If you’re reading this website right now, you’ve probably heard about the Avanti. The revolutionary and achingly pretty two-door coupe from Studebaker has one of the most identifiable faces in all of ’60s car design, based on a Lark chassis and wearing a fiberglass body. When it went on sale in 1962, the Avanti was the fastest car you could buy, so long as you optioned the supercharger atop its standard 289 cubic-inch V8.
The original Avanti was produced for just two years before its tooling and rights were bought by a collection of dealers to be resurrected and sold by a new company. The original car was built into the mid-1980s, and eventually, the name was used to market rebodied Mustangs. The last car to wear the Avanti name rolled off its assembly line in 2006.
While most people remember the classic two-door Avanti coupe, there was a very short time when you could buy a four-door sedan wearing the Avanti fascia. But it was such a flop that it killed the company.
Let’s Start At The Beginning
By the 1960s, Studebaker wasn’t in a very good place. From 1950 to 1954, the company saw its volume shrink to a third, with millions in losses piling up, according to Barchetta. There was some reprieve when the subcompact Lark arrived in 1959, though it wasn’t enough to ensure long-term success. Sherwood Egbert took over as president in 1961 and enlisted the help of long-running Studebaker designer Raymond Loewy to come up with a new halo car for the brand.
In a six-week frenzy, Loewy and a bunch of designers locked themselves up in a Palm Springs home and came out with the original Avanti. Its grille-less face was a primary objective, as they didn’t want to have a traditional front end that might have “aged” the design. Though its design was certainly dramatic, it proved popular with the public. But its popularity wouldn’t be enough to keep Studebaker afloat. Delays in production and defects in early-production models hurt the Avanti’s reputation, and just two years later, it was killed off by the brand (before Studebaker itself went out of business in 1966).
Right after the Avanti was killed off, a collection of Studebaker dealers banded together to buy the tooling and the naming rights, and put the car back into production with a few small styling changes—including a set of square frames for the headlights—and a bigger 327 cubic-inch V8 lifted from the Corvette. The car was very creatively named the Avanti II.
The Avanti II, now the product of a new firm called the Avanti Motor Corporation, was built in small numbers into the early 1980s with little to no changes in design, aside from different V8 engines being used throughout production. Things changed in 1982 when Stephen Blake, a real estate developer, bought the company and instituted a few changes, like a new Ditzler Deltron urethane paint, body-color bumpers, and a convertible version. He also spearheaded an Avanti entry into the 1983 Daytona 500 (it finished 27th overall).
As it turns out, that fancy paint would be Blake’s downfall. From Avanti Owners Association:
Disaster struck the Blake operation shortly after the 1984 models were introduced when it was discovered that the new Ditzler Deltron urethane paint would not adhere to the Avanti body panels. In reality this meant that a whole year’s worth of production had to be repainted as the cars were under factory warranty. This was the beginning of the end and led to a bankruptcy filing in mid 1985.
Here’s a video of John Davis of Motorweek talking about the brand in 1984, just a year before the paint issues arrived (he described the car as having a “remarkable future” ahead of it):
The assets to Avanti were acquired by one Mike Kelly, who put the car back into production starting in 1987. At the same time, he revealed plans to eventually put a four-door version of the car into production. A year later, the company was acquired by John Cafaro and moved from South Bend to Youngstown, Ohio.
The Sedan Is Born
Development and production of the Avanti four-door moved forward under Cafaro’s ownership. The sedan used the Avanti’s classic no-grille, two headlight fascia, and fiberglass body panel approach, albeit with two doors instead of four. The car was based on a Chevrolet Caprice chassis, with airplane-style door frames that wrapped onto the roof, and a CRT television set between the rear seats. Under the hood was a 305 cubic-inch V8 and a four-speed automatic transmission.
This car was a far cry from Studebaker’s original concept for a family-oriented Avanti. Back when the company was still making these cars, it enlisted the help of Loewy to design a sedan concept of the coupe. Loewy and his team ended up with two models after six weeks locked up in his Paris studio, a notchback and a fastback. Both had the distinction of having one door on one side of the car and two doors on the other. Our very own Jason Torchinsky got to see the cars in person at the Studebaker Museum and wrote about it in 2024.
Alas, the version of the sedan that did enter production 25 years later ultimately ended up bankrupting the brand yet again. From IndieAuto.org, quoting John Hull’s book, Av”anti: The Complete Story:
The “four-door touring sedan” did not give the tiny automaker the sales bump its ambitious new owner, John J. Cafaro, had anticipated. Less than 100 were built before Avanti production ended in 1991 due to the “company literally hemorrhaging cash.”
The Avanti name would go dark until 1999, when Kelly repurchased the brand and began producing Mustangs rebodied as Avantis in Georgia and running the company out of Cancun, Mexico. That continued until 2007, when he was arrested on fraud charges by the FBI in connection with a real estate investment scam, per MotorTrend.
