Studebaker Avanti
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The Studebaker Avanti was a sports coupe originally built by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, USA between June of 1962 and December of 1963. Designed by a team of stylists employed by industrial designer Raymond Loewy, the Avanti was all-new on the surface and a radical design that was still appealing in the 21st century. Dimensionally, the car's size was very close to that of the Ford Mustang.
Introduction
Avanti means "forward" in Italian and the car lived up to its name. In addition to being the first mass produced car to feature standard disc brakes, it also led in its adoption of aerodynamics with a smooth nose -- beating the Ford Taurus and other cars to the streamlining trick of hiding its grill under the bumper by 20 years. The Avanti's emphasis on safety, with seatbelts available as an option, safety door latches and roll-over protection bar was also very forward, befitting its name. The Avanti has survived failure after failure of its host companies, yet has risen to cult status, maintaining a loyal base large enough to support production as a luxury specialty car on and off for over 40 years.Origins
The Avanti's classic design originated in an intense three-week session in a rented house in Palm Springs near the home of lead designer Raymond Loewy. It proved so timeless in appeal the car was produced as a hand-built custom order model for decades after Studebaker stopped its production.Because of Studebaker's precarious financial situation, they had little capital to invest in product development. Though the Avanti looked entirely new, it was mounted on a Lark convertible frame, first developed in 1953. For power, the Avanti relied on Studebaker's own excellent small-block V8.
Power
When it debuted in 1951, the little Studebaker 232 V8 produced just 120 horsepower. However, the base Avanti version of this engine (R-1) produced 240 horsepower from 289 cubic-inches and the optional "R-2", which added a Paxton supercharger, produced an honest 289 horsepower, or one horsepower to every cubic-inch.
To put the performance of Studebaker's 289 V8 in perspective, the Ford 289 V8 as used in the 1965 - 1967 Mustangs, produced 210-horsepower with a two-barrel carburetor; 220 horsepower with a four-barrel carburetor; and 271 horsepower in Ford's "K-code" high-compression, solid-lifter, four-barrel 289. Thus, Studebaker's "Jet Thrust" 289 V8's were significantly more powerful than any 289 production engine offered by Ford through 1967 (in 1968, Ford began relying on the new 302 cubic-inch engine).
With the assistance of car racing legend Andy Granatelli, Studebaker also developed a production "R-3" engine for the Avanti. The little 289 was bored to 299 cubic-inches (many reports have erroneously stated 304 cubic inches), employed special valves, springs and cam, and provided induction through a Paxton Supercharger, force-feeding a four-barrel carburetor mounted in a pressurized box. The R-3 was capable of producing 400 horsepower!
The most powerful version of the Studebaker V8 was the Granatelli developed experimental R-5. With a supercharger mounted on each cylinder bank, it produced 575 horsepower! The R-5 was used only in Granatelli’s special Avanti “Due Cento”, with which he planned to break 200 miles per hour. Unfortunately, (probably due to the car’s aerodynamics), Granatelli could not get enough traction during his Bonneville run, only achieving a top speed of 196.62 miles per hour.
During the summer and fall of 1962, Granatelli took an R-3 Avanti to the Bonneville Salt Flats, where he piloted it to a record speed of 170.78 mph. When he was done, Granatelli either broke or set 34 U.S. land speed records in the Avanti, allowing Studebaker to proudly proclaim it the "World's Fastest Production Car". In addition to being fast, the Avanti introduced the first American production use of front caliper disc brakes (Dunlop discs produced under license by the Bendix Corporation).
Early orders and problems
The Avanti was heavily promoted and many enthusiastic buyers placed advance orders. However, long production delays negatively affected sales. The production delay of the Avanti was due to problems with the alignment of some of the fiberglass body panels and that the rear window opening was too large for the glass. These difficulties were quite surprising to Studebaker executives since body fabrication had been farmed out to the Moulded Fiberglass Products Company of Ashtabula, Ohio, the same firm who had fabricated the Chevrolet Corvette bodies since that car's production began in 1953. In order to solve these problems, Studebaker was eventually forced to assemble the body panels themselves - but it was too late as many sales had already been lost.
Instead of offering separate model years of the Avanti, Studebaker made running changes until production of the car ended. In general, the easiest way to differentiate between the earlier and later variants is by the headlight bezels. All Avantis produced from June 1962 through July 1963 featured round headlight bezels. Beginning in August 1963 the car was fitted with squared bezels. Most people refer to the models with round headlight bezels as 1963's and the models with square headlight bezels as 1964's though a number of early 1964 models were made with the round headlight surrounds.
In December 1963, Studebaker announced the end of automobile manufacturing in South Bend, Indiana and the relocation of Studebaker automotive manufacturing to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. At that point, the company dropped the Avanti, the Gran Turismo Hawk, and all pickups and trucks in order to focus on sedans, coupes and station wagons. Only 4,643 Avantis had been produced by the time Studebaker closed the South Bend factory. The final Avanti, a white fully optioned car contained a letter signed by Studebaker employees advising the future owner of the car's significance, was placed under the carpeting near the spare tire well.
Studebaker survived another two years by assembling facelifted 1964 models equipped with Canadian built McKinnon (GM) engines.
Avanti II
Following the closure of the South Bend operation, two South Bend, Indiana Studebaker dealers, Nate Altman and Leo Newman purchased the Avanti name, the body molds, remaining parts, tools, jigs, and a portion of the South Bend factory to continue making the Avanti. Altman and Newman had first approached the Checker Motors Company, maker of the iconic Checker Marathon and taxi cab, about taking over production. However David Markin, Checker's President reportedly stated that his company was not interested in building "an ugly car" like the Avanti.These Avantis, called the Avanti II, were given a 327 in³ (5.4 L) Chevrolet Corvette engine and were meticulously hand-built to order in very small numbers.
On October 1, 1982, real estate developer Stephen Blake bought the rights to the Avanti II and shortly after that developed a more up-to-date backbone chassis with independent suspension, and a convertible model.
Blake's company declared bankruptcy in 1986, and the company was purchased by Michael Kelly, who relocated production to Youngstown, Ohio. These cars continued to be sold until approximately 1991.
Avanti
A second generation of Avanti automobile was created by Tom Kellogg, one of the original Avanti design team members working for industrial designer Raymond Loewy, in the late 1980s. These cars were based on GM's "F" platform (based on GM's Camaro/Firebird models), having the same styling themes as the Avanti is marketed today.Triva
Many celebrities have owned Avantis including:
- Shirley Bassey, Singer
- Dick Van Dyke, Entertainer
- Ian Fleming, Novelist
- Frank Sinatra, Singer/Entertainer
- Gene Siskel, Film Critic
- Johnny Carson, Television Host
- DeForest Kelley, Actor
- Jimmy Dean, Singer and sausage entrepreneur
- Rod Serling, Creator and host of The Twilight Zone
Toy Reproductions
Micro Machines There are relatively few reproductions of the Avanti, no Hot Wheels or Matchbox. However Micro Machines made them in a very small size in several colors and they can be found on Ebay for $5-$7, somewhat higher than the average anonymous micro car which is only worth perhaps 25 cents.
See also
Avanti (automobile)External links
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