1956 to 1961 Hawks – Rock River Valley Chapter SDC

Hawk Identification score cards:

The score cards below show the correct features for Hawks to the best of this authors information. However, when looking at Hawks for sale today, you may very well see features from several different years mixed on the same car. This is because a lot of the parts will fit Hawks they were not intended for. One of the best examples is to find the 1957 through 1963 deck lid on a 1956 Hawk. A 1956 Hawk hood will fit on 1957 to 1959 Silver Hawks or the 1960 or 1961 Hawk. Two-tone paint also get a lot of non-authentic application, both in color choices and location.

A lot of the information was taken from Fred Fox’s October 1992 Turning Wheels article “Studebaker Hawks: a primer”.

Hawk Tail Fin Tells
	1956 Golden Hawk rear fin. This is the only 1956 Hawk to have a small fiberglass fins. Because it was a hardtop, a tell for 1956 is the “Check Mark” side trim.
	1956 Sky Hawk rear fender. No fins, chrome trim on the top of the fender. Because it’s a hardtop, the “Check Mark” side trim.
	1956 Hawk coupes (Power Hawk) & (Flight Hawk). No fins, chrome trim on top of the fender, no “Check Mark”. Narrow two-tone paint trim molding after the rear window and before the deck lid.
	1957 & 58 Golden Hawk, five chevrons. The top and bottom trim comes to a point in line with the door handle. No Hawk badges.
	1957 & 58 Silver Hawk, no chevrons, the bottom trim is straight and lined up below the door handle. The top trim curves down to the straight trim.
	1959 would be the only year with “Silver” & “Hawk” script and a black background Hawk badge. The front trim no longer comes to a point.
	1960 only “Hawk” script with a red background Hawk badge near the rear of the fin and three chevrons near the front. Same front trim with no point.
	1961 the “Hawk” script moves to the front and the red background hawk badge moves to the rear. A new center trim molding creates a narrow color band.

Hawk Grille & Signal Lights Tells
	All 1956 Hawks would have the same hood, hood ornament, signal lights and grille badge. The side grilles would be plain with out ornamentation as would the 1957 Silver Hawk. However, only 1956 Hawks would have the fender mounted lights back from the headlight rings around four inches.
	The three moldings in the side grilles identify 1957 Golden Hawks (the only year they are seen). The fiberglass overlay with a simple gold “V” badge is present on all 57 & 59 Golden Hawks, needed to clear the supercharger. The fender mounted lights are mounted closer to the headlight rings.
	The 1957 Silver Hawk would have plain side grilles like all 1956 Hawks and use the same hood ornament as 1956, however the bulge behind the ornament would now taper all the way to the cowl edge of the hood. Also 1957 Hawks would have the fender mounted signal lights closer to the headlight rings then they are on this car. The accent color (white) should be inside the outer grilles not the base color as shown here.
	1958 Golden Hawk shown. The fender signal lights were close to the headlight rings as they should be. They also have grown fins (the only year those fins would be seen.) Side grilles now have mesh. A new round hawk badge is seen on the grille, unique to only 1958 Hawks.
	1959 Silver Hawk shown. The hood ornament and the bulge behind it look exactly like the former 1957 & 1958 Silver Hawks and the future 1960 & 1961 Hawks. The mesh inside the side grilles is the same as 1958 Hawks. However the signal lights have moved off the fenders and inside the side grilles. The large round hawk grille badge is gone in favor of a smaller round badge with a black background.
	1960 Silver Hawk shown. The only difference between the 1959 Silver Hawk shown above and 1960 & 1961 Hawks is that the background color in the grille badge is red instead of black. This very minor change makes 1959 to 1961 Hawks hard to identify from the front.

These badges were seen on the front grilles, some rear decks (1956 to 1958), some rear fins (1959 to 1961)

1956 & 1957 Hawk Badges	1958 Hawk Grille Badge	1959 Hawk Badge	1060 & 1961 Hawk Badges

Hawk Rear Deck Tells
	The decklid for 1956 are unique because of the combination lock and badge molding in the center required a flat spot in the grooves which would not be present on later Hawks. All four Hawks for 1956 have name script on the left side of the molding and “Hawk” script on the right in chrome.
	In 1957 through 1961 the lock would be in the same place and small and simple and the flat spot from 1956 removed. The badge & script is moved to the lower right side. Golden Hawk script would be gold and Silver Hawk script would be chrome. This pattern would carry on for 1958 as well.
	1959, 1960, and 1961 decklids are all alike. The prior rear badging would move to the rear fins. Bold block “Studebaker” lettering in chrome would be centered just below the lock. Like the front, this makes these years hard to identify from the rear.