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A Golden Hawk by any other name! How about Speedhawk? It almost was!
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Interesting indeed, Dick: Only one of the Hawk names proposed as late as July 5, 1955 made it to production: Skyhawk. And even then, it was one word, not two. Flitehawk got changed to Flight Hawk, too.
Also note the Golden Hawk engine was to be the Speedway 352, not Sky Power 352.
Good find! BPWe've got to quit saying, "How stupid can you be?" Too many people are taking it as a challenge.
G. K. Chesterton: This triangle of truisms, of father, mother, and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.
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Going through our 'Studes in Roadside Americana photos' my eye was caught by that prominent movie bill-board for the 1952 swashbuckler movie 'The Golden Hawk', (appearing on that billing simply as 'Golden Hawk') and couldn't help but thinking that the movie name may have provided a bit of unrecognized inspiration and impetus to the selection of the 'Hawk' series of names. But then strange that a 'Golden' Hawk was not even among these initial selections.Last edited by Jessie J.; 03-14-2015, 05:46 PM.
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Studebaker's 1956 decision making certainly had its oddities.....Apparently, even Studebaker dealers were upset the company didn't have a 'real' gold colored paint for the '56 Golden Hawk....Let's face it, 1956 'Sunglow Gold' is a really a mustard yellow!
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I imagine "Flitehawk" was changed due to similarity with then-current MoPar nomenclature.
And didn't Pontiac use "Firehawk" as a sport-model J-body in the '80s?
Clark in San Diego | '63 Standard (F2) "Barney" | http://studeblogger.blogspot.com
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It was a Buick Firehawk, Clark. You were probably thinking of Pontiac's Firebird. BPWe've got to quit saying, "How stupid can you be?" Too many people are taking it as a challenge.
G. K. Chesterton: This triangle of truisms, of father, mother, and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.
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You're right, Bob! Would've made more sense as a Pontiac moniker, though
Clark in San Diego | '63 Standard (F2) "Barney" | http://studeblogger.blogspot.com
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Yes, while it was not a well known "option", the Firehawk was a product of SLP (Street Legal Performance) and available thru Pontiac dealerships.
For a couple of years they did performance upgrades to the Firebird and came as a complete package.
I had a co-worker who was a car guy. One day I asked him what he was driving, because he had a few performance vehicles. He said a Firehawk. I was surprised & said "A Firehawk?", because I always liked those cars. Then he started to explain what it was. I interrupted him and said, "yes from SLP Engineering". Then he said, you really do know cars. So that made me feel good.
I just looked and there are some Firehawk websites out there, tracking the cars.
Here is a Car and Driver review.
Keeping Studebaker's alive
Stude-PreferredLast edited by Stude-Preferred; 03-18-2015, 01:21 PM.
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