Welcome back to a journey through alternate universes where Studebaker not only survived but thrived into the 1970s. What would the Gran Turismo Hawk be? A personal luxury car? A rebadged Mercedes? A muscle car? Where would the market lead Studebaker?
By the time I was done exploring this question I had generated over seventy images of cars from Crisis on Infinite Hawks. On balance, the vast majority were from universes where the Hawk existed, but it was a very boring, awkward, and ugly state of affairs. I’ll save those for a future post, because even if they aren’t good, they’re still interesting. But for now, let’s limit our exploration to the twenty-odd cars I thought were the best. As usual, I’ve numbered the pictures for easy discussion in the comments.
01
This picture doesn’t follow my rule for visible front signals, but I let that slide because I love the massive one-piece grille and bumper assembly. Also, those trapezoidal side markers are pretty sweet.
02
This one looks like Studebaker went down the copycat route and tried to replicate a Monte Carlo or Grand Prix. A lot of the cars the AI generated look this way. They’re less specifically Studebaker and more an amalgamation of what others were making at the time. But weren’t a lot of 1970’s cars “Me-too” designs? I cut the AI a bit of slack on the personal luxury Hawks, because there’s a certain formula most companies followed, and I think that’s well-represented here.
03
But don’t worry, not everything is cookie-cutter. This has a sixties feel and the bumper probably wouldn’t pass 1975 bumper safety standards, but it exudes class. That grille would work well on a Packard, no?
04
What if the Hawk went down the pony car route and channeled the Camaro (a bit too much)?
05
What if Studebaker strengthened ties to Mercedes and the Hawk became a restyled SL?
06
Or in this universe, they stuck a formal grille on some other coupe from Europe. Maybe an Opel? It has a European GM flavor to it.
07
Or what if Studebaker had the resources to build something beautiful and exclusive? This is my favorite. It just drips with power and class, without looking like anything else from 1975. The lighting and composition on this one help, too, as if it were pulled straight out of a glossy brochure.
08
The nose on this is unique, if awkward, but what I truly like about it is the Avanti-inspired roofline. Design continuity for the win! But those massive headlight pods? Meh.
09
Another escapee from the sixties, I think. Still, it looks refined and expensive.
10
The striping on this reminds me of those Bicentennial-edition Chevys. In this universe the Hawk is just a sporty edition of whatever full-size car Studebaker is producing. You might as well call it the Commander SS.
11
Another nice beak that wouldn’t pass a 5-mph crash test. It reminds me of the love child of a Cutlass and a Grand Prix. Is it riding too high? Sometime the AI makes the cars look a little awkward. Also, it’s nice to see the AI properly replicating 1970s panel gaps.
12
It’s an otherwise ho-hum blocky design, but the aluminum-look grille surround is an interesting touch. In some of these universes the Studebaker took a conservative approach and designed cars that could be Buicks or Dodges.
13
In this universe, Mercury designers defected to Studebaker and made themselves a Cougar with a Pontiac nose. I kind of like the color combination, though. I also included this one because the Midjourney AI was very reluctant to render vinyl roofs, so I was happy to get it here.
14
Another pony car variation, probably based off the first generation Camaro and Firebird. For no apparent reason the AI gave me a lot of bright orange cars.
15
Another full-size Hawk. If Chevrolet had decided to make the 1975 Impala sleek and sporty, this might have been the result.
16
In this universe, Studebaker builds it’s personal luxury car on a smaller platform, much like AMC did with the Matador. This looks like a design that was originally sleeker and sportier, but the front end was restyled to accommodate the safety bumpers.
17
Another European-inspired design that defies personal luxury coupe conventions by being clean and simple. Maybe too much so?
18
Another one that gives me very AMC vibes.
19
There’s that Avanti roofline again, on a somewhat more conventional body than #8. That panel gap on the hose makes me wince.
20
I think those Mercury designers are at it again, at least from the side. Notice how the AI seems to favor putting headlights in induvial pods?
21
Finally, something with a chunky, Europeans flair, almost a Bentley.
20 is my choice. Can definitely go for that front end. But with all, there seems to be a sort of fast back roof. Would prefer roofline more like contemporary Monte Carlo. As I love excessive chrome. Apply it freely! 🏆. 😎. Would love to see what you could do if Cadillac had updated 58s without changing the entire design. Believe COLLECTIBLE AUTOMOBILE showed plans Harley Earle had. Not sure if there was more paint or chrome visible. Too much is never enough for this old school lover of OTT upscale Luxury.
Some good work there, AI! A solid B+.
03’s grille would work well on an Edsel too. Well done. Speaking of, that might be a good brand to bring into a more modern era exercise.
I like 01 quite a bit. It’s light but makes an impact.
I’m not quite as keen on 07 as you are, but it’s well done, for what it is.
09 has some of the airy feel of the Loewy coupes.
13 is totally channeling a big ’71-’73 Pontiac coupe.
19 looks very plausible. Maybe the most so.
I see 68 Olds Delta rear quarters in No 11, and 71 Pontiac in the roofline and rear quarters of no 13, Yes Pontiac generally through use of the split grille, and Mercury. Some opel, and a little bit of BMW, Many of these would have been good sellers. but some are definitely 60s, not 70s
A lot of intriguing designs. You mentioned that the AI really seemed to nail the lighting this time, and it does look very pleasing. Has it learned the classic golden hour brochure shots by heart, or do you occasionally get some nightmarish dystopian weather backgrounds?
I’d have to specify a dystopian background, thank goodness. For the most part I asked for a suburban or city scene, along with a variety of lens and film styles that tend to give more realistic results.
