Sad day for 57 Golden Hawk

[jbwhttail]

Recently I was called by the body shop who did the work on my 1956 Golden Hawk, they had just received a 1957 Golden Hawk to finish the restoration and needed my help finding parts needed to finish the restoration. The original resoration shop had went bankrupt, only after the owner of this hawk spending $80,000.00 with them! I made the drive to see what all would be needed, I was shocked. No interior, no wiring, no exhaust, no gas tank, no front or rear glass,just to name a few. The positive a beautiful detailed frame, appears to have complete front end rebuild and disc brakes installed. The motor and transmission(automatic) are claimed to be rebuilt, the motor is #PS2536, engine color is correct and new. Super Charger is mounted upper and lower pulleys are not on the engine or to be found. The car was covered in dust, I commented that it was painted in correct gold and white, if that was the correct color for that particular car. My body shop guys took air hose to blow off dust to check quality of paint and body.......Dust came off as well as paint! I looked for body tag as well as serial number for the car, both are missing as well as the title.

We worked with the owner for over two months looking for a donor car as well pricing the parts that would be needed. This morning he called to say, "I am through with it.". Estimates were 35-50K to take two cars and make one nice show/driver. Owner said to sell it as parts or parts car he doesn't care.

The car is located 35 miles west of Indianapolis, Condition of body, I can't say what was done under the paint, I would assume it has been repaired in front fenders, I know trunk lid has been repaired, hood is good. Fins are Beautiful and not been repaired. Rear quarters have dents filled. floors and trunk are solid. Torque boxes are good.

Anyone who has an interest or questions can contact me here, the car will be tarped and moved out of shop into the elememnts by next Monday. I will have several pictures of it by then.

Again sad day for a Golden Hawk.............

[BobPalma]

Joe: That's a terrible situation, but might have a solution. PM Sent through regular e-mail, not the forum. Bob

[Welcome]

Joe, thanks for sharing that sad info.

Hey maybe we could twist the arm of our Indiana Friend Tom Walgamuth (t walgamuth on this Forum) into shelving his CE project for a little while and jump in to save this .

How about it Tom

[StudeRich]

Isn't this just a simple case of a needed lawsuit? Depending on the type of Bankruptcy it MAY be possible.
That is way too much value and $ to just blow off.

[jbwhttail]

Court set a $240,000.00 judgement against a broke guy, where ya gonna get the money? As much as anything this should serve as a lesson to people having a restoration done. References today don't mean a thing, you have to stay on top of the work being done. The interior was sent out to be done(paid for) to who? Chrome, same thing. When my shop did my car we agreed $2000.00 limit, each time the limit was reached I inspected car then paid. I knew where all my parts were at all times. Color of paint was approved before car was painted, actual paint that was going to be used not a chip.

It was said that 9 cars in various condition were hauled out of this failed business, this Studebaker isn't the only casualty......

[Chris Pile]

It was said that 9 cars in various condition were hauled out of this failed business, this Studebaker isn't the only casualty......

So this story is even sadder than originally thought....

[Roscomacaw]

This IS a sad tale. But I can't help but wonder at folks who could hand over $80K for a work in progress without keeping watch! Yes - I know there are folks with WAY MORE money than sense (I ain't one of them), but there's a point where you want a tally or some such as to where those thousands went.

Heh - reading this made me remember an incident from about 25 years ago. I was then dealing in Rambler parts as well as Stude stuff. Somehow a body shop in the Los Angeles area got my Ph # and called with their fingers crossed. They were hoping I had a whole bunch of brightwork trim for a Rambler American convertible - and it so happene that I did. But the reason they were looking for some was because they had removed & bundled up all the brightwork from a customers car (in the course of repainting it) and then ran over all that brightwork with the shop's pickup truck!

BTW, the serial number should be on the underside of the rearmost cross member of this Hawk.

[swvalcon]

Where do these guy's find these people. I wish I could get half that to do a straight up honest for real restoration. Seems like all my restorations are for the cheapest people on the planet and I stll try to be just as fair and work with them as best I can. I couldn't treat a customer like that even if I could.

[JoeHall]

My bro-in-law has a 57GH and makes a lot of local car shows, so consequently he has met other 57GH owners in the area. According to him there's a guy in Louisville who has two 57GHs, and well over $100,000 in them, collectively. He also has been trying to buy my bro-in-law's 57GH. What's especially hard to fathom is that one of the two he owns has a SBC motor. After the resto shop trashed the original motor, they somehow convinced the owner that a SBC was a good idea. He's happy and they're happy. Go figure.

[jbwhttail]

There has been "some interest" via emails so I will post this....

I had in November and December contact with a member of this forum who had another 57 Golden Hawk. I was trying to make a deal to purchase the members car and combine the two to make a show quality 57GH. His price was fair, the owner of this car pondered for over 3 weeks and said he was done.

