CarBrandLogos archive · Packard · 1958

PackardHawk

A one-year badge exercise, and the sad end of a great American marque.

Photo: Greg Gjerdingen from Willmar, USA · CC BY 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Packard history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Packard Hawk, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

By 1958 Packard existed only as a trim variation. The company had merged with Studebaker, its Detroit plant was closed, and cars wearing the name were built at South Bend on Studebaker bodies. The Hawk was the most extreme of them: a Studebaker Golden Hawk given a low fibreglass nose with a wide, mouth-like intake, a supercharged 289 cubic inch V8, an automatic transmission, and padded leather armrests fitted to the outside of the doors so that occupants could rest their elbows out of the windows.

1958 Packard Hawk Convertible · User J Clear on en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

Opinion was hostile at the time and has not improved much since. Fewer than 600 were built in the single model year, and the name was retired at the end of it after 59 years.

1958Packard Hawk · BUTTON74 · CC BY-SA 4.0