I've been bursting to tell you all this story since November when I first learned about this 1957 Silver hawk. Last year my sweet wife Kathy and I went to the Studebaker meet at the Bell's Museum in Bellingham, Washington in September. We were driving my '64 Daytona R2 4-speed, where it won it's first trophy. Kathy has lately been becoming more and more interested in the Studebaker hobby, and it's mostly because of the wonderful people we've met-- people like James and Stephanie Bell, and all of the lovely people that come to the meets.
While we were there, Kathy became exposed for the first time to several beautiful finned Hawks. She just seemed to fall in love with them. I asked her: "Would you like to have one?" "Sure!" she replied.
Now guys-- if you have a wife who wants a Studebaker-- what are you gonna do? I couldn't exactly say "NO" to her, could I?
So we began shopping for one online together. Me shopping, her looking at colors and interiors.
We found several very nice Silver Hawks around the country for sale, but really didn't have the money all at once to pull the trigger on a restored one, and I really wanted her to have a nice one. We settled on the Silver Hawk because she wanted fins, but having owned a hardtop '53 before, I felt a coupe might be a better choice for her, and 1 supercharged Stude was enough for me, anyway. Also, the price of Golden Hawks put most of them out of the running for us, as well. So, a Silver it was.
In any case, I looked diligently for 3 months. I had stumbled onto this particular car early on, but blew right past it because it looked like a big project, and it was 3,000 miles away.
Yet for some reason, I kept coming back to the long-running Craigslist ad, studying the pictures and reading this guy's almost unbelievable description of the car.
After more than a month I finally called him. He told me he had inherited this and one other car from his late father, and had decided to have it restored in his honor. So he shopped for a shop to do the restore, and settled on a shop in Chicago, many hundreds of miles away from him. He bought a very nice new trailer (shown in the pictures) and towed it to them. They gave him an obviously very loose estimate to restore it, and began work. Every week they would send him a bill, and every week he would pay it... for a year and a half... and finally, after consuming all of his savings, he cried "Uncle" and told them to stop work. About $55,000 worth. Yes, that's not a typo. He went back up to Chicago and retrieved the car, and brought it back to Texas and put it into dry storage. There it sat for a few years, still on the trailer, until I bought it from him, still unfinished. Upon my inquiry, he sent me nearly a hundred detailed, High-definition pictures, and copies of all the receipts, well most of them, pages and pages of them. It's very sad, really, that he wound up in this position, not being able to finish the car and enjoy it, after having spent so much.
Now it wouldn't be gentlemanly for me to divulge how much I paid for it, but I promise you it was significantly less.
So in February, my Son graduated from trade school as an ASE certified Mechanic. The day after he graduated, he and I left Seattle bound for Houston to pick up the Hawk and the trailer, as well. (We purchased them both), 3,000 miles each way, lots of junk food, lots of good conversation, and met a truly great guy who made us happy owners of "Hazel the Hawk" (named after my wife's gorgeous eyes).
Now safely home after a safe and trouble-free trip, Hazel is beginning to come back to life, and Kathy is having lots of fun "designing" the car to her liking while keeping it all Studebaker, and all "period correct". It's getting '55 Speedster hubcaps, a Golden Hawk roof band, and we're deviating from it's original Woodsmoke Grey color to Apache Red with Snowcap White fins.
Another brag about this car-- it is absolutely brand new. Rotisserie restored acid dipped body, complete rust repairs, Fully restored frame, suspension, steering, brakes, etc. Newly completely rebuilt engine, trans, rear end, driveshaft, starter, generator, wiper motor, carburetor, etc. etc. etc. Need I go on? Oh and the body is arrow-straight, most of the chrome is already done, and from underneath the car looks better than it when it left South Bend. It's a 289, A/T, 4-barrel, Twin-Traction Hawk, without PS. (That may or may not change...)
The pictures show it coming out of storage for the first time in several years, and a couple in Moab, Utah on the way home. More will come as the build progresses... --Kenny
While we were there, Kathy became exposed for the first time to several beautiful finned Hawks. She just seemed to fall in love with them. I asked her: "Would you like to have one?" "Sure!" she replied.
Now guys-- if you have a wife who wants a Studebaker-- what are you gonna do? I couldn't exactly say "NO" to her, could I?
So we began shopping for one online together. Me shopping, her looking at colors and interiors.
We found several very nice Silver Hawks around the country for sale, but really didn't have the money all at once to pull the trigger on a restored one, and I really wanted her to have a nice one. We settled on the Silver Hawk because she wanted fins, but having owned a hardtop '53 before, I felt a coupe might be a better choice for her, and 1 supercharged Stude was enough for me, anyway. Also, the price of Golden Hawks put most of them out of the running for us, as well. So, a Silver it was.
In any case, I looked diligently for 3 months. I had stumbled onto this particular car early on, but blew right past it because it looked like a big project, and it was 3,000 miles away.
Yet for some reason, I kept coming back to the long-running Craigslist ad, studying the pictures and reading this guy's almost unbelievable description of the car.
After more than a month I finally called him. He told me he had inherited this and one other car from his late father, and had decided to have it restored in his honor. So he shopped for a shop to do the restore, and settled on a shop in Chicago, many hundreds of miles away from him. He bought a very nice new trailer (shown in the pictures) and towed it to them. They gave him an obviously very loose estimate to restore it, and began work. Every week they would send him a bill, and every week he would pay it... for a year and a half... and finally, after consuming all of his savings, he cried "Uncle" and told them to stop work. About $55,000 worth. Yes, that's not a typo. He went back up to Chicago and retrieved the car, and brought it back to Texas and put it into dry storage. There it sat for a few years, still on the trailer, until I bought it from him, still unfinished. Upon my inquiry, he sent me nearly a hundred detailed, High-definition pictures, and copies of all the receipts, well most of them, pages and pages of them. It's very sad, really, that he wound up in this position, not being able to finish the car and enjoy it, after having spent so much.
Now it wouldn't be gentlemanly for me to divulge how much I paid for it, but I promise you it was significantly less.
So in February, my Son graduated from trade school as an ASE certified Mechanic. The day after he graduated, he and I left Seattle bound for Houston to pick up the Hawk and the trailer, as well. (We purchased them both), 3,000 miles each way, lots of junk food, lots of good conversation, and met a truly great guy who made us happy owners of "Hazel the Hawk" (named after my wife's gorgeous eyes).
Now safely home after a safe and trouble-free trip, Hazel is beginning to come back to life, and Kathy is having lots of fun "designing" the car to her liking while keeping it all Studebaker, and all "period correct". It's getting '55 Speedster hubcaps, a Golden Hawk roof band, and we're deviating from it's original Woodsmoke Grey color to Apache Red with Snowcap White fins.
Another brag about this car-- it is absolutely brand new. Rotisserie restored acid dipped body, complete rust repairs, Fully restored frame, suspension, steering, brakes, etc. Newly completely rebuilt engine, trans, rear end, driveshaft, starter, generator, wiper motor, carburetor, etc. etc. etc. Need I go on? Oh and the body is arrow-straight, most of the chrome is already done, and from underneath the car looks better than it when it left South Bend. It's a 289, A/T, 4-barrel, Twin-Traction Hawk, without PS. (That may or may not change...)
The pictures show it coming out of storage for the first time in several years, and a couple in Moab, Utah on the way home. More will come as the build progresses... --Kenny
Great story, Kenny; congratulations. 
BP
We've got to quit saying, 
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