In Italian the word Avanti means forward and the people at Studebaker must have suddenly found this as a new direction as the 1963 Avanti was the first new Studebaker since their 1953 model. It was designed by Raymond Loewy, better known for his Coca-Cola dispenser and cigarette pack designs, each of which became instant classics.
The Avanti was designed around a shortened Lark chassis and was powered by a 4.6-litre V8 engine which developed 180 kW and gave it a maximum speed of 193 km/h. This was the best Studebaker V8 ever made and when supercharged boasted a 250 kW output.
In appearance Avant was more European than American with a long bonnet, razor-edged front wings, and no grille. Early sketches by Loewy reveal his sources of inspiration for the design with occasional margin notations reading like Ferrari, Mercedes or Aston Martin’.
With a fibreglass body, anti-sway bars, optional Paxton supercharger and wind-cheating aerodynamics the car quickly found buyers but unfortunately assembly problems soon found the buyer queue lengthening and dealers unable to meet these orders.
Many frustrated customers turned to the Corvette to satisfy their desire for a sportscar. Original production estimates turned out to be extremely optimistic quoting figures like 1000 per month whereas the reality was only around 4500 Avantis were made, and production ceased in December 1963.
At this point several Studebaker dealers bought the concept and formed the Avanti Motor Corporation which successfully continued manufacturing Avantis well into the eighties. Not many changes to the design took place and the simple dashboard style with Mercedes-like gauges and very little chrome continued as did the centre console. Standard equipment included internal boot and bonnet releases and vinyl bucket seats. Initial 1963 models had round headlights but these were changed in 1964 for square lights.
