The original Studebaker Avanti, an ultra forward-thinking, fiberglass-bodied, bottom-breathing (the first such American production car) personal luxury coupe was unfortunately produced in very low quantities for just for the 1963 and 1964 model years before its untimely discontinuation.
Yet in a unusual circumstance, shortly after its discontinuation, the rights to use the Avanti name, parts, tooling, and production space were bought by several Studebaker dealers close to where the Studebaker Avanti had been produced in South Bend, Indiana. For the next five decades, the Avanti lived on as an ultra-low production hand-built specialty car, with minor modifications along the way.
I can’t quite pinpoint this particular example’s model year, nor the exact engine, but the lack of plate recognition by Carfax and blade-like chrome bumpers predate 1981.
Photographed: Legacy Place, Dedham, Massachusetts – April 2017
Related: CC Studebaker Avanti: Flawed Brilliance by PN
Hard to say exactly what year it is, It does have that silly looking auxiliary front bumper to bring it in compliance with the federal bumper regs, so I’ll say somewhere between 1975 and 1981 or so. Steven Blake bought the company around 1982 or so if memory serves me right and gave the Avanti an endure plastic front bumper.
Wow Brendan, what a great find. Once Avanti production got rolling (in a relative sense, anyway) production was always somewhere between 100 and 200 units a year, so you found something really uncommon.
Dating these is tough. Paint colors don’t help because the original buyer could have a car painted any automotive color he might desire. Probably looking at things like the seat belts and steering wheel/column might give a good estimate. A look under the hood might be the best indicator. Early cars got a Chevy 327 for power, later ones either a Chevy 350 (or 400 optional for a few years). The newer bumper design and the high-back seats certainly put this one newer than 1972. That orange color might help us date it to the mid-late 70s just from the preferences of that era, but who cares.
Around 1974 I tried like the devil to talk my father into trading his 2 year old Mark IV on one of these. I ordered him a brochure and he went so far as to talk to Nate Altman on the phone. Altman told him that “It’s not going to ride like your Mark IV” and that sort of ended it. Well, that and a tanking economy that had Dad passing on a new car that year.
I still remember those brochures. You could pick any color outside and any upholstery material/color/pattern you wanted. These things were virtually hand-built and were about as close to a factory custom as you could get then. I remember a handful of them driving around in Fort Wayne in the 70s. These things have survived in very high numbers given their very limited production.
One minor nit, all Studebaker Avanti production was in calendar years 1962-63 but all were designated as either 1963 or 1964 in model years.
I agree with much of what ‘J P’ posted. The front marker lights place it in the post-1967 vintage, and the motor is most likely a Chevrolet 350 if it still has its original motor. The Altman-era Avanti II’s are easily the nicest continuation versions of Avanti, I think. I’d be able to better hone in on the precise model year of Brendan’s car, but my Avanti II files are about one week from reaching my new home. The Altman’s were very good about updating me about each new model year change. An interesting article, Brendan.
And still used the Lark convertible chassis, IIRC.
Motor Trend had a very good article about the Avanti re-start during the period.
They used the Lark frame which originally came out in 1953 cars and was used until the late 70’s although some sources say into the 80’s. Anyone know the last year they were built on Studebaker frames? Did the later models have hog troughs?
They actually started with Lark convertible frames which dated to 1960. At some point they ran out of those and started using gusseted lighter weight versions, which was sometime in the late 70s, I believe.
Thanks James, and thank you for your insight on them! I know you’re much more of a Studebaker connoisseur than I am. I fixed those years too.
These remind me of those plastic promo models they used to make with the release of each car. All the ones I see in the collectible shops now are distorted either from age or too much sun, sort of like how the Avanti looks in real life.
Nails it, and similar to what I said in my Avanti CC: From some angles, like this one, it looks a bit amateurish, and as if its plastic body had started melting a bit.
That sums up exactly how I’ve felt about these. I don’t “get” the Avanti at all…
For those who do enjoy this artwork, please take no offense.
‘Object d’Art’ seems like a good way to describe the Avanti, and likely the car’s clientele, as well. Understanding art is completely subjective and the beauty of the Avanti falls into that category. Like art, you either got the car’s style, or you didn’t. I recall something years ago about two cars being the first to make it into some famous museum (maybe an exhibit at the MOMA). One was the Avanti and the other a Cistalia 202.
