The JET THRUST News - Issue #19

Spring 2003 Issue #19

The JTN is intended to provide a link among owners and enthusiasts of the R1, R2, R3 and R4 powered Studebaker Larks and Hawks built for 1963 and 1964. We seek not only information about surviving cars but also parts which exist from "parted" units. Please submit all the data of which you are aware on any of the nearly 2000 such cars built. Feel free to make copies of this notice to share with others who may be interested. Your contributions both financial and material will help to ensure its survival.

This newsletter is available by subscription for $5 a year. JTN is published in March and September and the subscription always applies to the entire year. Advance payment of one or more years is welcomed. A reminder postcard is sent in January for due subscriptions.

If you are the owner of a previously unreported JT car, the owner of a removed JT engine, the locator of a parted JT car, or if you can refer the JTN to such an owner, you will be sent a one time, gratis issue for your effort. Please write, call or email. Please remit to G.J. (Ron) Ellerbe at the address below.

EDITOR & ROSTER KEEPER..... G.J. (Ron) Ellerbe, P.O. Box 1783, Simi Valley, CA 93062

Phone: (805)-522-4544 Email: ellerbe@pacbell.net

Paid subscribers: 165

Founding Editor: Don Curtis Past Editor: George Krem

Production Research : George Krem, Andy Petrass

Major Contributor: Richard La Torre, Nelson Bove, Bart Ladd, John Metzker

*************************************************************************************

JT Production Lists by Serial Number

These listings tabulate all cars built by serial and engine number and a few additional details. They are useful for determining the factory original state of that JT car and/or JT engine origins. The 1964 list has more information on each car than the 1963 list.

JT Owners Rosters: A single package contains the following 3 rosters: 1) owners of 1963 JT cars, 2) owners of 1964 JT cars, and 3) owners of engines pulled from JT cars.

JT 1963 Production Listing

$10

JT 1964 Production Listing

$10

JT Owner Rosters

$10

To order any of the above, make checks payable to the editor and remit to same.

*************************************************************************************

All address corrections should be sent to the editor.

*************************************************************************************

If you have a JT car to report, please supply the editor with the year, model, body style, VIN (driver’s door post), body # (firewall), engine type, engine # (top of block on driver’s side), transmission, interior and exterior colors. If it’s a ’63, please note if it has front fender badges and 160mph speedometer. Send a photo. For a loose JT or JTS engine, send the engine # and any info on the donor car.

 

The Mission of the Jet Thrust News

A permanent goal of the JTN is the maintenance of the owner rosters of ‘63 and ‘64 JT cars and loose engines. These 3 rosters are published on the PC. Reports of JT cars that the JTN receives go into the rosters. That includes changes of ownership, engine transplants, survivor discoveries and news of parted and crushed vehicles. "Loose" means the engine is no longer in its original car. The roster trio is available as shown on the title page. The original 1964 production summary listing is available as is a 1963 production listing. The JTN keeps a library of photos and build sheets. Please send JTN your photos and build sheet along with that JT story. JTN is keeping a detailed ledger of sightings and reports of JT cars that have not been identified by VIN. With the aid of the readership, we do our best to track down such sightings and reports. JTN counts on its readers to report such sightings and to aid in identification. This list has several dozen cars on it. Another part of the JTN mission is sharing of technical and historical information about Studebaker high performance from South Bend and Paxton Products during the 1963 and 1964 model years.

The library of photos has been assembled into an album. The photos in the album are in VIN order and were taken from many sources including the Internet, old Stude magazine coverage, TW issues and the US mail. There are nearly 200 cars represented. JTN always wants more. Photo prints in 4 by 6 inch format are ideal for use on the newsletter cover. Good cover photos are sought for those sharp JT gems out there.

Photocopies of back issues are available. $20 for a set of issues #1 - #18, postpaid. Contact your editor.

