Photos courtesy the Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance.
Paul Doerring had many passions in life – jazz, tennis, and psychology among them – but cars, and particularly post-war cars, drove him to establish the event that would go on to become the Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance. Following his death in May, the organizers of the concours decided to establish a special founder’s award in Doerring’s name, and the inaugural edition of the award, appropriately enough, went to a 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk.
Positioned high atop the Studebaker lineup, where the Speedster formerly roosted, the Golden Hawk in its first year ran the Packard Clipper Custom’s 352-cu.in. V-8 under its hood, a heavy engine, but one capable of 275 horsepower at a time when Studebaker’s lighter V-8 could only manage a little more than 200 horsepower. That would change, however, in 1957 when Packard stopped making its own engines and figured out how to extract 275 horsepower from the Studebaker 289-cu.in. V-8 using a Paxton VS-57 supercharger. That year the Golden Hawk also sprouted tall fins to go with its Mercedes-grille styling, giving it a much flashier appearance.
Considered by concours judges as the event’s “most outstanding post-war car,a genre of car that Paul personally loved,” the black-and-gold 1957 Golden Hawk belonging to Mark James of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, took this year’s Paul Doerring Founder’s Award.
Best of Show at this year’s Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance went to the 1938 Bugatti Type 57C coupe owned by Richard Workman of Windmere, Florida. Just a month before, the same Bugatti took best in show at the Lake Mirror Classic in Lakeland, Florida. People’s Choice at Hilton Head went to a 1929 Chrysler Model 75 dual-cowl phaeton.
For more information on the Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance, visit HHIConcours.com.
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