The response from the newsgroup............

What's the scoop on this...is it really one of 2 factory FI Hawks or just more BS like it being a 58 "Golden Hawk"?This sure looks like a regular blown Hawk...early FI systems were large and very unreliable...nice looking(except the yellow blower) but my BS alarm is wailing ----------------- This must be the car that Johnny Cash used for the basis of his song: 'One piece at a time'. I wonder if the engine was smuggled out in the back of his buddy's mobile home? KK ----------------- WOW!!! What a beautiful custom. My dial up connection stopped downloading at 17 pictures (leaving 25 to go). Did the build sheet ever come up? Fuel injection? Factory air (looks like my old Mark IV)? Reclining seats with headrests? Speedster fog lights? Trunk overlay? Paul Johnson ------------------- Here's the scoop...no fuel injection and I did get the build sheet to load: 58H K7,paint P(?) 5835 copper white - Trim 644A BR 44- Flight O Matic -Power Steering,brakes,frnt windows,padded visors,undercoat,TT,and WW tires AC 2885 ,AC 2904,AC 2910,AC 2907,AC 2885,AC 2908,AC 2861 PR - note of service for retail del,tag Detroit auto show / The BS history letter about how it came to be just does not make sense for 1958...this is a nice 58 Hawk, but high mileage and nothing really special enough to even approach the buy now price. ---------------- The grill on the car looks like one off a GT Hawk made after 61... Studebaker liked the grill good enough to put it on this car for the show but then waited another 4 years before using it? I also wonder why... if all this special attention was put into this car for a show, then why didnt they have that piece of chrome on the back say Golden Hawk instead of just hawk??? The letter says all available options were put on this car.... I thought dual rear antennas were an option then. I'm not that familiar with all the chrome you could get on the hawk.... is that piece of chrome along the bottom of the car available? Too bad I didnt win the FL lottery last week. I'd have a 58 hawk whether its worth it or not. Sam D. --------------- Guys, that's the "original, one off" Golden Hawk that Kruse sold at auction last year for like 45K. I e-mailed Kruse trying to explain that it would impossible to add all the GT Hawk stuff to a production car and got no reply. It looks like the new owner is trying to pass on the "Urban Legend" that Kruse started. It's a cobbled togeather Hawk with add-ons from 55-62 or more, and I wouldn't give him 10K for the thing. ---------------- I thought it looked familiar...I do think it's a nice car,but worth a fraction of what it could be restored to the build sheet...just too much bs in the history that makes you wonder what is hiding under the paint. I think them people in Florida are smoking some funny weed. Or is it the fumes from the welder? (Hi Jeff ) --------------- The guys own auction listing shows the only thing unusual about his car was it was tagged on the build sheet as " service for retail del, tag for Detroit auto show" ( Just means it'll set on the show floor, than be sold ) NO AC, on the build sheet, not even the Sears unit installed Lets not even talk about the fuel injection, the car does not have it. The history letter is pure BS ( The dealer sold his stock because he knew the company was going down and ordered the car ??? ) Studebaker went out in 1966, the car was built in late 57, how'd he do that ? The history letter goes on to mention the car was restored as "original as possible" , when in fact it's very unoriginal i.e. ------------- >1.wrong interior >2.62 GT Hawk Grill >3. 62 GT Hawk trunk overlay >4. GT Hawk buckets >5. Sears AC unit >6 55-56 fog lamps with wrong bulbs >7. Wrong detailing, S-W gage in dash, missing under hood pad, engine colors, >clamps >decals wrong, incorrect seat belts and picky, picky, picky - probably the wrong year fuel injection, too -------------- I only looked at a couple of pictures. That was more than enough. It looks like one of those cars that are built around a VIN plate with parts from a half dozen years. The e-bay site says the auction is closed due to prior sale. I wonder for how much and to who. What often happens is that a car like this combo is sold to a non-Studebaker person that believes all the bs. Too bad because that will not make a happy Studebaker enthusiast. Gary L. --------- The auction was closed after my phone call with the owner, no one bid. /JP ------------ If this one comes close to the "buy it now" price it must set some kinda record for highest price paid for a Stude,other than possibly a early thirties President.This is quite a car nontheless,Id never heard of a fuel injected(factory)289. ----------- Those "factory" wheelcovers make me realize I really DON'T have one each of every postwar wheelcover. DAMN!!!! ----------- I hope