The Studebaker Avanti by blinkings
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Description
The Avanti was originally produced by Studebaker in South bend, Indiana. Although they were not a huge company by Detroit standards, Studebaker had long been in the transportation business. They even built some of the original Conestoga covered wagons used to settle the West. The concept for the '63 Studebaker Avanti was conceived by Sherwood Egbert, the president of Studebaker, who took over the company in February of 1961. He felt that an exiting and daring line of cars would help Studebaker's struggling automotive division. What the dynamic Studebaker president wanted was a sports car or powerful 'Grand touring car that was futuristic'. Something to really catch the public's attention. He hired a famous industrial designer of the day, Raymond Loewy, who assembled a styling team in his Palm Springs home. In a week they had finished a 1/8 scale clay model. In April of '61 a full sized clay model had been completed, taking only 5 weeks. The mock up featured a smooth grille-less nose, contoured hood, fenders that flowed back to a Coke bottle shaped body, and ended in a fastback truncated rear. It speaks of cars that only now are showing the same styling themes, taking their cue from aerodynamic knowledge unknown in the early sixties. Contoured leather bucket seats, big round dials sitting in a hooded instrument panel, a leather padded roll bar, all speak of sporting elegance in the Avanti interior. The sleek body was made of fiberglass.
Comments (17)
crunch01
wow great shot here memories my father had a white one, they were way cool
rocdan
STUNNING CAR WONDERFUL SHOT
dakotabluemoon
What a beauty this is i love the color and South Bend is not that far from where i live so i know all about this and we have a guy that has a whole field of them just sitting around for parts.
Faemike55
I remember when those came out and the plastic models were made as well As I see it, they were ahead of their time
stnaper
Great info and Photo and I've always liked this ride. Around here today you don't see many of them on the road if any and that's sad!
jayfar
A real classy car.
Rana2
I like the Studebakers. The Avanti R3's in Particular.
kgb224
Superb capture my friend. God Bless.
Sea_Dog
Cool. I can remember when these came out. There was a waiting list to buy one and the dealer couldn't keep a demonstrator on the floor.
hardwaretoad
I remember these and built a model of one as a kid, I always thought they were cool. A very unique shape, of course Studebaker was known for unusual or bizzare (by Detroit standards, anyway) design work on many of their models until their demise. I know these have been built at least once after Studebaker went out of business, some company revived them and they sold in relatively small numbers, IIRC. There might even have been a second "re-issue" but I'd hate to be quoted on that. Great capture of a most unusual auto.
netot
Cool! There where a couple of this here long ago!
Maxidyne
Cool looking car Andrew although i'm not sure i'd pay $24,000 for it if I could get an XA Falcon :)
Richardphotos
I love Studebakers and had a 53 Commander while in California.the Avanti was a love affair at first sight although I have never even rode in one.brilliant car and capture
whaleman
I can't tell you how close I came to actually buying one of these back in the day!
debbielove
No! Another I've never heard of! Blimey mate, you are finding them... I'll have to have drag through the files! lol Stunning as always.. FAVE! Rob
MagikUnicorn
WOWZER UNIQUE CAR ;-)
danapommet
The no grill look is very different and I like this POV very much!