I promised a Studebaker Avanti a few months back

[Seabee]

This is my Studebaker Avanti. It is a 1963 model made in June of 1962. The car has a fiberglass Body, 4 passenger seats, Has a Super Charged Studebaker 289 V8 engine, 4 speed on the floor, dual exhaust, Built in padded roll bar, Front disc brakes, true bucket seats, and a 140mph speedometer. After the runs on the Salt Flats in 1963 they changed the speedometer to 160 mph for the later cars, because they had Averaged 186 mph over the 10 mile run. During the run the top speed was 198 mph. Actually there were a few 10ths more than that but those were the whole numbers.

These pictures were taken at my younger daughter's wedding about 8 years back.

[DavidBarkey]

@Seabee Those are neat cars . I remember my uncle having one just like that when I was young .

[Harry]

I always loved the body style of the Avanti. I see some here locally at the local cruise night shows. Last week I came across a Stude golden Hawk that was in amazing condition. I always love to look at the old cars especially the Avanti's. Beautiful car Seabee.

Keep the Peace
Harry

[propane1]

Nice car. Would be very rare to see one of those in my part of the world.

Noel

[Eugen]

Beautiful car! Never seen one! Thank you for sharing!

[Seabee]

Thanks! I probably should complete some of my Ingersoll projects, so I can get back to working on my Avanti! In June the car turned 60 years old. A 63 model produced in June of 1962. 13the production car. Actually the original color was Black, not red, but the red is getting in very poor shape after at least 45 years that I know of. Fiberglass cars tend to have a flex problem when it comes to paint staying on cars! Gel coat would probably fix that for the rest of my life!!. Engine was still running well 7-8 years ago when my daughter got married, but like our tractors: when they get some age, they need some renewing.

Bill

[propane1]

They were only made for a couple of years, I think. Is this correct Bill. ?

Noel

[Seabee]

The Studebaker Avanti was only produced for the 1963 and 1964 model year. Production on the Avanti stopped when Studebaker ceased Automobile production in South Bend, Indiana. That left only the factory in Ontario to produce cars, and that was in effect the "Lark" with the "Harmon" engine from GM.

For the 65 model Year of the Avanti, 2 men who had been a long term Studebaker Dealer in South Bend bought the rights to the Avanti and at least some of the buildings there. They produced 5 "Proto Type" Avanti II cars for the 1965 model year. From 1966 until about 1991 under different owners they produced about 250-400 cars a year. It was a highly customized vehicle from then on. The engine was anything from a GM 327 to a 400 GM. For a few years you could still get a 4 speed or an automatic. Eventually only automatic because it was too expensive to qualify a 4 speed for no more requested by customers with our EPA. You could get any material for seats, etc, for the interior. Any external color you wanted, and any veneer you wanted from around the world for the Counsel and Dash plates.

Because they had set the Bonneville speed records in the summer of 1963 with the Supercharged Studebaker 304 engine, in 1988 in celebration of the Avanti being 25 years old, they put the GM 305 with a supercharger into an all black with black trim and black interior Avanti as a special order. Only 25 of them were built. All Avanti II's had blue printed engines, and all body work was done totally by hand.

Avanti Motor Corporation in South Bend was under, I think 3 different owners. The 4th owner was from the greater Cleveland, Ohio area. It was produced for about 3(?) years there. During that time they produced a convertible (looked real nice), and finally a year or two of a 4 door version, As an automobile the 4 door version was a nice looking car, but it wasn't what anybody with a brain would call an "Avanti"!!

The Corporation went broke and was sold to one of the previous owners. Within a couple of years he brought out 3 concept cars to reflect what Avanti could have looked like if it had evolved over the years. He hired one of the original designers to design the new ones. By this time GM wasn't making a small framed car that fit the specs they wanted so they used a FORD Mustang frame to mate the new car to it. He supposedly produced a few before getting in trouble with investors. These cars were really sweet, and a friend bought the convertible concept car a few years later. White interior and a paint job on the body that changed color depending on the light it was being viewed in. In bright sunlight it looked to be a really nice reddish color. Take the direct sunlight away and it became a nice blueish color.

While it was a heck of a nice looking car, and it had some hints of the original body, it was not an Avanti. Still had "glass packs" thou!


Bill

[propane1]

Thanks Bill. Very interesting.


Noel

[Harry]

Thanks for the history lesson Bill. It's a car I always loved and very rarely had the pleasure of seeing.

Keep the Peace
Harry