you volunteered to provide any assistance that we as a group are able to give this lady. This is a place where the NG can probably be of some help. On a side note, Bob Kapetyn at Joliet Studebaker has a Packard Hawk that was prepared for the Chicago Auto Show and attached to the body tag is another tag with the designation "Show Car" or something similar to that. So other than the build sheet there was apparently a tag that was attached to these cars. Mike ---------- Mike I did just that. I told her that her attorney could contact me with any questions that we might be able to help with. I gave her the info on the museum and will put her in touch with Fred Fox or other experts if needed. She says she'll spend whatever it takes to get satisfaction and I suspect she will. -------------------- Mike, As a collector of Body Tags, I can tell you that there were show cars built without the extra tag you've mentioned. Heck, there were enough variables with production cars (Although this Hawk is way out of bounds by any account) that it would be silly to suggest any "facts" about show car designations. On the subject of body tags, I'm still wondering what a plain, small additional tag that was piggybacked with the body tag means! There's nothing stamped or scratched or whatever on it. It was just there and painted the same time as the firewall and the normal body tag. This was on a 61 4-door Lark. ------------ IMHO: Most show cars, if they were stock examples destined to be shown and then sold, did not have special body tag designation, just the show destination on the build sheet and maybe a special line entry for show preparation. This is actually similar to dealer prep. You can not display a car the way it comes off the truck from the factory normally. The special secondary body tag usually means that something non-stock was done to the car at the factory. Something that was not yet available on factory order. Gary L. p.s.: Of course the car in question is probably titled with a VIN tag from a car that was destined for a show. The car itself is made up from multiple year parts. GL ----------- I see the auction has ended... did someone actually "buy it now?" or did the seller stop hitting the crack pipe long enough to realize that he had a really nice driver that was pieced together from spare parts? (the GT Hawk grille makes me shudder tho) nate ----------- You'd think for that money it would include the little rubber bumpers for the gas lid. -------- ======================================================== Some testimony from an acquaintance of the original owner- Here is some 'real' history on the Ebay Golden Hawk from our TW editor: " I was just reading some postings and I went to the ebay site to see this GH with the high price. As soon as I saw the grille I said to myself, "Sure looks like Jack Clemmens car which I drove in the 70s but lost track of in the 80s when Jack died". He was a good friend from Boise, Idaho and I know all about this car. Does someone need some info on it? What I remember most is that he loved the Kelsey Hayes wire wheels and he wanted to make sure he would have a spare. Well, he had 4 spares! He never said anything about it being a show car but when he picked it up at the factory, Larks were going down the line. Therefore, it was a very late build from the 58 model year or it sat around at the factory until after the 59s were coming out. He saw headrests at the factory and asked for them to be installed even though 58s didn't have them. He added the '62 grille and trunk overlay later because he liked them. It always did have air and supercharger. He added an oil filter for the blower to try and help cooling so he had a lot of oil filters under the hood. The dash plaque confirmed that this was his car. I also remember him telling me that when he picked it up they drove it home the long way - from South Bend south to Kansas and then west to Idaho - a sort of vacation. He mentioned that the supercharger failed within the first 100 miles and he got a replacement from a dealer. Then the blower failed again in Kansas. The replacement unit he got there lasted until the last time I talked to him in the 80s. When I drove it for about 100 miles I thought it was the nicest riding and handling Studebaker that I've ever been in. Jack was a great guy and he had a lot of parts. He was a White Truck dealer in Boise and in 1962 he bought his salesmen GT Hawks as company cars. In the 80s he had at least 6 of them (1962 GTs) in his back yard, all tired. From him I bought a beautiful 1963 R2 Super Hawk which I owned for many years and wish I still had. It was also unusual in that it had a half vinyl top in white on a red car and it looked original like what they offered in 1964. The car had never been worked on or repainted until I had it. Anything else you're interested in? "