard side) on a '56 would have been mounted on the door. Personally, I wouldn't do that if I had a '56.

Any more questions just ask.
-Dwight