1958 Studebaker Silver Hawk Walkaround

Today's subject car is featured due to availability of a fine set of car-for-sale photos via Connors Motorcar Company.  The car itself might be described as a watered-down version of a classic design -- the 1953 Studebaker Starliner hardtop coupe created by Bob Bourke and his team under Raymond Loewy's direction.

I previously dealt with first-series Studebaker Hawks here.  Since then, many more good quality photo sets showing for-sale and auctioned cars have appeared on the Internet, including the one shown in the Gallery below.

The 1956 facelifted Studebaker coupes were given "Hawk" names.  This naming was revised for 1957 when the number of coupe models was reduced from four to two.  The newly named Golden Hawks were "hardtop" pillarless models, whereas Silver Hawks had B-pillars.  Those B-pillars made the overall design less pleasing, as will be explained below.

Wikipedia's take on the Silver Hawk is here.  Silver Hawks were marketed model years 1957-1959. Today's featured car is quite similar to the 1957 models, but its tail fin chrome accent is not as attractive as for 1959.  Sadly, available photos (as of October 2024) of '59 Silver Hawks lack the quality of the set shown below.

Thanks largely to their side trim, 1957-58 Silver Hawks were the least-attractive of all "Loewy coupes" aside from the unfortunate 1955 versions.  That said, they still were reasonably nice-looking cars.

Gallery

The most noteworthy feature of the 1956 Studebaker coupe facelift was the (then) unusual, seemingly old-fashioned tall grille opening.  The flanking openings echo the openings on 1953 Studebakers.

Thanks mostly to Chrysler Corporation, tail fins became the American styling fashion of the second half of the 1950s.  The mid-decade fad was wraparound (Panoramic) windshields, but fortunately, Studebaker coupes never received them.

Chrysler Corporation cars got modest tail fins on facelifted 1956 models, and imposing ones for their 1957 redesign.  Studebaker Hawks were in synch with Chrysler for 1957, as can be seen here.

The trunk lid redesign first appeared on 1956 Hawks.

Golden Hawks were given more attractive side and tail fin trim, as can be seen in the first link above.  The long chrome strip with the auxiliary strip along the fin shown here make logical sense, but not aesthetic sense.  The two-toning on the side of the fin emphasizes this; single-tone Silver Hawks looked somewhat better.

As for the effect of the B-pillar, its relation to the zone abaft of it is the problem.  Visual business is created.  That quarter-window plus C-pillar zone is narrow, and the B-pillar adds too much visual weight.  Which is why pillarless Hawks look more attractive.

Since I mentioned the 1959 Silver Hawk above, here is a photo (via Hagerty).  Note the better chrome treatment by the tail fin and elsewhere along the side.