Roster News

Surviving cars found since the last issue

Owner

Car

Owner

Car

Larry Walter

63V29522 R2 package GT Hawk

Royal Lunde

63V20178 R1 GT Hawk

Paul Silvester

64V1270 R2 Commander

Tim Kobernik

64V8165 R1 package GT Hawk

Joe Baty

63V21201 R2 GT Hawk

John Poulos

63V20793 R1 GT Hawk

Nelson Bove

64V7036 R1 Daytona hardtop

(S) Nelson Bove

63V18160 R2 GT Hawk

Christee Streett

63V36624 R2 package GT Hawk

Larry Michael

63V13582 R2 GT Hawk

Joel Johnson

63V14685 R1 GT Hawk

   

(S) indicates source of information rather than owner

Cars determined to be non-surviving

Car

Car

Car

63V20119 R1 GT Hawk

64V15628 Daytona 4 dr

63V20547 R1 Cruiser

Found engines

Owner

Number

Bob Wagner

JTS1096 from 63V8090 GT Hawk

Kerry Dancy

JT1630 from 63V20119 GT Hawk

Kerry Dancy

JTK308 from one of 5 possible cars

Jim Feeney

JTS1216 from 63V8159 Cruiser

Joel Johnson

JT1629 from 63V20547 Cruiser

 

Cars sold

Owner

Car

Last owner

Bo Markham

63V29522 R2 package GT Hawk

Larry Walter

Tim Klein

64V8722 R1 Daytona 4 door

Kernan Stewart estate

Guy Vickerman

63V11012 R1 Custom 2 door

David Allan

Gentry Lane

63V8790 R2 GT Hawk

Marty Lucas

Mike Gahlbeck

63V12746 R1 Daytona

Richard Jewell

David Brown

64V16402 R2 GT Hawk

Wayne Francisco

Michael Racz

64V32990 R2 GT Hawk

Norman Shier

Everett Nauha

64V8983 R2 GT Hawk

Bob Shapton

Steve Doerschlag

63V10588 R2 Daytona Hardtop

unknown

Eddie George

64V7036 R1 Daytona Hardtop

Nelson Bove

Jeff Aldrich

63V1640 R2 GT Hawk

Gary Hein

Identifying dismantled JT cars continues to be a difficult task. Any ideas on accessibility to local and state government dismantled car rolls are welcome.

Contribution to ‘56 Golden Gawk and ‘58 Packard Hawk Rosters

There are some other Studebaker rosters being kept besides ours. Two such rosters are being kept on particular species of Hawks and JTN has at times contacted their keepers. One of these is for surviving ‘56 Golden Hawks. Frank Ambrogio, the well known editor of 56J Only, keeps the roster. Mike Williams maintains a roster of surviving ‘58 Packard Hawks. The number of high quality survivors of these two Hawks breeds is amazingly high. Frank has rostered over 200 cars and Mike has identified over 180. As with JT cars, sales of these cars makes tracking them a challenge to say nothing of original discovery. Frank and Mike have put enormous effort into their rosters. They both could use lookouts everywhere. Many a time has this editor walked by a sharp 56J or ’58 Packard Hawk at a meet and not taken down name, body #, engine # or VIN. So while we are checking out those JT gems, let’s do the same for the 56J and ‘58 Packard Hawk. Take your camera and note pad. Please send JTN any relevant information. The Packard Hawk web site is: www.packardhawk.com. The 56J web site is: www.1956goldenhawk.com.

Sacramento SDC International Meet

The major SDC event of 2003 is in the Far West on June 22 to 28. This is every Western owner’s opportunity to make a big time appearance with that sharp JT car. Headquarters is the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento. JTN readers and your editor are looking for a large turnout. There are plenty of JT cars within a day’s drive.

Harold Best’s R3 Champion

Among the finer pleasures of being a Studebaker enthusiast is an encounter with an "all-Studebaker" custom car or truck. Very special Studebakers have been built by owners over the years with R1, R2, R3 and R4 power. Other parties besides Paxton Products have built what the factory did not. Many of these cars are based on C and K bodies from 1953 to 1955. This article concerns a remarkable, top quality R3 powered ’53 Champion that was built by Idaho’s Harold Best. This stock C body coupe in Regal trim may well be the most impressive effort yet to execute the "all-Studebaker" custom formula. The attention to detail that Harold devoted to the car is second to none. Harold built the car in the greater Chicago area. George Krem deserves the credit for putting JTN and Harold Best in touch with one another.

Harold bought the car from Chuck Naugle in Arizona. The coupe was a 1954 C3, the base level of trim. Harold changed the front grill to that of a 53 and had the car titled and licensed as a 53. It was essentially a shell. The glass was shot, no engine, no tranny, no instrument panel, useless seats, but nice, essentially rust free, desert scrubbed sheet metal. Harold did a total body off, frame up restoration, which included detailed painting of all parts. Harold gave every piece of sheet metal an acid bath to ensure absence of rust. About a turn and a half was chopped off of the front springs for a lower ride. A heavy duty late-model Avanti front sway bar and late Hawk rear sway bar with air shocks went on the car with urethane bushings throughout. Ford 6" wheels mount wide Michelin blackwalls with authentic moon discs. The front tires are an inch shorter than the back. The cars sits butt high, rather saucy, but not too much. SuperHawk brake drums were included in a brand new Silicon fluid brake system. A 3.54 Dana 44 Twin Traction rear end with tapered axles, radius rods and sway bar went in the car.

