Custom Hawk in July Turning Wheels

[Foscop]

I am smitten with the photo in the upper left corner of page 9 of the July 2012 issue of Turning Wheels. It is labeled "Custom Hawks at South Bend in 1968". Apparently the photo was taken by Art Unger or Richard Quinn 44 years ago. Does anyone have any more information on this hawk with a Starlight roof and unique face? Who built it and does it still exist? This is an incredible tease. I can't seem to turn up anything on the internet...and I am loosing sleep thinking about it.

[StudeDave57]

Does anyone have any more information on this hawk with a Starlight roof and unique face? Who built it and does it still exist? This is an incredible tease. I can't seem to turn up anything on the internet...and I am loosing sleep thinking about it.

Rest easy- if you take a look at page 51 of your June 2012 Turning Wheels
you'll find an ad listing it for sale!!!

[Corvanti]

thanks for clearing that up quickly, Dave.

my 1st thought in seeing the pic was it might have been a prototype for a "Packard" Hawk for 57-58.

[bezhawk]

Missed it by that much......in my best Maxwell Smart voice.

[Chris_Dresbach]

That car was owned by somebody in the Styling dept. It is a custom hawk built by said designer as a proposal (like what Bourke did when he bought a brand new '54 and changed the grilles to propose it for a '55 model). It is not technically a prototype, but in a weird way it sort of is, kind of, but not an "official" one authorized by Studebaker. I have some vintage photos of it that were taken when it was spotted on the road in SB burried here somewhere. It was for sale in last months TW.

[mbstude]

Missed it by that much......in my best Maxwell Smart voice.

Okay Brad, who bought it? I've drooled over that car ever since it was featured in TW several years ago.

[PekkaP]

There is a good coverage on this stylish custom in October 2001 Turning Wheels. To my understanding the car has now a new owner and is going to be professionally restored the way it was built by Paul McKeehan.

Pekka

[bezhawk]

Okay Brad, who bought it? I've drooled over that car ever since it was featured in TW several years ago.

I wish I knew. I too have lost hydration over that car . If it were mine though, I'd get rid of the bumper guards.

[JoeHall]

I had a chance to climb all over that car in 1986, when it was garaged in Hastings, Nebraska. It was then owned by its recent seller/owner, who is a loong time SDCer who prefers to keep a low profile. He sold me the blue & white 56J I still own, which had been in a storage facility since 1969.

He told me the story how he'd bought the prototype a few years earlier from a local farmer who had no idea what it was. What I thought was really kewl was the body number; the tag was stenciled as all other Studes I've seen, but the stehciled letters somply said, "SHOW JOB".

[R3 challenger]

A distant cousin of mine here in Nebraska bought that car from former Studebaker designer Paul McKeehan in 1967. He sold it a few years later when his wife was very ill with cancer. The cousin called me a couple of weeks ago to ask if I would go with him to see the car and provide information to the new owner, who came here from Minnesota to pick it up in an enclosed trailer. The car was put together with a '57/'58 Golden Hawk supercharged 289 with automatic transmission. It will be restored back to exactly the way it was when Paul McKeehan built it (around 1960/1961), and it will be a very high-level restoration.

We took lots of photos; I plan to write an article about SHOW JOB (as we call it, since that's what the body tag says) for Turning Wheels in a few months. The serial number plate is an original Studebaker-Packard item, but the number on it was assigned by the State of Indiana as a specially constructed car.

Anyone with determination and some money could make a car like this....the only custom (non-production) panel is the panel in front of the hood. Stay tuned!

George

[JoeHall]

A distant cousin of mine here in Nebraska bought that car from former Studebaker designer Paul McKeehan in 1967. He sold it a few years later when his wife was very ill with cancer. The cousin called me a couple of weeks ago to ask if I would go with him to see the car and provide information to the new owner, who came here from Minnesota to pick it up in an enclosed trailer. The car was put together with a '57/'58 Golden Hawk supercharged 289 with automatic transmission. It will be restored back to exactly the way it was when Paul McKeehan built it (around 1960/1961), and it will be a very high-level restoration.

We took lots of photos; I plan to write an article about SHOW JOB (as we call it, since that's what the body tag says) for Turning Wheels in a few months. The serial number plate is an original Studebaker-Packard item, but the number on it was assigned by the State of Indiana as a specially constructed car.

Anyone with determination and some money could make a car like this....the only custom (non-production) panel is the panel in front of the hood. Stay tuned!

George

George, I think it is safe to say we are definitely talking about the same car