Packard Forum Index » Studebaker Built Packards (1957 - 58)

See this eBay listing -http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1957-PACKARD-V8-HAWK-GENUINE-COLLECTOR-S-CAR-/251015234560?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3a71ac8400

Nice looking Packard Hawk for a starting bid of GBP 12,000.00. However, shipping anywhere outside of the UK must cost a small fortune.

This car was auctioned off at Bonhams ten days ago for 4945 BP ($7867.69 USD at the then exchange rate).

There are some issues that any buyer needs to be aware of. The supercharger is missing and the fins are painted brown (?) and don't have the mylar. Stude Hawks had painted fins - P.H.s were covered in gold mylar.

Bonhams could not find a door jamb data plate, a cowl tag or a stamped chassis number on this car. Why? Even if one were to have repainted the car and foolishly chiseled off the door jamb plate and lost the cowl tag, the stamped chassis number should still be there.

The engine has been swapped out for a later Studebaker Lark engine. The car was supposed to have been in a private collection for years and had less than 50,000 miles on it. Those Stude 289's are bricks - they don't wear out in less than 50,000 miles unless you beat them to death - this car was in a private collection? How did it then get abused to the point where the engine - the last thing with a unique number that can identify it specifically as a Packard Hawk, and not a Studebaker Hawk with P.H. parts bolted on - had to be replaced?

The folks that sold it through Bonhams knew that it was a rare auto because they used the Wickipedia description of it almost word-for-word, so they had to know how important things like correct serial numbers are. Something doesn't add up.

If you want a P.H. for the look and don't care about provenance, I guess it's not an issue; but anyone purchasing this car that wants to be sure they have a true P.H. really needs to do his/her homework and track the car all the way back to first sale and then check with SNM to see if they have the build sheet for it.

All that aside, it seems to have survived well enough whatever it is, though I'd sure like to get a look at the floor under that carpeting to see if it's even there.