The battery was relocated to the rear with an under-body master switch. A stainless steel exhaust system was started up by Ron Hall and finished after his death by an Illinois-based custom muffler shop. Turbo thrush mufflers were used. The transmission is a T-10 with Chevy bolt pattern. A stock flywheel was used along with a competition clutch.

As to the body, the hood is bull nosed and leaded where the lazy S/V shaped ornament was. Likewise, the trunk was shaved. Only the lock shows. Body color painted headlight rims, taillight trim and rear fender caps give the whole car a more sculpted, unified look. Thus, the only bright work is bumpers, grill, and windshield/rear window trim. Even the stainless drip moldings were omitted. The interior was built on Lark front seats and a stock rear seat that came from Australia. To allow for the T-10 floor shifter, no console was used. The seats were done professionally in an ivory grained, pleated Naugahyde. The headliner is a mouse gray soft mohair cloth. The instrument panel is from a late Hawk. Harold made a bird’s eye maple overlay and discarded all the instrument bezels (too gaudy) and flush mounted them. Instruments include a 120 mph speedometer and 6K tach All gauges look NOS. Cad plating was done to the hood hinges and springs, the accelerator linkage, the rear deck springs and hinges, the hood latching plate, as well as all hex bolts and washers connecting the sheet metal together at the upper front of the car. Also, all other exposed studs, washers, and nuts, especially under the car are stainless steel.

The engine is based on a standard full flow 289 block and has been graced with genuine Paxton surplus R3 heads, headers, intake, plenum chamber and carburetor. It’s not a B engine but has been outfitted and assembled as if it were. The production block was overbored 0.110" to 308 c.i.d. The greater part of the wiring harness is hidden. An alternator mounted chip serves as the voltage regulator. Handmade aluminum holddowns secure the remaining harness. A billet valley cover lurks under the intake manifold and the valve covers are single breather type. A crankcase breather tube was added. John Erb calculated a trio of deck height options, 0.086 for 9:1 compression, 0.062 for 8.5:1, and 0.030 for 8:1. Harold chose the 8.5:1 option. The engine has no detonation with premium gas even when lugged down to 5mph in fourth gear.

The pistons are Ford 6 cylinder 240cid forged pistons, making procurement inexpensive. The wrist pins were punched out .038 oversize and re-centered to no more than .015 off the original center. A ninth rod was used for set up. The pinch bolts were retained, thus not R3 full floaters. Erb said there was no need for a windage tray and cited excessive heat as the reason for not using a high volume oil pump. The oil pressure is fine as is.

Erb designed the cam and did all the mathematics for adaptation to the Ford. The high valve lift leaves literally no base circle. Racer Brown did the actual cam grinding and rates it at 7k rpm. Intake duration is 292 degrees. Exhaust is 272 degrees. The net lift (hot) is .432 for intake, .410 for exhaust. The camshaft profile is ST-8-SS-19-110. Iskenderian double valve springs were fitted and a 2 1/2 degree offset key advances the cam. The only work done on the heads was some light topside machine work to nest the Isky double springs correctly. It's really rumpety rump. Erb remilled the impeller on the blower in addition to adding a high output pulley.

Ron Hall helped cobble up a 6 quart crankcase out of two complete ones. The car has a 12 volt electrical system. The car goes great, although Harold is not prone to lean on it.

Harold has used three distributors. The first was a Delco-Stude vacuum advance. The second is a wonderfully exotic and rare Mallory dual point model with four lobes for each point (it’s a stinker to time), made for Studebakers with an Aluminum case and brass encased condensor. The third is a centrifugal Chevy type Delco. A Mallory coil is used with all three distributors. The Chevy unit is in the car now. Harold plans to eventually use the Mallory since it's a beauty. Hot plugs proved to be the solution to ignition break up.

