1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk

Ray Petros is a dedicated Studebaker collector. It is natural that he focuses on that marque, since his family were Studebaker dealers for many years. Two of his cars, and two of Studebaker’s most iconic vehicles, have been featured in this magazine. His Avanti R1 was the subject of a “Driven” article in December 2017 (https://sportscardigest.com//1963-studebaker-avanti-r1/) and his President Speedster was profiled in March 2019 (https://sportscardigest.com//just-gorgeous-1955-studebaker-president-speedster/). This time, the focus is on his 1957 Golden Hawk, a Studebaker model that was, for a time, the fastest production car made in the United States.

Hot Rod magazine had this to say in March 1957 about the Golden Hawk: “In an era where potent passenger car performance is the rule and not the exception, the 1957 Studebaker-Packard ‘Golden Hawk’ is in its own nest. In fact, it can and does outperform nearly all of the current crop of production automobiles with the exception of some of the ‘super stock’ machines, which are, of course, in a class by themselves. The line that separates the Golden Hawk from the super stocks is indeed fine but unmistakable; Golden Hawk performance may be purchased ‘as is’ without resorting to a long list of sometimes unobtainable power plant options. In other words the Golden hawk is a completely stock automobile and as such, it is hard to beat.”