From what I recall, Avanti II buyers were a very loyal bunch and would continuously return to trade in their old car for a new one. Unfortunately, it was also a very small group, sort of like the same people that used to buy Imperials when they were truly a distinct model from other Chryslers. While steady, it didn’t exactly increase sales.
I don’t get it either. The rear is distinctive but, even adjusting my brain to an early-1960s context, it wasn’t that out of this world. Nor is it timeless. And the front end? Never liked it. I find it ugly. I don’t understand why this design, of all designs, ended up being built for so long by other companies.
A ’53 Studebaker Starlight, in my eyes, is a more distinctive and timeless design.
Well, the question of why people like it and why the design ended up being continued so long are sort of two different matters. The latter is largely a practical matter. Because the Avanti has a fiberglass body on a platform frame, it was economically practical — sort of — to keep building it in very small volumes and allowed the running gear to be updated without necessarily making big exterior changes. Had it been a steel body, particularly a steel monocoque, that wouldn’t have been feasible.
I used to like the Avanti out of principal, it’s a classic design from a classic automaker, that every grown up classic car person I knew admired. I just can’t keep up the charade of liking it as an adult.
The thing that killed it for me is these continuations were relatively common sights at a time, and popped up in the free classic car classifieds magazines I’d grab and they were right there along with Zimmer, Tiffany and every other variety of cheesy kit/coach cars in the misc. sections, and I just more and more associated the design with their ilk. Actually seeing the real deal Studebaker for the first time didn’t change my mind, I just liked the round headlight bezels better.
Good! I’m glad I’m not the only one. I was worried my Avanti-aversion would make me appear a dilettante. There were better designs, even (especially?) from American automakers that decade.
I actually have a lot of respect and admiration for the original Avanti. because it was so unique and uncompromising at the time, despite having some flaws. Its shortcomings are undoubtedly the result of its absurdly fast design, which was completed in some six weeks at a rented house in Palm Springs. The results speak for themselves.
The point is, this is not how cars were designed at the Big Three. The evolution of a design from initial ideas, drawings, renderings and models to a production-ready design often took years, or at least the better part of a year. This allows the design chief and others to take their time and digest the concepts, and refine them.
This process never happened with the Avanti. The results speak for themselves. It looks unfinished and unpolished. It has many aspects that are very original and bold, but the parts don’t all mesh seamlessly into a whole. Bill Mitchell would never have let this get near to production.
But given all that, it’s a remarkable piece of design. And although I can see why these folks wanted to keep it in production, I did not think it was such a hot idea. It really didn’t lend itself to be made for so long, and already the very first Avanti II ruined the original design by substantially raising the front of the car, thus losing the original’s rake, a key design element.
I admit though to entertaining thoughts about wanting an Avanti II in the early 80s, just because it was by then becoming so anachronistic compared to the current designs. But when thy switched to the body colored bumpers, and tried to update the rest of the car to 80s contemporary taste, they totally lost me. For me, the Avanti II worked like a Bristol, in being a living time capsule. But updating it destroyed that. I loathed the later versions, and the 4 door. Ugh.
I completely agree. Had it not been for the Avanti II stretching out production the questionable aspects of th basic design wouldn’t have become so apparent to me out of familiarity, it doesn’t help that I grew up in the 90s and saw more of the body color bumpered/square headlight models than the mostly pure original versions, I even remember the 4 doors in a few magazines I had. The front end rake is something I always forget about with the true Studebaker models, that makes a significant difference for sure.
I’ve seen a four-door on the street, years ago, and it does NOT look better in person.
Remember when they added square headlights? And the 4 door versions?
The square lights were actually done under Studebaker, as they made it onto most 1964 models. There were about 50 or so 64 models made with round lights, one of which was owned by my best friend’s father when I was a kid. I met my old friend a couple of years ago, by the way, and he knows where the car is. It now has square lights. The car got hit in front and a round headlight front end is made of unobtainium these days while a square headlight front end was much easier/cheaper to source.