The whole thing fits under a stock 53 hood beautifully. The only sheet metal modification was a pocket for the blower to clear the right side inner fender apron. The cooling system uses two pulling fans and a later model upper and lower tank with a new high cooling two row core. There is no fan shroud because of clearance problems with the R3 blower/water manifold set up. Besides, fan shrouds are not pretty. Harold is not entirely satisfied with cooling as on hot days the temperature climbs toward 200 degrees on a long ride.

The car was finished in Deltron Cessna Hawaiian Red. Harold did all of the painting under the hood and under the body, and started to do the body panels but found out that wearing a full face mask bifocals were not compatible. Scott Stastny and others put the final paint load on top. The car has no undercoating and everything is detailed underneath. Harold rubbed out the underside finish.

As to future improvements, rework of the radiator may be in order. Harold isn’t quite satisfied the sill plates. He’s thinking of finely crafted stainless or billet plates. The trunk floor is yet to be upholstered. Harold has an overdrive kit for a T10 and has toyed with the installing a T5. The car could use overdrive with the 3.54 rear end for cruising. (Ed note: That would provide gearing similar to the 2003 Ford SVT Cobra.) Harold keeps the coupe in excellent show shape and sees the 53 chromeless body as a one-of-a-kind flash of genius.

 

Bob Shapton and 64V8983 R2 GT Hawk at the Muscle Car Drags

Bob writes: It was good to read about the results of the PSMCD races in Stanton. This was the first time ever that I raced, and a first for my Hawk. I had a GREAT time and was VERY pleased with the way the Hawk performed. I had not done any preparation and was even worried whether the car would get us there since it mysteriously quit halfway to Stanton. Must have been some bad gas, since after I got it going again it was fine the rest of the trip. We had left home Thursday morning at 9:45am with funny rattling noises from under the hood. I thought perhaps my supercharger was on its way out and worried/figured a couple of good races might finish it off totally. Car quit when we stopped in London for gas. Had trouble starting it again and it was backfiring and bogging badly. So we parked it and went for lunch. After we got going again it seemed OK so we continued to Michigan. Arrived at our destination at 5:30pm and checked into the motel. There were a few other Studebakers staying at the same place and I had Ted Harbit listen to my 'rattle'. We discovered it was a bad water pump, so the next morning I got Ted to sell me his spare pump and I swapped it out in the pits, cutting a new cardboard gasket from a biscuit package. Thank goodness it wasn't the SC after all! Then we went for the time trials.

My first run got me: 60ft. - 2.42; 1/8mi. - 10.789; 1/4mi. - 16.617/84.05mph, with a reaction time of .900

second run was: 60ft. - 2.489; 1/8mi. - 9.581; 1/4mi. - 16.600 / 83.93mph, r/t .753

At this point I figured I'd try some 120 octane gas so bought a couple of gallons at $4.50 a gallon.

third run:60ft. - 2.48; 1/8mi. - 10.878; 1/4mi. - 16.882 / 80.01mph, r/t .571

4th run: 60ft. - 2.554; 1/8mi. - 11.065; 1/4mi. - 16.944 / 83.22mph, r/t .500

So I figured the gas wasn't such a great investment. The only improvement was my 'perfect' reaction time of .500 (.499 is a red light) which everyone said they had rarely seen done before. I tried one more run before quitting for the day: 60ft. - 2.501; 1/8mi. - 10.766; 1/4mi. - 16.524 / 84.93mph, r/t .467 (red light!) ... so it was my best time of the day but I started 3 /100ths too soon.

The next day I was staged early with the car not fully heated up. My final 2 runs were: 60ft. - 2.423; 1/8mi. - 10.507; 1/4mi. - 16.156 / 86.39mph, r/t .816 60ft. - 2.377; 1/8mi. - 10.466; 1/4mi. - 16.155 / 85.64mph. r/t .666

I had a lot of fun and feel I could probably get into the 15s with some new plugs, wires, timing adjustment and a K&N filter. A less restrictive exhaust might help also .... my car was by far the quietest one there. All in all I'm quite pleased. I figure it's respectable for a 38 year old 289cu.in. car with auto trans, a 3.31 rear axle ratio, that weighed in at 3842lbs and with no race prep at all.

The ride home was uneventful except for the hailstorm we barely missed. My brother was following about 5 minutes behind me and he had to have the roof and hood of his Dodge Caravan refinished because of the hail damage. Thank goodness we avoided that!

