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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 is still appealing in the 21st
century. Dimensionally, the car's size was very close to that of the Ford
Mustang.
Introduction
Avanti is Italian
for "forward" or "advance," and the car lived up to its name. While Jaguar
began offering production-car disc brakes in 1957 on the XK140, the Avanti
was the first American mass-produced car to feature standard disc brakes
(check 1951 Chrysler Crown Imperial), 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
advanced, befitting its name. The Avanti has survived failure after
failure of its host companies, yet has risen to cult status, maintaining a
loyal customer 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 five-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, it 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 V8, which underwent
considerable high-performance modifications.
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 that 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 consolidation of all Studebaker automotive manufacturing
in its Hamilton, Ontario, Canada plant. 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 R-3 car, contained a
letter signed by Studebaker employees advising the future owner of the
car's significance under the carpeting near the spare tire well.
Studebaker
survived another two years by assembling Commanders, Daytona's, and
Cruisers 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
moulds, 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 in (5.4 L) Chevrolet Corvette
engine and were meticulously hand-built to order in very small numbers.
The Avanti II's engine evolved from the 327 to the 350, the 400, and
finally the 305.
On October 1,
1982, real estate developer Stephen Blake bought the rights to the Avanti
II. Stephen Blake made some updates to the car and also introduced 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 built until 1991.
(Source
- Wikipedia) |