Tomcatt630, I learned from someone at a car show with ‘Orphan’ cars, including Avanti, that Studebaker built some of the last Avanti’s with square headlight bezels, too. I originally thought that the Altmans started that with the Avanti II’s. As for the 4DR and Camaro/Firebird-based later Avanti’s, the less said, the better. They were pretty far off the mark compared to the Altman and early Blake versions, I think.
I’ve actually seen the 4 door driving around the West Hollywood area.
Not a good look.
An older couple who were members of the same church as my family had a maroon-colored 4 door. This was when I was probably 9 years old or so, so I thought it was the coolest thing ever at the time. As I’ve gotten older, the poor proportions of the 4-door have become much more evident!
What color was it? I may have seen the exact same car.
I think Tomcatt630 may be referring to the last Avantis that had actual rectangular headlights, not the much earlier rectangular bezels that housed round headlights the Avanti had for decades.
In fact, I think that’s one of the ways to tell a true Studebaker Avanti in that most of them had round bezels (although, as mentioned, a few of the last Studebaker cars had square bezels, too).
Another way is the rake of the car. The first ones had a noticeable downward slope over the front tires.
The simplest tell on the Studebaker is the badging/ornamentation. Studebaker put an ornament on the leading edge of the hood bulge (below) as well as a similar ornament on each C pillar. There was a chrome “Studebaker” script on the trunk lid next to the passenger side taillight, also.
The higher front end is another giveaway, as you mention. The Chevy V8, though lighter, sat a bit taller and the front of the body had to be lifted an inch or two in order for the new engine to clear the hood. Most of the engineering work to convert from Studebaker to Avanti II was done by Gene Hardig, the former Chief Engineer of Studebaker.
That yellow stylized ‘S’ emblem on a black background with the chrome spears has Raymond Loewy written all over it.
That’s what I meant, the square late 70’s style square headlamps, like a 1978 Cutlass.
The true rectangular headlights began to be fitted in 1983-1984. The body-colored plastic bumpers came along around the same time. Count me as one who has always admired the Avanti’s shape.
The shape, yes. In terms of detailing though, the featured car looks far much better than the later ones with the square lamps and body-coloured bumpers.
It doesn’t take much to get a delicate / oddball design like the Avanti’s off kilter. “Sturdier” designs like the original Mini or the Beetle managed to stay fresh even with all the changes their makers chucked at them. The Avanti, not so much.
And then came that 4-door version. No Fiat 130 Opera, that one. No better illustration than the old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” than the Avanti in the ’80s.
That overhang…
Yeah, it looked strange at the time, but a lot of modern cars have heaps of front overhang. It’s just disguised by having the front end rounded off in plan view.
I wouldn’t kick one out of my garage.
I liked these but always wondered about the build quality.
I have never heard complaints about build quality. The basic vehicle had a run of around 4000 or more under Studebaker. The only changes at first were those made to replace the Stude engines with the smallblock Chevy. I don’t believe there were any inherent quality problems after the very early-build Studebaker cars and all Avanti IIs were virtually hand built from parts that had been intended for regular production so they were starting with some pretty well-engineered stuff. I would not hesitate to own one of these (though I would of course prefer a Studebaker version.)
I have never heard complaints about build quality.
Here’s a complaint: the passenger side door does not fit. I noticed it on the early 80s one for sale locally: the door sits at an angle, the bottom edge sticks out and the top sticks in, vs the edge of the rear fender. The door required a pretty stout shove to slam hard enough to latch.
On my next trip to the Gilmore, I made a point of looking at their original 63 Avanti. It’s door was crooked the same way.
On the passenger side of the car in the OP, the fit at the top rear corner of the door looks OK, can’t see the bottom rear corner, but the character line at the front end of the door doesn’t line up with the line on the front fender.
While at the Gilmore, I also inspected the panel fits on their late 50s Vette. The panel fits there were terrible too.
That sort of thing seems to happen on other fibreglass cars too. Look at many Lotus cars – panel gaps you can stick your thumb into and doors sagging at the trailing edge. Then they always look dull after a few years. I don’t like fibreglass bodied cars at all.