So this is fair to everyone, owner will accept an offer of $2,000.00 on this parts car. I am confident the motor has been rebuilt, the frame amd brake work is worth the money. I have ZERO financial interest in this car, I just hate to see the car set in the elements and ultimately go to a crusher........

If the other 57GH owner wants to post what he has here it would make a GREAT car at a reasonable price.

[BobPalma]

There has been "some interest" via emails so I will post this....

I had in November and December contact with a member of this forum who had another 57 Golden Hawk. I was trying to make a deal to purchase the members car and combine the two to make a show quality 57GH. His price was fair, the owner of this car pondered for over 3 weeks and said he was done.

So this is fair to everyone, owner will accept an offer of $2,000.00 on this parts car. I am confident the motor has been rebuilt, the frame amd brake work is worth the money. I have ZERO financial interest in this car, I just hate to see the car set in the elements and ultimately go to a crusher........

If the other 57GH owner wants to post what he has here it would make a GREAT car at a reasonable price.

Thanks, Joe. $2,000, even without a title and tags, has got to be a deal for the package you've described.

As we've discussed, I'm also familiar with the other '57 GH situation and have seen many photos of same. The two would be an ideal combination, and I know the other car has proper title and tags, this solving that part of the problem.

So, Mr. Mystery Man, come forth and enlighten the rest of the forum with photos, description, location, and price. BP

[jclary]

It is possible that the bankrupt body man was someone with great bodywork talent and very poor business knowledge. Probably gave set prices for his work and got in over his head. I have seen this many times over the years. Sad indeed.

[studefan]

Gang, I am the mystery man in posts 10 and 11 above.

As stated, Joe and I tried to help the couple that got ripped off by offering them my car described below to help complete their restoration. As Joe and Bob state, combining these two has tremendous value to someone out there. Here is my car:

I have a 57 Golden Hawk that hasn't been advertised for sale anywhere yet. It is a rust free matching numbers 57 Golden Hawk with the rare 3 speed with overdrive (one of 42 made this way). It also came from the factory with a 4.09 rear. Originally gold outside and inside. It has 44K miles on it. The previous owner started to restore it 20 years ago but died. The body is super solid and is nearly ready for paint.

The chrome is all rechromed and stunning done at Paul's chrome plating in Mars, PA. Front scoops, fender parking lights, fin caps, door and quarter chrome, etc. (huge bucks spent here). All new emblems. The fin, fender, and door stainless is polished and ready to mount. Even the six front scoop stainless spears are polished to mirror finish. None of this is mounted yet. The shop restoring the car cut the top to make it a T-top. A really nice clean looking job. They stiffened the frame to compensate for removing the roof section. Two custom T tops are included. The engine supposedly ran fine when removed as it has low miles on it and is 100% complete with all the supercharger goodies down to the hard to find special clips holding down the tach sender. The engine and interior are out of the car currently. The interior is beautiful and redone in real red leather (owner spent $5K on interior). It's not original but it is stunning. The dash gauges look like new.

This car has tons of potential. You could finish this car as is to be a really cool custom or buy it and the car Joe mentions above to replace the roof section and use the completed frame to restore back to original. This would be a good deal for someone out there. Price for mine is $12K or best offer. Joe and his restoration shop reviewed pictures of this car and think it's a good deal. Make me an offer. I'll have to dig up some pictures. Please contact me at jeffanne2@verizon.net if interested. Thanks Jeff

Note: Car is located in Maryland, a little over an hour from the York swap meet coming up soon. I have a clear title in hand for this car also.

[BobPalma]

Thanks, Jeff. This is the first time Jeff has priced the car to the best of my knowledge.

I've seen extensive pictures of Jeff's car and aside from the T-Top "business," it is an awfully nice car. Starting with both these cars (Jeff's and the one Joe has located) would involve a $14,000 investment, which is a rip-roaring bargain for what someone would be getting.

Granted, there would be transportation costs because both are dead and "Joe's" is in central Indiana and Jeff's is in northern Virginia near DC. But a person would have so many good Golden Hawk parts left over that, once finished, a portion of the overall investment could be recouped selling off spares.

This package deal is worth serious consideration by anyone who wants a nice 1957 Golden Hawk...and with stick overdrive, to boot. [BTW, Jeff; I know many more than 42 1957 Golden Hawks were built with stick overdrive, so you might want to check your source on that. ] BP

[jbwhttail]

Thanks Jeff..........

My plan was to take both cars and make a show quality 57 GH, But how ever a person wanted to go, this would be a great package with many parts to spare. I have no financial interest in either car, if you are least bit interested ask Jeff for pictures, Stainless, chrome and interior can't be done for his asking price. Same for frame and motor on the Stilesville car.