1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk. Photos courtesy Bonhams.
Perched atop Studebaker’s lineup, price-wise, the Golden Hawk was built as a personal luxury coupe, but with performance aspirations to take on the likes of Chrysler’s 300B. Pricey in-period, Golden Hawks remain among the most desirable Studebaker models, with high retail values currently approaching $26,000. At Monday’s Preserving the Automobile auction in Philadelphia, a 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk lived up to its name, selling for a fee-inclusive price of $99,000, more than triple the car’s published high retail value.
Debuting in 1956, the Golden Hawk originally came powered by a 352-cu.in. V-8, rated at 275 horsepower. For 1957, the 352 was dropped in favor of a 289-cu.in. V-8, which also made 275 horsepower in Golden Hawk trim, courtesy of a McCulloch variable speed supercharger. Buyers could choose from either the standard three-speed manual transmission with overdrive or Studebaker’s Flight-O-Matic two-speed automatic, which added $119 to the sticker price.
The Golden Hawk sold in Philadelphia came with the Flight-O-Matic drive, as well as a long list of optional features that included the Twin Traction differential; power steering and power brakes; power seats; power windows; Stratoline automatic tuning radio and a rear seat speaker. Said to be a three-owner car that spent much of its life in California, the Studebaker was restored “to a rather high standard,” in Bonhams’s words, just two years ago.
During the restoration, the original Arctic White over Tiara Gold Metallic livery was duplicated and its supercharged V-8 was tuned up, but not rebuilt. The car’s original front drum brakes were replaced with modern disc brakes in a nod to drivability (and, perhaps, safety), and “Kelsey-Hayes style” wire wheels were shod with wide white tires to complete the period look.
Though the price was, perhaps, a bit surprising, it was not the highest price paid for a Golden Hawk in recent years. In January of 2014, a lightly optioned example sold for $108,000 at a Bonhams auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, proving that pricing guides aren’t always as accurate as we’d like them to be.
1935 LaSalle Series 50 convertible coupe.
Other cars in the top-10 in Philadelphia included a 1936 Wanderer W25 K roadster, which sold for $319,000; a 1908 Rainier Model D 45/50hp seven passenger touring, which sold for $253,000; a circa 1835 Brathwaite and Ericson “Mississippi” locomotive, which sold for $220,000; a 1962 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 3.8-Liter roadster, which sold for $154,000; a 1935 LaSalle Series 50 convertible coupe, which sold for $126,500; a 1928 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad-built “1831 York” locomotive, which sold for $121,000; a 1937 Morgan Super Sports three-wheeler, which sold for $88,000; a 1908 International Model A runabout, which sold for $74,800; and a 1910 Buick Model 16 toy tonneau, which sold for $68,200.
For complete results from the Preserving the Automobile sale, held at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, visit Bonhams.com.
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