Car of the Week: 1963 Studebaker Avanti

[dodgechargerfan]

Studebaker enthusiasts have a reputation for being among the most brand-loyal car lovers around. Chances are, if you run into a “Studebaker guy,” he’s owned a bunch of them in his life, and odds are good he still has more than one at home.

Studebaker lovers always seem to have cars — and parts — in large quantities, and while they many own cars of other ilks, they generally make no secrets about where their devotion lies.

Ben Dusenbery of Sedalia, Col., is a quintessential “Studebaker guy.” His dad was a Studebaker dealer back in the 1950s and early 1960s. He and his brothers grew up neck-deep in Studebakers from as far back as the remember, and they have always seemed to have at least one in their garages.

Read more.

 

[Tig]

I remember liking these as a kid. A car way before it's time.
The wackiest old guy in my neighborhood has a beat up original.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I like that one way better than the last car of the day I saw.

 

[jp_nyc]

Cool car. When I think of Studebaker I don’t think of weird little coupes.

 

[Guitar Heel]

The Avantis are cool.

 

[Lerxst]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Loewy

There's a pretty interesting story about the design of the car that wiki mentions;
Despite the short 40-day schedule allowed to produce a finished design and scale model, Loewy agreed to take the job. He recruited a team consisting of experienced designers, including former Loewy employees John Ebstein; Bob Andrews; and Tom Kellogg, a young student from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The team was sequestered[by whom?] in a house leased for the purpose in Palm Springs, California. (Loewy also had a home in Palm Springs which he designed himself.[12]) Each team member had a role. Andrews and Kellogg handled sketching, Ebstein oversaw the project, and Loewy was the creative director and offered advice.

Loewy was a pretty iconic designer and the Avanti was considered fairly groundbreaking by some.

 

[xStonr]

Wasn't the Avanti a fiberglass body before the Corvette?

 

[Lerxst]

Wasn't the Avanti a fiberglass body before the Corvette?

There were a couple production bodies before the corvette. Most credit the Glasspar G2 as the first true production fiberglass body
http://jalopnik.com/5966914/forgott...hen-fiberglass-was-king-comes-the-glasspar-g2

There's also the Kaiser-Darrin

 

[Prages]

I saw one at work a few months back. It was definitely an attention getter.

Sent from my SM-G930U using Tapatalk

 

[Coralkong]

I've never seen one of those in person.
To be honest, I can't tell if I like it or hate it.

 

[Prages]

I've never seen one of those in person.
To be honest, I can't tell if I like it or hate it.

For me, it's a little bit of both.

They definitely look better in person than they do in pictures, but I'm not sure it's something I'd really like to own.

 

[Coralkong]

For me, it's a little bit of both.

They definitely look better in person than they do in pictures, but I'm not sure it's something I'd really like to own.

I shudder to think where you'd try to get parts for it.......

 

[tgk03]

I loved these as a kid too. I had a model of one. It was my dream car for a long time.

 

[VoidTerraFirma]

They were still building these in Mexico as recently as 2006...unfortunately.

 

[DFB]

They were still building these in Mexico as recently as 2006...unfortunately.

View attachment 32861

:chow2:

 

[Coralkong]

They were still building these in Mexico as recently as 2006...unfortunately.

View attachment 32861

Now THAT is ugly as shit.