As for the Avanti, I used to like the shape until I saw one in the flesh on a visit to the USA. Must say that curbed my enthusiasm!
The Avanti has always been one of my dream cars, but if given the choice between an Avanti and a 1957 Chevy, Chevy always wins.
http://cruise-in.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1963-Studebaker-Avanti.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker_Avanti
Raymond Loewy’s original design sported wheel covers descended from Loewy’s own 53 Studebaker cone covers or caps. Today, it’s difficult to find Avantis that haven’t been graced with some sort of wire wheel — by those who find Loewy’s choice too tame, or (on the other hand) not sufficiently pure ?
Wire wheels go against the car’s overall look, IMO. Jags, MGs and Italian sports cars were made to look nice with wire wheels. Avantis and Corvettes (esp. C2-C3) never look right with those on to me.
That is a mid 70s model as somewhere in the early 80s, Avanti got a waiver for the shock absorbing bumper reg and that extra front bumper disappeared. A guy near casa del Steve has had an early 80s example, sans crash bumper, for sale in his yard for over a year.
I visited the plant in 75, when returning from Fort Wayne. The cars had the same front bumper arrangement as the one in the OP. Couldn’t wangle a tour, but they did give me an information packet of price lists and magazine article reprints. Well remember walking around in the front, single story part of the plant. Noticed a pile of frames sitting out in the yard. There were several completed cars that I was invited to look over. Some were Studebaker originals that were in for restoration, but the looker was a new one in bronze metallic with Borrani wire wheels ($1,450 Jerry Ford bux) A Blaupunkt Berlin “Ultra super solid state signal seeking” am/fm/cassette would set you back a grand.
Looking over the order form, it asks about the purchaser’s current car, with a separate section that says “If you own an Avanti I, does it have round or square headlights?”
In spite of my affinity for Studebakers, these cars were so far beyond the reach of my checkbook that their greatest contribution to my life is that when I watch an old movie, and Sophia Loren says “Avanti!”, I know what she said.
I was also lucky enough to visit the Avanti II factory in South Bend. Or, rather, the ‘showroom’. It was nothing more than an open space in the old Studebaker factory where the finished cars were prepped.
It’s a shame interest in the car eventually petered out. I think it really ended when Nate Altman died and subsequent purchasers simply didn’t have the wherewithal and/or dedication to keep the marque going. When the Altman brothers were building them, prospective buyers probably had a lot more confidence.
Yes, they were very expensive when new. The only reason I thought I had a shot with my Dad was that he leased his cars back then, and with something with high resale value he could get a favorable monthly lease payment. I figured that Avantis held their value well so thought I had the battle half won.
The resale thing was the main reason I could never talk him into a Chrysler New Yorker in 1976 or 78. Chrysler resale values sucked all through the 70s so the lease payment would have been way too much on a pricey car like that.
Yes, they were very expensive when new. The only reason I thought I had a shot with my Dad was that he leased his cars back then,
Yes, pretty pricey. $11,445.00 and all that got you was a 400ci V8 and automatic trans. Power steering, power windows and power locks cost another Benjamin each. A/C $425. Cruise control $85. Leather and suede interiors $900 extra. Wood veneers on the instrument panel and console: $250. I can see an Avanti blowing past $15K at a time when Mk IV Continentals started at $11K and a Fleetwood 75 was under $15K.
I’m not sure Avanti offered leasing. The price list does say financing is available “if you desire”. It goes on that, after you have filled out the option check list and mailed it in, “Mr Altman will call to discuss your interior and exterior fabric and paint selections”. I bet Nate checked your D&B rating before calling too.
Oh, I remember them being near Mercedes territory. I think the mystique of a custom-finished car held some allure and the Avanti still had some magic in the 70s. There were plenty of third party leasing companies in those early days of car leasing, so there would have been no need to rely on Seller financing.
Although Avanti was apparently intended to be as distant from existing Studebakers as could be, the tail does derive from the early Studebaker Lark…whether by design and by Loewy or by Egbert, does anybody know?
The last Avantis were better disguised than the ones built on Pontiac Firebird coupes with “Avanti” front clips. They were Ford Mustangs with fiberglass body panels but had to registered in most states as Fords. After being bought successive times and production moved to a maquiladora, Avanti finally died, in a morass that, like DeLorean, involved irregularities and Federal prosecution.
