Join us for a two-minute tour of the intriguing Studebaker product lineup for 1956 in this company promotional reel.
By 1956 the Studebaker-Packard Corporation was in serious trouble, but that didn’t stop the automaker from attempting to put its best foot forward. The merger of Studebaker and Packard had provided no financial relief, but Studebaker pressed forward anyway with a cleverly refreshed product line.
The four-door sedans (President, Commander, and Champion) and wagons, whose designs dated back to 1953, were treated to redesigned sheet metal below the greenhouse. While clearly a half measure, the facelift did manage to provide a fresh new look on the company’s sorely limited resources.
Meanwhile, the original Bourke-Loewy 1953 coupe, regarded to this day as one of the most beautiful cars of the ’50s, was repackaged and repurposed as the Hawk model line. No fewer than Four Hawks were offered for 1956: the premium Golden Hawk, the V8-powered Power Hawk and Sky Hawk, and the value-priced six-cylinder Flight Hawk. In this promotional film, the Hawk theme is described as “a new kind of automobile—a sports car and family car in one,” and there are some great views of the Euro-style interior and instrument panel. And check out the presenters: a troop of harlequins. Please enjoy the clip.
Cool video, always liked the Hawk. The President seemed pretty dated, considering what the other car makers were producing. I was, however, intrigued by the “Cyclops” speedometer. Apparently, it was a drum that rotated and the numbers were different colors. Pretty creepy. Thanks, MCG. ( oh, pretty low buck commercial, too, I’d bet)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dWnEi-7Bhzc/T96YPEhdlTI/AAAAAAAAQao/hvUKhH9yaKk/s1600/Studebaker-President-Sedan-3.jpg
The Cyclops speedometer only appealed to real cyclops, thus the reason for poor sales. Everything about that car looks so Ethyl Mertz when compared to the offerings of the Big Three. Now the ’56 Golden Hawk was sexy and its fins weren’t on the same steroids of the ’57.
The Golden Hawk had some potential for the emerging performance market but the company failed to adopt the race on Sunday, sell on Monday strategy the Big 3 was using so effectively. The rest of their lines showed the heavy hand of Packard styling which lost its pizazz in the 30s and never evolved past the land yachts of old.
Please do a story on the Studebaker Hawks. That would be awesome.
I have always loved the Lowey coupe Studes, even with some of the questionable upgrades through the years. The Hawk still had the basic shape of the 53, and carried on the line I think pretty well. It’s too bad the management apparently had no idea what they were doing, I would have loved to see the Hawk continued into the 70’s. Studebaker was always ahead of their time, the aerodynamics of the Hawk would have been right at home in the 70’s and even the 80’s. Maybe one day I can own one.
The Hawks were always a very attractive and well made car. Underpowered though. I have never seen a 6 cyl Hawk, I guess we only got V8s here in Oz.
I actually like that President, it is as modern as anything else of the era. The rest do look a little dated though.
~ The court jester costumes are mighty strange!
My Dad drove a ’56 President for several years. The entire family made semiannual trips, Iowa/New England, to deliver or retrieve my brothers to/from college. Camped across America and toured through history in that car.