1959 Studebaker Silver Hawk

Studebaker first planned to cancel the Hawk for 1959 after poor 1958 sales; dealers objected, and under the compromise only the coupe-bodied Silver Hawk returned, with a 259 V8 rated 180 hp or a 170 six rated 90 hp. A club compilation of Studebaker engine records confirms the 289 was not offered in any 1959-model Studebaker passenger car, so the supercharged engine and the plain 289 both disappeared from the Hawk lineup for the year along with the Golden Hawk nameplate itself; this record's own overview names only the Silver Hawk for 1959, with no hardtop body offered at all.^1,2

The Studebaker National Museum gives 7,788 Silver Hawks total, and its own two engine rows, 5,371 V8 and 2,417 six, sum exactly to that total, with no gap or conflict to reconcile. A second source's "Production 7788" line independently matches the museum's own total, giving this year's figure two matching lineages rather than only one; the V8 outsold the six by a margin of more than two to one, a mix this record notes without a stated reason from either source.^1,3

The 259 two-barrel is rated 180 hp, rising 15 hp with the optional four-barrel carburetor and dual exhaust per the museum's own footnote; the standard 170 six is rated 90 hp. Factory prices ran $2,495 for the V8 and $2,360 for the six, a $135 gap between the two engines. No transmission listing and no torque figure for either engine were found in an accessible documented source for the year, and no separate rpm figure for either horsepower rating was found either. Both the 259 V8's rating and its production count of 5,371 come from the same museum row, so this record treats them as a single sourced pairing rather than two separately confirmed figures.¹

Four exterior colors, Bahama Blue, Bamboo Yellow, Cameo Beige, and Seamist Green, are documented from a 1960 paint-chip source describing them as 1959 spring colors offered line-wide across the Studebaker range; the source does not state whether any of the four were actually available on the Silver Hawk specifically, so this record carries them without assuming Hawk applicability, and no standard-color chart for the Silver Hawk itself, and no interior trim or upholstery listing, were found. The Silver Hawk held the 120.5-inch wheelbase, with reported weights of 2,795 lb for the six and 3,140 lb for the V8, a 345-lb gap, and neither weighing basis stated.^4,3

Model codes ran 59S-C6 for the six and 59V-C6 for the V8, the "S" and "V" letters distinguishing the six-cylinder and V8 series respectively across Studebaker's 1959 lineup. Engine numbers for 1959 259 V8s in US-built Larks started at V-418,701, with Canadian-built 1959 Lark and Hawk 259s starting at VC-14,701 instead, a separate series specifically for the Canadian plant's own output; a separate body-code compilation independently confirms that no 289 was offered in any 1959 Studebaker passenger car, matching the engine-identification source's own note. No exterior identification detail beyond these model and engine-number codes, no options list, and no performance-test data were found in an accessible documented source for the year.^3,2,5