A lot of the pictures I rejected actually depicted pretty good cars, but they looked airbrushed or touched up, like they didn’t mesh well with their surroundings.
I’m crushing on No. 4, but I think No. 6 seems closer to what Studebaker might have put out in ’75 with adequate funding.
Half the cars seem to have 70’s Holden Monaro influence.
HQ used a lot of Pontiac styling cues melded with Opel.
Most of these look more like a ’75 Avanti than a ’75 Hawk (#5 looks most Hawk to me), but a real-life customizer came up with this Seville San Remo conversion that to my eyes looks very much like what a GT Hawk could have been in 1975. More so than Brooks Stevens’ actual proposal for a Hawk replacement, the Sceptre concept from 1962.
The AI seems quite certain about what a ’75 Hawk grille should be.
let’s try a second time for this pic:
So many of these miss the combination of “razor-edge” lines along the side with much more curvaceous lines from the front or rear, that was characteristic. Also the very upright and angular rear window.
I think, of these, 03, 09, 17, 20. I think 03 is the best, and also has a lightweight feel to it that would be appropriate for Studebaker.
So many of these make me think Ford Torino or late Dodge Charger or sometimes Pontiac Grand Prix. If Studebaker was to survivie I think it would have had to have been more like 03.
Split Bentley grill on the Benz effort, I prefer the Loewy body hawks
That blue one, #7, on the front page, has the eyes of the ’75 LTD.
I have to go with 01. It looks very feasible and elegant, probably like a Hawk would have looked like had it been made in 1975. AI`s rendering of the background kind of recalls those classic Pontiac print ads of the early to late 60s. Good job.
09 is my fave. Just right. Sharp where it should be sharp, round where it should be round. The nearest American equivalent is Teague’s ’73 Hornet Hatchback.
Overall the fronts are mostly stuck on ’72 Pontiac, with the Oakland/Pontiac split grille that was never a Studie tradition.
How would Studebaker’s engines have plausibly evolved into this scenario?
Would it have depended on Studebaker engineers properly developing the V8 to be much lighter for its size against the Cadillac V8 it drew upon to loosely resemble a precursor to the SBC V8-meets-Oldsmobile V8 in a number of respects (including lighter weight as well as scope for emissions compliance over many decades and enlargement up to 5.0-5.7-litres), if not in essence something like the 231 Chevrolet V8 prototype that was also a similar scaling down of the Cadillac V8?
Could they have developed a 6-cylinder from the alternate Studebaker V8, similar to the SBC V8 based GM 90-degree V6 or Turbo-Thrift inline-6 (plus 153 four) that shared the same bore spacing and other elements with the SBC?
Very cool 😎 cars……..we’re they all production models ?
The company that brought the Avanti descending to the Cordoba. Ai has no sense of history or evolurion.
I honk there are a couple there with Avanti cues. But don’t blame the AI I’d they seem like other personal luxury cars. That’s my editorial choice in asking the AI what to make and what I chose to present. PLCs were hot in the 70’s, and if Studebaker were in business I think they would have followed the market.
To me almost all have lost the leanness Stude had from the 50’s with the Lowey hawks. Stude COULD/Should have been the first GT–non pony car in 54,it had a tachometer and even an available rear anti roll bar for enhanced handleing–as demonstrated at GOODWOOD HISTORIC RACING recently when both the LARK and HAWK trophied! AS USUAL MANAGEMENT couldn’t understand that there was a market for an AMERICAN sports- GTcar so t bird and Corvette grabbed the spot neither significantly superior!
I choose #11. With 1, 7, and 20 as runner ups. I don’t think the AI had the right Algorithms. The Studebaker GT Hawk was a classic personal luxury car. Most of these cars look like entry level and regular line Studebaker s. By 1975, the Hawk would have grown, similar to the Thunderbird. Only the one’s I’ve chosen could even come close to being worthy of the Hawk heritage. I owned the last year, 1964, and know the feel of this magnificent brand.
Someone should do Packard or do Studebaker and Packard if they made it to the ’80s, it would be cool what ai would come up with like who would go sporty and who would go luxury… maybe a budget model?
As a side note, # 15 & #17 are what AMC should have come out with when the Mandator was redesigned in the 70’s. Anything to avoid those bug eye headlights.
Studebaker s last call was Hamilton,Canada Pardon my ignorance but why did they both go bankrupt ?. I live in Portugal and barn find Packages come up for sale on line. .. 57,Packard Clipper wagon v8 at 7500 Euros for example. Seems big American cars were popular as taxis post n pre war ,the only car in town …
Neither went bankrupt. Studebaker continued as a very successful conglomerate of several companies. The Board was the one who sought to exit the volatile car business. The name Studebaker was merged out of existence many years after the last car was built. Avant had just built a new factory and showroom in Cancun, Mexico in 2005. The CEO got into legal problems over real estate and went to prison. The last Avanti was 2007.
I see this in #7
A lot of these remind me of cars of the ’70’s-Monte Carlo, Gran Prix, Ford Torino, maybe a ’70’s Cutlass. Most of them are bloated and lack the lean proportions of the Hawk. I’ll go with No. 5; I’m not excited about the dual headlights, but otherwise it does a good job of combining Loewy’s original design with Mercedes elements.
The grille of #3 just screams “70’s Edsel”, although there is very little Ford design language from the cowl back. Most of the others come off either as Pontiacs or as alternate-universe Cordobas. #14 looks like Brazilian flavored GM; a facelifted Opala.