(Update: it appears to be an early Avanti II)
Eric Clem has given us the opportunity to reflect once again on that most unusual American car, the Avanti. I’m hard pressed to think of another post-war American production car that is so stylistically outside of the mainstream of its time. If you didn’t know better and I told you this was a 1960’s revival of one of the great French marques like Delage or Delahaye, that would be a lot more believable than a Studebaker from South Bend, Indiana in its dying last days.
Just why Studebaker’s dynamic new CEO Sherwood Egbert thought that an expensive limited production fiberglass coupe on a Lark convertible chassis was going to play a pivotal role in turning the moribund company around is a question that was never answered, or even asked. Yes; the halo car phenomena, one which has largely been debunked. But who cares? The result is a car that I never get tired of looking at, or talking about. And for that we can be thankful for.
I’m not going to repeat myself here, as I said more than enough in my Avanti CC, titled “Flawed Brilliance”. I will just add that the Avanti made a highly memorable impression on ten-year old me when it arrived in 1963. Wow…who would have thought that Stupidbaker would make this?
And I’m still thinking it.
Automotive History: The Studebaker V8 – Punching Below Its Weight PN
Avanti is a stunner. The headroom for the front passengers is limited. I remember that the sun visors are quite small, which relates to the low headroom and, thus, no need for larger sun visors. As for chic, unbeatable. Nicely trimmed interior, beautiful styling on the outside. I worked with a man in the late 1960’s who owned a 1963 Avanti. He loved the car and rightfully so.
I would go so far as to put the interior of the original Avanti up with anything being built at the time. It was extremely well executed and nothing about it gave any indication that its maker was on the edge of going out of business.
There’s one for sale near me. Looks well cared for.
I am going to go out on a limb and call this one an early Avanti II. There appears to be the remains of a small (early version) side marker light/reflector behind the front bumper and the car lacks the Studebaker emblem on the C pillar and at the leading edge of the hood bulge. Also the front height seems a touch high and the rear script (while hard to read) confirms it for me.
Still, the early cars especially were quite true to the original and all it takes is one of those Studebaker wheelcovers to make us start wondering.
I count myself extremely fortunate to have had one of these in my early life courtesy of the father of a childhood best friend. I spent a lot of time sucking in the details of these cars and they remain favorites of mine. The underside may have looked like most other Studes, but they must be credited for using almost nothing from the “regular” line in the body or interior, from door handles to steering wheel, and even down to the emblems.
I had that same thought, especially due to the apparently higher front stance. But I assumed the Avanti II would have some more badging.
Another clue to differentiate the original Avanti from Avanti II is “Studebaker” script on the trunk and “Avanti” script on the front.
A shame it’s in that condition.
Put out with the trash?.
It must be the only Avanti clunker in the woooorld!.
There was one beached near our old house in Houston. It sat with a couple of
other old cars in a small business parking lot. A bit odd to see it just baking in the
sun. Likely taken out by the recent flooding.
Among Studebaker folks, the saying is that there is nothing more expensive than a cheap Avanti. The problem is there are so many unique parts to these, and production was quite low. Also, trying to get the body off the frame can be a tremendous chore due to the built-in roll bar which is usually well-rusted into place.
It is an Avanti II. You can see the badge on the rear with the II after it.
10 years after the original stopped production they were stunning to this 14 year old in 1974. There was a (Studebaker) ’64 within a short bike ride from my house that I drooled over often…
Man, what a finder’s. Eric sure has been posting a lot of great photos to the cohort recently.
*FIND, not finder’s. For some reason, my browser won’t let me edit comments, even if I try it right away…
So you were a year old in 63??
No, I was “then”. Or “ten”, without a German accent. 🙂
It’s an Avanti II, because the trim around the Headlights are square not circular like the 63-64 Studebaker version.
The square lights were on most of the 64 Stude versions – only some early 64s kept the round lights.
I can’t help thinking that Raymond Loewy had his ear because of his having saved the company’s bacon ten years or so earlier, and another seven years before that, actually going back to the early 1930s. What is interesting to me is that Brooks Stevens did a lot of the heavy lifting in between Loewy’s contributions, at least from the Fifties. It was Stevens who created the Lark simply by giving the swoopy ’53 shape a nose and tail job.
I don’t believe your details are quite right. Loewy took on the Studebaker contract in 1937, and his first major hire was Virgil Exner, who was instrumental in almost everything Studebaker did from the 1941 to the 1949 models (including trucks). Loewy’s guys (Loewy did not, himself, draw cars) did the 1950 bulletnose during a skirmish between his operation and the in-house shop Exner ran after about 1946. Loewy’s guys also did the 1953 cars (although there is an Exner drawing dated 1949 that has a lot of the “Loewy coupe” in it).
I do not believe Stevens work showed up until the 1962 Lark. The original Lark was done in-house with (I belive) Virgil Exner Jr. doing much of the work (with probably some inside info from Dad on the themes underway for the 1960 Valiant program).
I believe it was Vince Gardner and Duncan MacRae who did a lot of the work in the 1955-58 programs when there was almost no money to spend. For its size, Studebaker may have had more well-known designers styling its vehicles than almost any other company. Think what they could have accomplished with a real budget. 🙂
Even a slightly busted Avanti, in any form, has way more class than many cars. This one reminds me of a great entertainer now down on his/her fortunes, but hanging on to dignity, however tenuously.
Didn’t McRae style the ’59 Lark? I recall reading an article in Collectible Automobile with him describing his work on it, as well as the earlier 1958 facelift. I recall being surprised the same person was responsible for both, as the ’58 was all chromed an tarted up trying (in vain) to compete with Detroit’s befinned offerings of that year, while the ’59 was all about simplicity.
Everything I’ve read says Stevens wasn’t hired by Studebaker until 1961 for fast, low-cost facelifts of the ’62 Lark and Hawk. Something related to the McCulloch/Paxton connections IIRC.