Some Information Regarding the R-3 Engines by Jon Myer

Over the years I have made up a Roster of R-3 engines and it comes up to around 100 to 125 total made. Some of the last ones didn't have R-3 heads on them. The major differences are as follows: Starting with a selected block they were over bored .093 and then they had a special chamfer put on each side of each bore for valve clearance between valve head and block. These were necessary because the heads were made up to fit a larger block of 340 cu. in. and 360 cu. in. I know there were some 340 blocks cast and several have been out and around and one offered for sale a few years ago. The exhaust valve in the R-3 head is same size as intake valve in the STD. R-1 or R-2 head. The intake valve in the R-3 head is much larger. You can't put both of these R-3 valves in the Std. R-1 or R-2 head, because what Studebaker did to get these in the head was to move the valves 1/8 of an inch outward so there is a total of 1/4 in. more space between center lines on the valves. This is why there needs to be a chamfer on each side of bore. The inlet ports are also very, very large by comparison. If you lay a gasket from the R-1 on the R-3 head, it wouldn't seal as there is still port opening showing at top and bottom at the outside edge when centered. To do this the floor inside the head where water circulates was moved down and the roof was moved up. These are some of the reasons you can't make a set of R-3 heads up out of R-1 or R-2 heads. The block also had a very small 1/8 " hole drilled between cyl. Bores for water transfer because of the chamfer on each bore. The normal head has about a 3/8" hole here and it won't work with the R-3 heads because the R-3 head gasket will hit it and won't seal.

Next the cam was totally different and much wilder plus on a different lobe separation angle than the R-1 or R-2. The R-1 and R-2 cam is same #1557663 in both engines, but the R-3 cams were offered as a mild 276 degree or the wilder 288 degree cam. The 288 degree cam in the R-3 was not a very lumpy cam but when it is used in the R-1 or R-2 engine even when over bored is a lot of cam unless you go hog wild on the heads and use the R-3 headers and intake. This brings us to the next two items that were totally different. The exhaust manifolds were truly a work of art and were completely divided inside so the exhaust gases coming from the #8 cylinder didn't interfere with exhaust from #2, 4, or 6 on that side and front rear and center were all separated inside the manifold. These are good for seat of the pants difference and gas mileage increase when used on a Std. or R-1 & R-2 engine.

The next item was the intake manifold and it was aluminum instead of cast iron and was set up to fit the larger ports on the R-3 heads. The runners are larger and it is phased differently. The carb was larger CFM and was installed inside a large aluminum air box that said R-3 on it, made the engine look very mysterious when the hood was opened. The distributor was a non-vacuum unit and only used centrifugal advance. The oil pump was also different and had longer gears and because the pan was also deeper by 1" it had a longer pick up on it. This was where they made a large mistake. They didn't make the body of the oil pump any thicker, they just cut the hole for gears deeper and when used hard and in some cases not so hard, the one idler pin hole wasn't deep enough to hold the pin for the idler gear and it would come loose. This is not exactly a good thing to happen when doing 4000 to 6000 RPM. It isn't even a good thing to have happen at idle. I have on hand about 6 different R-3 oil pumps and all of them have this problem. If only they had made the pin longer and a small recess in thrust cover it would have cured the problem. The engines all were completely balanced and all the parts had the engine number on them. On one of my R-3 engines (B-83) the number B-83 appears on the end of the crank, crank pulley, water pump pulley, and back and front of block. They also come with Forgedtrue pistons and no expanders behind the oil rings to cut down on friction. Of the 7 R-3 engines I have, 4 of them have a special plug welded into left lower corner of oil pan for some type of temp sender. The rods in the R-3 engine didn't have the Studebaker wrist pin taper locks like all other V-8s and were a press fit in the rod and float in piston.

So as you can see there wasn't much that was same on these as on an R-1 or R-2. Another little difference was because they didn't use a PCV valve, they put 2 breathers on each valve cover and used a breather cap at top of the oil pan breather tube. These oil caps are 1 1/2" inside diameter instead of the standard 1 3/8" used on all other "R" series engines. The R-4 was all the same except it used a dual 4BBL aluminum intake with 2 AFBs on it and also had a 12 1/2 to 1 compression ratio. The R-4 was only rated at 290 horse power same as the R-2 so not much difference except the WOW appeal of 2 AFB 4 BBL carbs on top of the engine like all the other car makers had at this time. The R-3 was the ultimate engine from Studebaker that was available and was rated at 335HP. I have one that was dynoed at 410 and know they put out more than 335HP. The Plain Brown Wrapper 64 Lark should tell you this. It would depend on the Supercharger that was on the engine when it was dynoed. My son Michael has one of our tweaked SN-60s on his Avanti and is getting 10 to 12 pounds out of it. He had to put a stainless steel tube between super charger and air box on his car as the rubber hose would blow up, and split open 1st time he stood on it, after going thru 3 hoses in 1 day we decided to go with the stainless steel insert tube and just use very short corners of the rubber and then put a couple of hose clamps over these. It worked just fine. So if the unit used on the engine being dynoed wasn't set up right, they wouldn't have gotten as much out of the engine They also were not rating engines at true HP because of the insurance industry at this time. Chrysler's Hemi was rated at 425 HP and everyone knows it was closer to 550 to 600 HP.

