Packard Hawk - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 1958 Packard Hawk was the sportiest of the four Packard-badged Studebakers produced in the final year of Packard

Packard

Packard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana...

production,. Packard's plant in Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

had been leased to Curtiss-Wright

Curtiss-Wright

The Curtiss-Wright Corporation was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States at the end of World War II, but has evolved to largely become a component manufacturer, specializing in actuators, aircraft controls, valves, and metalworking....

(and would be soon sold to them), and Packard models in this dying-gasp year were all rebadged and retrimmed Studebaker products. The 1958 Packard Hawk was essentially Studebaker's 1957 Golden Hawk 400 with a fibreglas front end and a modified deck lid.

Instead of the Studebaker Hawk's upright Mercedes-style grille, the Packard Hawk had a wide, low opening just above the front bumper and covering the whole width of the car. Above this, a smoothly sloping nose, and hood—reminiscent of the 1953 Studebakers, but with a bulge as on the Golden Hawk—accommodated the engine's McCulloch supercharger

Paxton Automotive

Paxton Automotive is a United States-based manufacturer of superchargers for automotive use. The company is the major proponent of the centrifugal type supercharger. Early products were offered under the McCulloch name. Some Paxton superchargers have been factory fitted, but most units sold have...

that gave the Studebaker 289 in³ (4.7 L) V8 a total of 275 bhp (205 kW). At the rear, the sides of the fins were coated in metallized PET film

PET film (biaxially oriented)

BoPET is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aroma barrier properties and electrical insulation.A variety of companies manufacture boPET and other...

, giving them a shiny metallic gold appearance. A fake spare-tire bulge adorned the 1953-53-style Studebaker deck lid. 'PACKARD' was spelled out in capitals across the nose, with a gold 'Packard' emblem in script—along with a Hawk badge—on the trunk lid and fins.

The interior was full leather, with a fully instrumentation in an engine-turned dash. As on early aircraft and custom boats, padded armrests were mounted outside the windows, a rare touch.

The styling was definitely controversial, often described as 'vacuum-cleaner' or 'catfish' by detractors. Interestingly, the styling has come to be appreciated more today than in its debut. Only 588 were sold, with Packard's impending demise a likely contributing factor. Most were equipped with the Borg-Warner three-speed automatic transmission. Approximately 28 were produced with the B-W T85 3-speed w/overdrive manual transmission. Studebaker-Packard was the first manufacturer to popularize the limited-slip differential, which they termed Twin-Traction. Most Packard Hawks came with TT. It was certainly the fastest Packard ever sold, since it shared the majority of its components with Studebaker's Golden Hawk. The price was $3995, about $700 higher than the Studebaker model, but with a more luxurious interior. Electric window-lifts and power seats were optional extras.

Its rarity and status as the best-regarded of the 'Packardbaker' final-year cars have made the Packard Hawk quite collectible. Values are roughly double those of the equivalent Studebaker, although they are still low by comparison with Corvettes and Thunderbirds. Because a Studebaker drivetrain was used, mechanical parts are more readily available, although body and trim parts are more difficult-to-impossible to find. While it is a unique car, current restoration costs almost always exceed the selling price.

Engine

Type: Cast iron 90° V8, Silver Light
dish-type pistons

Displacement: 289 cubic inches

Bore X stroke: 3.56 X 3.63 inches

Compression ratio: 7.5:1

Power @ rpm: 275 hp (205 kW) @ 4,800 RPM

Torque @ rpm: 333 lbft @ 3,200 RPM

Valvetrain: In-head valves, solid lifters

Main bearings: 5

Ignition: Delco-Remy breaker-point

Fuel system: 2-bbl Stromberg 380475 downdraft carburetor, McCulloch supercharger, 5 p.s.i. max

Lubrication system: Full-pressure, gear-driven

Electrical system: 12-volt, 30 amperes

Exhaust system: Cast iron, dual exhaust

Transmission

Type: Borg-Warner Flightomatic automatic

Ratios: 1st: 2.40:1

2nd: 1.47:1

3rd: 1.0:1

Reverse: 2.0:1

Differential

Type: Semi-floating hypoid, Twin-Traction Spicer-Thornton limited slip

Ratio: 3.31:1

Steering

Type: Power assist, Saginaw recirculating ball

Ratio: 19.2:1

Turns, lock-to-lock: 4.5

Turning circle: 41 feet

Brakes

Type: Four wheel, power-assist Wagner hydraulic

Front: Cast-iron finned drum, 11 X 2.5 inches

Rear: Cast-iron drum, 10 X 2 inches

Swept area: 172.8 square inches

Chassis & Body

Construction: All-steel, box section, double-drop side rails, 5 crossmembers

Body style: Two-door, five passenger hardtop, soft top prototype

Layout: Front engine, rear-wheel drive

Suspension

Front: Individual unequal-length upper and lower control arms, coil springs, hydraulic shocks, anti-sway bar

Rear: Live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs, hydraulic shocks

Wheels & Tires

Wheels: Kelsey-Hays tubeless 5-lug stamped steel

Front/rear: 5.5 X 14 inches

Tires: Classic bias-ply

Front/rear: 8.00 X 14 inches

Weights & Measures

Wheelbase: 120.5 inches

Overall length: 205.2 inches

Overall width: 71.3 inches

Overall height: 54.6 inches

Front track: 56.7 inches

Rear track: 55.7 inches

Shipping weight: 3,470 pounds

Capacities

Crankcase: 5 quarts

Cooling system: 17 quarts

Fuel tank: 18 gallons

Transmission: 19 pints

Performance

0-60 mph: 12.0 seconds

¼ mile ET: 16.7 seconds @ 82.3 mph

Top speed: 125 mph

Fuel mileage: 12 mpg city, 20 mpg highway

Sources

Kimes, Beverly Rae (editor): Packard, a history of the motor car and the company; General edition, 1978, Automobile Quarterly, ISBN 0-915038-11-0.
Dawes, Nathaniel D.: The Packard: 1942-1962; A.S. Barnes & Co. Inc., Cranbury NJ (1975), ISBN 0-498-01353-7
Patrick, Mark A. (editor): Packard Motor Cars 1946-1958 Photo Archive; Iconographix Osceola WI (1996), ISBN 1-882256-45-X
Clarke, R. M.: Packard Gold Portfolio 1946-1958; Motorbooks International, ISBN 1-870642-19-8
Encyclopedia of American Cars from 1930 by the editors of Consumer’s Guide; Publications International (1993), ISBN 0-7853-0175-5
Burness, Tad: American Car Spotter’s Guide, 1940-65; Motorbooks International, ISBN 0-87938-057-8