Poll: Which Studebaker? (5/16/2025)

John!! I have always loved the Avanti. I have always loved the Hawk GT. Why have I not ever thought about "Which one" I like the best??

 OMG! What a choice! The Hawk for a formal James Bond cruise to the Princess' Ball. The Avanti for a quick spin around Monte Carlo.

I hear Monaco calling - Avanti!!

Avanti is styling beyond my liking, too much for me.  I have always liked the '63 Hawk styling.  Although I would not have bought one back in the day, I would like to own one in my old age. 

Diabolically difficult. I voted Avanti, but no doubt could vote differently in 5 minutes. Both beautiful.

@perrone1 Tony, you bring up a good point as I never considered one against the other. I love both of these cars for different reasons. I owned a 63 Avanti in Avanti Gold with a Borg Warner automatic  and factory A/C. Half way through the restoration a friend made me an offer that I couldn't refuse. To this day I regret having sold that car. IMO the Hawk is a touring car while the Avanti was a sports car. Love both but I'm picking the Avanti.

Posted by: @bob-jackman

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@perrone1 Tony, you bring up a good point as I never considered one against the other. I love both of these cars for different reasons. I owned a 63 Avanti in Avanti Gold with a Borg Warner automatic  and factory A/C. Half way through the restoration a friend made me an offer that I couldn't refuse. To this day I regret having sold that car. IMO the Hawk is a touring car while the Avanti was a sports car. Love both but I'm picking the Avanti.

The Avanti is a very interesting car for sure but I have always found its styling to be a bit odd; particularly the flow of its body line and also having no traditional grille.  I don't dislike it at all but wouldn't want to own one.  I have always appreciated the sporty look of this era Studebaker.  Although the styling is based on the Golden Hawk of years previous and could be called dated, it is is unique for this early 60s styling era and the updates to the original are still very attractive IMHO.  These cars are of different classes, sports and touring, as several others have commented, which makes choosing one a bit more challenging as well.  My choice is the Hawk; the one I would love to have in my garage.

I like this pairing. It made me think. I believe Bob nailed it. The Hawk is more of a tourer. But there's more here.
While I always thought the Hawk was one of the best redesigns ever to come out of Detroit, it still had the air about it that this was a company trying hard to make the most out of what it had. In an era with fresh designs every year, this one was an immediate classic upon introduction. But by the time of the GT, it had been stretched, folded, finned, de-finned, cluttered up, smoothed out, and reprocessed for over ten years. The Avanti was bold, polarizing, daring, and reeked of sophistication and Continental flair. I loved it when I saw the first photos in magazines. But it immediately became an all-time favorite when I saw it in person. 

Can't decide so it's a tie for me. 

Steve 

I've  always loved the Avanti since sitting in one at the local Studebaker dealer.

Incredibly difficult choice as I love both for different reasons, neither of which is separable from these fine cars. I agree, the Avanti is a unique sophisticated design with a Continental flair that stands out for attention. The GT (Hawk) goes back to 1953 in concept and design but is an impressive evolution from the original. I have to go a tie here even though that does not seem to be a choice offered this time. Was that intentional, John?

The Hawk for me, easy choice. The Avanti is nice, and I like to see them. For me, the Hawk has sophisticated class and style that is just perfect. If a classic car is ever on my horizon, the Hawk would be a top five contender.

@david-vandermeer 

What's not to fall in love with ? The Avanti has an awesomely beautiful interior. The early '60s T-Birds and first gen Riviera's are right there too IMO. 

Steve 

Again, two very beautiful but very different cars. today I'm going with the Avanti.