Vehicle Description
West Coast Classics are proud to present an exceptional example of
this 1964 Studebaker Avanti 2 Door Coupe with its original 'Avanti
Red' (6434) color paint and original Velvet Black (813) interior
and 289/240HP V8 engine and 'Borg Warner' automatic floor shift
transmission with the optional Dana 44 limited slip (Twin Traction)
rear axle and factory options including:Powershift automatic
transmission ($220)Power steering ($86)AM/FM Pushbutton radio
($154)Electric clockHeater and defrosterWhite sidewallsElectric
washers ($13)Twin traction ($40)Tinted glass ($13)and original all
matching #'s 289 V8 engine!Presented with a 'Studebaker National
Museum' of South Bend, IN copy of the cars original build sheet
showing a final assembly date of August 14th 1963.The car was owned
by its second owner from 1970 - 2017 and the third owner restored
the car as required with all new paint, reupholstered front seats,
new water pump, rebuilt starter and alternator, new brakes, new
valve cover gaskets, complete tune up, new Halibrand wheels, new
Firestone classic Wide Oval radial tires, new trunk liner, all new
exhaust syste, new battery and new original style spare wheel. All
the original tire tools are in the trunk.The car won recent awards
at these prestigious events; Best in Class at the 2021 San Marino
Motor Classic Car Show, Third place at the La Jola Concours
D'Elegance in 2019, First place at the A.A.C.A. Western Fall
Nationals in 2019 and First Place at the 2019 Huntington Beach
Concours!The 1963-64 Studebaker Avanti was amongst the most daring
of 1960's American cars, a modern masterpiece which still seems
contemporary today! Built with modern safety features such as a
built in roll bar, padded interior and door latches that became
structural body members when closed! A supercharged 289 V8 made the
car one of the fastest cars built in its day with a top speed of
over 168mph - a staggeringly fast speed for a production street
car! Some 29 Bonneville speed records were set by a supercharged
Avanti. This was also the first major fiberglass body four
passenger car and also the first such car to use caliper style disc
brakes and anti-sway bars front and rear. With only 3,834 models
built in 1963 and even less, 809 in 1964, this car was to prove an
instant collectible and has since reached certified 'Milestone
Status'. Distinctive features abound such as a grille-less front
end, asymmetrically placed hood bulge, shaped windows with large
glass areas, a short rounded tail end, aircraft-like cockpit
instrumentation and controls, slim section bucket seats and a
padded roll bar.To Studebaker's delight and not surprisingly, the
public loved the car as it was both upscale and well equipped,
although it sported a base price of $4,445 compared to the Corvette
Sting Ray's $4,252. In the end, the main problem for the original
Avanti, was the fact that the public knew that its parent company,
Studebaker, was fast going out of business and therefore were
reluctant to purchase their cars. Upon seeing it close its South
Bend plant on December 20th 1963 and with the last 1964 Avanti
having barely come off the production line, its fate was sealed.
Studebaker moved production of its other models to Canada in 1965
and only Chevy engines were offered in 1965-66. The renown
'Studebaker Motor Company' which had been incorporated in 1968 and
founded in 1852 as a wagon producer, sadly folded in March 1966.In
later years, being too good to let die, the Avanti model continued
with Chevy Corvette V8's after two South Bend Studebaker dealers,
Nate Altman and Leo Norman bought all the rights to the model,
formed the 'Avanti Motor Company' and continued to hand-build the
cars in an old Studebaker plant with the cars being known as
'Avanti II's. After Altman's death in the mid 1970's the Altman
estate sold the operation to another entrepreneur in 1982, who
continued the passion of building the car and so it was for years
to come, until finally the recession of 1991 doomed the car to
history.
