The Avanti’s story is as unique as the design that came out of Raymond Loewy’s studio in Palm Springs, Calif. nearly 50 years ago. Here are some tidbits:
Celebrity Owners
The Studebaker Avanti was a favorite with the rich and famous. Owners included Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra, Ricky Nelson, Rod Serling, Sandy Koufax and Dick Van Dyke. Superspy James Bond debuted a gadget-laden Aston Martin in the 1965 movie, “Goldfinger,” but Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, was an Avanti owner. So was Shirley Bassey, who sang the film’s hit theme song. Reggie Mantle drove his uncle’s Avanti in the Archie Comics “Pals’n'Gals” winter 1962-1963 issue.
Fast? Yes
In its supercharged R2 form, the Avanti was indeed a quick car. In 1962, Road & Track Magazine went zero-to-60 in 7.3 seconds in an R2. Motor Trend’s R2 test car did the quarter-mile in 15.8 seconds at 91 mph. On larger modern tires, an Avanti R2 should be capable of zero-to-60 in about 6.5 seconds — on par with a new Cadillac CTS.
An Avanti could reach 170 mph — the right Avanti in the right hands, that is. The Avanti that set 29 production-car speed records at Bonneville was a rare “R3” model with an engine specially built by Indy racing entrepreneur Andy Granatelli. He also drove the Avanti into the record books. The R3 was technically a “production” model, but just nine were built with this expensive option. Thirty years later, a group of Avanti enthusiasts returned to Bonneville and set a D-Production record of 195.640 mph.
From Avanti to Ponzi to … Avanti III?
Studebaker dealers Nate Altman and Leo Newman rescued the Avanti in 1965 and built it in low numbers as the Avanti II (usually under 100 per year) in the former Studebaker plant in South Bend, Ind. until 1983. The only key difference was a Chevrolet small block V8 engine in place of the Studebaker V8 (a Corvette-spec 327 or 350 until the early 1970s).
Altman and Newman sold the company to Stephen Blake, whose stewardship ended in bankruptcy in 1986. Real estate developer Michael E. Kelley was next, and he added a convertible to the line. Kelley sold Avanti to John J. Cafaro, who moved the operation to Youngstown, Oh. in 1989. Cafaro added a four-door model based on an original Raymond Loewy design. In its last few years of production, the Avanti was built on a Chevy Monte Carlo chassis. The last car was built in 1991.
Kelley has been back in the news. Since 2008, he has been in prison awaiting trial on federal charges of bilking investors out of over $400 million in a real estate ponzi scheme involving vacation properties in Mexico.
Attempts to resurrect Avanti have come and gone, including one that used re-skinned Pontiac Firebird body shells (320 built from 2001 to 2004) and then the 2005 Ford Mustang (46 built). Tom Kellogg, the sketcher on Loewy’s original Avanti design team, designed those cars. The company appears defunct, although its website is still up.
The Avanti’s Bonneville speed record adventure is documented in a period-kitschy five-minute promotional film. Parts of the soundtrack sound like they were recycled for the 1968 movie, “Planet of the Apes.”
Okay I’ve connected.
Avanti had one unheralded designer I felt was more the reason for its flair than even Bob Andrews, and that was Bob Doehler. He took the eighth scale clay up to full realistically buildable size with two helpers. A lot got finessed in that process by a true car buff with an engineer’s sense.
George, thanks for the additional info. I know Loewy gets credit for much of the Stude work, but that other designers under him did the actual drafting and crafting, as it were.