Automaker’s flagship model made Father’s Day extra special for Maple Ridge family
Three generations of the Selvey family, all who have made their living running heavy equipment including excavators, gathered at the recent Father’s Day in the Park show in Mission’s Heritage Park. They were displaying grandpa’s 1957 Studebaker Silver Hawk.
“I bought one of these new,” 86-year-old Lyle Selvey said as I approached the gleaming white car. “This car is just like it except my original car had the fins painted blue and these are red.” With him at the show was his son Dave and granddaughter Laticia.
In March 1957, 19-year-old Lyle bought a white 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk from a dealership in Surrey. He was an apprentice carpenter who built septic systems on the side. “I had made some money and decided to blow it all on a new car,” he says. “I read the performance reports on the Golden Hawk and decided to buy one.
The Golden Hawk was Studebaker’s flagship model offered from 1956 through 1958. It was powered by a supercharged 275-horsepower V8 engine that would outperform all other American cars in its class. Lyle’s new Golden Hawk was white with blue accented rear fenders. The V8 engine was coupled to a three-speed manual transmission with overdrive giving it a fourth gear. It was one fast car.
The following year, when Chevrolet introduced the beautiful new BelAir two-door hardtop for 1958, it caught Lyle’s eye and he had to have one. “I wanted turquoise, but the dealership didn’t have that. So, I bought a white one.”
The Impala cost $4,500 at Mussallem Motors in Maple Ridge and the dealership allowed $3,200 trade-in value for the Studebaker Golden Hawk, exactly what Lyle had paid for the car when it was new. When he became a family man and built his first house in Maple Ridge, which was 1,000 square feet and cost $6,500 including the lot, he had to downscale his daily driver to save money.
“I bought a 1952 Chev, a 1952 Pontiac and then a 1955 Studebaker because they were cheap cars,” he says. “There wasn’t a lot of money in construction in the early Sixties. I was building houses in Maple Ridge that sold for $10,000 including the lot and I would only make $500.”
As the years passed, the car he remembered the most was the 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk which had become his first new car while he was still a teenager. Lyle dreamed of getting another one just like it.
That’s when he son Dave, an excavating contractor in Maple Ridge, entered the scene.
“I knew my dad really wanted a car like his original Studebaker and I was looking online one day and there was a 1957 Studebaker Silver Hawk for sale in White Rock,” he says. “The car was in excellent condition, but I couldn’t reach my dad because he was vacationing on Vancouver Island.”
The owner agreed to hold the car for three weeks after Dave gave him a $500 non-refundable deposit. The deal was made when Lyle came back from his holidays.
The Studebaker that Lyle now owns is a Silver Hawk with a six-cylinder engine and overdrive – a step down from his original supercharged Golden Hawk. “The car drives like a new one. It’s really smooth,” Lyle says.
The multi-decade search is now over the car that has had such strong memories for Lyle Selvey, and it is now the centrepiece of family outings and picnics.
“It feels good to have my whole family with me including three grandchildren to help me enjoy the car,” he says with a grin.
Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and a partner in a Vancouver-based public relations company.
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