Good question. Loewy was not involved in the ’59 Lark design. By the time the Avanti was designed, the Lark had shed that original rear end design.
Loewy’s 1960 Lancia Loremo one-off has a rear end that predicts the Avanti’s. It’s possible he was jut smitten with the ’59 Lark’s rear end. That’s how things go in the design world.
My sense is that high edge look is more of a vestigial tailfin thing. I saw that on a lot of early 60s cars, in some cases on both the rear and front. Here’s a DKW F102.
The Comet was much more extreme in that treatment.
WOW! A Roof Spoiler?!? What year was this car??
“The last Avanti rolled off the line in Cancun, Mexico in March 2006.”
“… Mustang-based Avantis used V-8 engines, with the option of a Ford V-6 … factory and showroom were emptied in 2011…”
“In 1989, Cafaro lost faith in the original coupe and introduced a four-door version, of which 90 were built.”
“The company was acquired and run from 1987 – 1991 by John J. Cafaro”
Moved to Youngstown OH from So. Bend.
I think JJ was trying to expand the brand. The new four door (potentially) would open new markets beyond the coupe’s existing demographic. There were only so many midwestern farmers that would be interested in buying one of these things.
When the Avanti was first proposed at Studebaker, a four door was in the works. I can’t remember if the Y-town crew used that as a basis for their version of the four door, but it definitely had some, uh, odd angles.
Regardless, any Avanti built before 1999 is on my MM list, and just because it was made in my hometown, a four door is on that list, too.
True, 4 door sport sedans were on the rise in 80’s, and was looking to capitalize on it.
Were there only 90 four-doors, total? That has me wondering whether I’m misremembering in my comment above (about a church member owning one) or whether that was one seriously rare machine!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avanti_(car)#/media/File:1991_Avanti_II_sedan.jpg
In all its glory ^
Motorweek tested a 1985 Avanti (with the endura nose and square headlights):
https://youtu.be/VF62U1fjXbk
Awesome find!
For me the Avanti is still an execution of good styling. I have ridden in them too. The roof line is low which is fine for me, but a tall person, particularly if they have a long torso and sit high in the seat, is a travesty. Later on, someone bought the rights to this and produced a few two-door, four-door and convertible models. We can pick at this and pick at that, yet the overall appearance is graceful.
My best friend in high school got to drive his father’s 1963 (round headlight, non-supercharged) Avanti. When us guys would go out we’d go in his car rather than my mom’s 1965 Buick Sportwagon. I never got to drive the Avanti, but I remember it as being a brisk performer, but at 6’0″ even back then I found the back seat awfully cramped.
There is a junkyard in Rome, Maine that has a lot of old iron in it. Every so often they drag something out of the weeds to put near the road to sell. Over the summer one of those cars was an Avanti 2. It was rough and missing it’s back window. Not your typical junkyard fodder. My guess would be that it got put back in the weeds to make room for the 66 Bel Air that’s there now.
My local museum had an exhibition on the West Coast style of the 50s-60s several years ago & it had an Avanti parked in the main entrance along w/a short documentary about how the car was designed.
I’ve always liked the Avanti’s design & I fantasize about fixing up an Avanti Ii like the one in that ME junkyard despite my total lack of skills.
I’ve also wondered why nobody had ever raced an Avanti Ii in the Can Am series back in the day.
It wouldn’t have been appropriate for Can Am, which was for for two seat pure racing cars with full fenders.
If you mean Trans Am, it wouldn’t have been legal until 1970, because it wasn’t homologated with a 5 liter engine (283 or 302 Chevy). The standard Avanti engine was a 327 or 350.
Even when it was technically eligible, it was a big, heavy car with a 20 year old Studebaker chassis and no factory funding. The major US car makers spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions in 1970 dollars to make their cars winners.
There was an Avanti factory entry at the Daytona 24 Hours in the Steve Blake era. It was basically an Avanti skin over a tube frame racing chassis.
I’ve liked these ever since I was a kid. i had a 1/32 scale model of one when I was about 10.
