1961 Studebaker Hawk: the last year of the original body

For 1961, the last year of the original Hawk body before a major restyle, Studebaker added an optional four-speed manual transmission, a bucket-seat interior, and a rear-fender color accent to the lineup. The Studebaker National Museum reports the four-speed was popular with buyers, fitted to over 40 percent of that year's production, though it gives only that percentage rather than a specific unit count, so no four-speed total can be derived from the museum's own language. The 289 V8 remained the standard US engine at 210 hp, or 225 hp with the optional four-barrel carburetor and dual exhaust; the 259 V8 and 170 six stayed export-only. Production totaled 3,929 Hawks at a base price of $2,650, both figures drawn from sources that agree with one another for the year.^1,2

A secondary source's export six-cylinder figure for 1961 is printed as 2,266 units, against that 3,929 total; this record's own production notes observe that the 2,266 figure is exactly ten times the 227 the same page gives for the year before, raising the possibility of a printing or transcription error in one direction or the other, though no other source was found to check either number against. This record carries the 2,266 figure as printed rather than silently correcting it, and does not treat it as part of, or in addition to, the 3,929 total, since the source itself does not say which relationship applies. The production notes are explicit that this unconfirmed export-six figure is not used to derive any separate V8 count or domestic total for the year, leaving the 3,929 figure as the only total this record treats as established.²

The 289 two-barrel is rated 210 hp, rising to 225 hp with the four-barrel carburetor and dual exhaust, SAE gross, and remained the sole standard engine offered in the domestic US market. The export-only 259 V8 and 170 six are documented together in a single combined entry, with no separate horsepower or torque ratings found for either engine, only their availability restricted to export markets. The new four-speed manual transmission is documented solely as an option, with no separate price found and no production count beyond the museum's 'over 40 percent' language; no other transmission listing, automatic or otherwise, was found in an accessible documented source for the year.^1,2

Ten exterior colors were charted for the 1961 model year: eight standard colors offered line-wide across the Studebaker range, running from Black Velvet and Ermine through Riviera Blue, Green Jade, Desert Sand, Blaze, Suntone, and Autumn Haze; a Flamingo shade specifically footnoted as optional on convertibles and Hawks only; and a Pearl Beige that appears on the year's separate paint-chip chart but not in the body-plate ordering table, a discrepancy between the two references within the same source that this record does not resolve. Ten Hawk-specific interior trim codes are documented for the year: blue, green, brown, and red-and-black cloth, and black, blue, green, brown, red, and tan vinyl, a four-cloth, six-vinyl split.³

Engine numbers for 1961 Hawk 289s started at P-74,701, in the 61V series, for US-built cars, with Canadian-built units starting at a separate PC-2,501 series instead. Body codes ran 61S-C6 for the Hawk six coupe and 61-V-C6 for the Hawk V8 coupe, stamped on a body plate riveted to the cowl under the hood, giving the year, engine, and body designation alongside a separate trim code. The Hawk held its established 120.5-inch wheelbase for the year; reported weights ran 2,860 lb for the export six and 3,207 lb for the V8, a 347-lb gap between the two, with neither weighing basis stated in the source. No pricing was found for either the bucket-seat interior or the rear-fender color accent beyond their being named as options, and no performance-test data was found in an accessible documented source for the year, so those sections carry nothing further in this record.^4,5,2