The true R-3 engines have a "B" letter followed by number 1 through about 125 after it in 1/8" size stamped on the front same place as all engine ID numbers are found and again on the back next to the distributor except those installed by the factory in the 10 factory made R-3 cars. There were 10 prototype R-3 engines made of both 299 cu.in. (.060 over) & 304 cu. in. (.093 overbore) and I have one of them, #A10 which is 304 cu.in. but has an Isky cam in it. I also have a couple of Racer Brown cams that were used and tried by Paxton while they were playing with these engines. There were 2 different R-3 head castings made. One has the casting number 1543971 over center exhaust port and seems to be the early head, the other one has 1555479 same place and seems to be the most common.

Letters from readers

Royal Lunde, 63V20178 and the 4K mile executive GT Royal ordered a silver R1 GT Hawk with tan interior at Dave Williams Studebaker in Stoughton, WI. While waiting for the order to fill, the dealer offered Royal an "executive" car. Royal bought the car, 63V20178 and still has it. The car is a Rose Mist R1 Hawk whose original shipping destination was Alhambra, CA. Was the silver R1 Hawk actually built and delivered?

Bob Wagner and 63V8090 Bob salvaged the frame and engine, JTS1096, from this Allegheny area R2 GT Hawk.. The engine is complete except for blower.

Joe Baty and 63V21201 Joe writes: This car is a 1963 R2 Hawk. The engine no. is JTS 1498 The car is running and driveable. The interior is original and in fair shape. It has a small tear in the drivers seat. It is in need of a paint job and will be professionally repainted this spring. I bought this car (my first Stude) in 1991 from the original owner who had just moved to OK from Sacramento, CA The car is well optioned, it has all vinyl seats, twin traction (3:31), PDB, PS, 4-speed, HD springs, sway bars front and rear, AM push-button radio with rear deck antenna, trunk light, glove box light, and a tissue dispenser. The original owner had the supercharger removed in the 1970's and had A/C installed. The S/C mounting brackets were the only parts left. I have since then located all the correct S/C parts (not an easy job) but I have not installed the supercharger. I rebuilt the engine in 1996, it was in very good shape internally so I decided against reboring the block, the crankshaft, pistons etc. were dynamically balanced and the journals were micro-polished and fitted with 0.001" bearings. The car now has a total of 133,000 miles on it (about 10,000 since the rebuild). One interesting thing about the car is it has an R2 badge on the grille. I thought they only came on Superhawks (Ed: He’s right.) The original owner insisted it was on the car when he bought it new, and according to the production order, it isn't a Superhawk.

Steve Doerschlag and the JT Trio Steve owns and has restored three Colorado JT cars. These are 63V 1572, a gold R2 GT Hawk, 63V10588, a White R2 Daytona hardtop that is now blue, and 63V13279, a black R2 Custom.

Tim Kobernik and 64V8165 Tim contacted JTN and Andy Beckman of the Studebaker National Museum independently. It was learned that Tim has an ’64 GT Hawk that looks ordinary but actually is the R2 package 64V8165 with a 259 engine.

Paul Silvester and 64V1270 Barely had the ink dried on issue # 18 with the ’64 R2 Commander summary when news of a ’64 R2 Commander arrived. Paul Silvester provided a report of 64V1270, the lone non-package R2 Commander, in MA. Thanks go to Michael Bostedt for helping JTN find Silvester. The car’s VIN has not been confirmed but the color, equipment and point of sale all point to 1270.

Dave Mottle and 63V36624 SDC Director and ’63 R2 Hawk owner Dave Mottle located and identified 63V36624, the R2 package GT Hawk that has been lurking in New Mexico. The car is Champagne Gold with 4 speed and Gold/White interior. It’s street worthy but in poor condition.