My preferences would be the 1963 model, or one of the Altman cars. In either case, the search would be more difficult for me because I’d want one with a manual transmission.
You might be in for a long search. This is just a guess but, aside from the Studebakers, I’d be willing to bet that very few (if any) Altman (or other) cars came with anything but an automatic.
I understand that once the feds started demanding a version of each drivetrain for emissions certification Altman discontinued the manual transmission. This was some time in the mid 70s.
In the 1985 Motorweek link above it is stated that a 5 speed is available.
I still think it was impressive that an R2 1963 Avanti could do 161 mph off the showroom floor. No other American production car could do that!
Growing up in Ohio, I recall that for many years the vaunted Ohio State Highway Patrol had the Avanti listed as the record holder for clocked speed in a pursuit…I suspect it got away!
I’m sorry, but those cars were “not off the showroom floor”. They had to meet “Stock car” standards, but similar to Nascar stock car racers at the time, “stock” was not really stock.
The R3 Studebaker record setters were as stock as any such car ever is, unless you consider turning the supercharger above standard street pressure to be a deviation. The R3 was over $1000 in 1963, but it was available in new Studebakers or over the counter from Paxton Products, like 421 SD Pontiacs or Z11 Chevys. They were basically street cars with some upgraded parts and very hot engines. They weren’t purpose built race cars like Holman Moody Galaxies.
Always had a soft spot for the Avanti – it looked so unique when introduced in the early 60s. Thanks goodness for folks like Nate Altman and Steve Blake for keeping it alive for as long as they did.
My recollection from reading a Collectible Automobile article years ago was that while the engineering was crude, the cars themselves were screwed together pretty well during Atman’s time – and if anything went wrong or you were dissatisfied with anything, you could bring it back and Nate would fix it, no questions asked.
My neighbor collected (and still does collect) Studebakers…mostly pick up trucks, but he has a Lark Convertible and a maroon Avanti with black vinyl interior, square lamp bezel, 4 speed manual. I haven’t ridden in that car since the 80s, but the thing that struck me was the dashboard and interior design…futuristic, almost like an aircraft cockpit.
A guy I went to high school with drove his dad’s Avanti II to school now and then (in the 80s)…silver with red leather, styled steel wheels that looked similar to Pontiac’s Rallye wheels…pretty car.
There were some really 70s centric color combinations on the Altman-era cars…some of those haven’t aged very well. I’m fond of the Studebaker teal/aqua color, with a beige interior.
For 20+ years, I regularly drove past a house that had an original round bezel Avanti parked in the front yard. I informed a friend who had an Avanti II, who upon inquiring about it, was told that it was “NOT FOR SALE”. It continued to sit deteriorating, until one day, a few years ago, I noticed that the house was empty, and the Avanti (as well as a ’63 Gran Prix in the same decrepit condition) had disappeared!
Bottom-breather is an interesting description. In terms of purely hiding the grille, probably right. But the ’50-51 Studie was the first to place the grille in shadows, facing downward. The propeller and the slots on either side were the part that “showed off” as the mouth.
I drove my friend’s ’63 R2 around LA in the late ’70s. It looked much better than it drove, but it was a thrill just getting in and looking over the hood. It needed better gas than was normally available in the first days of unleaded, there was a gas station where you could get unleaded 92 octane and also leaded regular. Mixing them prodded the combination into the acceptable zone. The car was primitive, quick and beautiful. Always got looks.
The ’53-’66 Studebakers were noted for not having a drop-down floor like nearly every other modern car, because the old frame design got in the way of lowering the floor. This became especially noticeable when the roof started being lowered on the ’58-’59 cars, and even more so on the Avanti where the seats were barely off the floor. Did this change when the supply of Lark convertible frames ran out and they switched to Ford and/or GM frames?
The Avanti 4-door was planned as a potential future back in the Studebaker era. The drawings of it didn’t look all that different than the 4-door Avantis that eventually got produced in the early ’90s.
Drove over to the Gilmore today to check out their new muscle car exhibit, and took a couple pix of the passenger side door fit of their 63 Avanti. The early 80s one I looked at last year had the same crooked door, only worse.
Top rear corner.