Studebaker's star was going down when designer Raymond Loewy introduced the sensational Avanti. The Avanti was something else both in design as in construction.The lines of the car stood out because of its square shape. The body was completely constructed from fiberglass and the passengers were protected by an iron in case of a roll.
Customers had the choice of two variants of the Studebaker V8 engine, the normally aspirated R1 and the R2 fitted with a Paxton Supercharger. The Avanti was the first American car to feature disc brakes all round.
The success of the Avanti could not prevent Studebaker from going down and production ceased in 1965. The Avanti however did not go down with Studebaker as production was picked up by enthusiasts and a variant is still in production.
This Avanti is seen in the Dutch AutoMusa Bergeyk museum and on Zandvoort.
Article by Wouter Melissen, last updated on January 02, 2005
The comments are not 100% accurate... to correct Studebaker offered a few more engine options, although the R1 and R2 where most popular, a couple of R3 where sold as well, and a lot of restorers have "upgraded" their car to an R3. R4 and R5 where also options. R4 being a dual carbed V8 and R5 dual supercharged. The R3 by way is an R2 on steriods with a higher charger pressure and a bored out engine 304 inches by concensus, but in reality it seems it was a bit smaller.
The Avanti did not have disk brakes around, but only up front. Actually in 1953 Bendix already had test sets at Studebaker but unfortunately it took another 10 years before they actually made it on a Studebaker.
The pictures in the Museum where at a 150th Anniversary Exhibition of Studebaker, so it's not there anymore. (Unfortunately the whole museum is gone now). The picture outside is at a World Guinnes attempt to drive one thousand oldtimers behind each other! This feat was accomplished at Circuit Zandvoort and here I was on my way to the Ford Museum one of sponsors. I actually won a prize that day for one the most original cars.
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Studebaker's star was going down when designer Raymond Loewy introduced the sensational Avanti. The Avanti was something else both in design as in construction.The lines of the car stood out because of its square shape. The body was completely constructed from fiberglass and the passengers were protected by an iron in case of a roll.