This Is Probably As Nice As You’ll Get
It’s unclear how many Avanti four-doors were built, but Hemmings, which reported on the sale of the original sedan molds for the fiberglass body panels in December, says between 89 and 90 examples rolled off the line before production ended in 1991. That means they’re incredibly rare pieces of American automotive history.
I haven’t seen one of these things for sale in a long time, so I was a bit surprised to see BarnFinds.com highlighting this one for sale on eBay earlier today. According to the seller’s description, the original owner bought this one and another in white (which you can see in some of the sales pictures) for him and his wife. For the first 32 years of its life, this car has allegedly been serviced regularly and garage-kept. It’s showing just under 18,000 miles on the clock and looks to be in pretty good shape.
The person selling it purchased the car after the first owner passed away, and now it’s up for auction with three days remaining to bid. It’s currently sitting at just $2,275 as I type this, which is cheap enough for me to say “screw it” and throw in a bid. If it stays this cheap by Saturday, I just might.
Even if it goes for significantly more money, I’d understand. These often-forgotten sedans are a weird piece of ’90s automotive history that don’t get enough love. With ’90s collector cars all the rage right now, perhaps it’s the Avanti four-door’s time to shine?
Top graphic image: Avanti
There was one of these 4 doors running around in our small NorCal town – I hadnt seen it for a couple years until this past weekend when I spotted it in a FBMP estate sale listing. Went and saw it sitting there alongside a Lark convertible. They were asking $10K but were “taking offers”
On the ugly vs. beautiful comments, I wonder if it is age related. As a boomer, I love its looks (although I remember being freaked out by the asymmetric hood when it first came out).
I am a boomer and I cannot stand it.
For a long time I owned a copy of the Robb Report Exotic Cars magazine, purchased around 1984 or so, that featured, among other things, the Avanti II. I was proud at the time of already knowing about the Avanti’s Studebaker origins, was irrationally enamored of the Opel Manta 400 featured elsewhere in those pages, and over time wore the magazine out. I loved it. It was full of weird, wild cars. A Renault R5T2 got lots of eyeballs.
As interesting as it was, the Avanti was not captivating. Its history was, but the car itself was not.
“…supercharger atop its standard 289 cubic-inch V8.”
Nope, the supercharger is anchored to the accessory bracket mount in the front and right side of the engine. Look at the red-bodied supercharger in the Avanti’s engine bay.
Brian, I keep coming across the factual mistakes in your articles so often, which is irritatingly tiresome. Next time, spend more time verifying the information before publishing the article.
I feel like this is probably a bit nit picky and pedantic. For the general readership, they aren’t going to be that bothered by “supercharger atop” vs supercharger hanging off the accessory drive. The same point is made, the higher performance was achieved with a supercharger. If this piqued the interest of someone that wants to know more, they’re going to dig deeper. Your “well actually…” doesn’t really add to the conversation in a meaningful and beneficial way.
Rant over.
I like Studebaker, and Raymond Loewy’s work. But I’ve never cared much for the Avanti. Something about the proportions, the grill-less fascia, it’s just off. The later tributes, reboots, and the especially the sedan are truly hideous. I just don’t get the appeal.
I agree almost 100%…but there is something about that sedan that…doesn’t look bad? I usually loathe the kit-car look of things like this, but the added doors somehow balance it out.
The doors are the worst part! Big gaps, thick window frames, weird shapes, asymmetry. The frame thickness vs. the glass area looks like something an armoured car might have. I agree that the length improves the proportions, but the greenhouse is just not good.
Agreed. It looks fairly elegant in the 3/4 rear view in the “LA show stoppers” ad. But I never liked the front styling of any Avanti. I’m a boomer and saw one for the first time in 4th or 5th grade. It just looked weird.
My neighbors’ son had a ’63 Stingray that we all drooled over when he stopped by to visit his folks. At least Chevy was wise enough to not make a 4-door Corvette. Oh, wait a minute. Ooops!
Super Rare, Super Long Four-Door C3 Corvette Pops up for Sale
I just realized that’s the rear glass from an F-body (or maybe a C3 Corvette?) and they did a good job of incorporating it into the overall design.
I’m a…what, Gen X? I can never remember, but I’ve never liked the cars that my generation was supposed to like (Testarossa on the bedroom wall, white be-winged Countach)…give me the Wagon Queen Family Truckster or MacGyver’s Wrangler any day of thew week.
I like the avanti and avanti 2. Somewhat Jensen interceptorish to me. They can keep the rest of the zombie cars
That sedan is hot. Brian, I hope you get it and write about it.
“Under the hood was a 305 cubic-inch V8 and a four-speed automatic transmission.”
It’s ridiculous that they couldn’t at least drop a Chevy 350 from the Camaro or Corvette into it
Probably due to the price for the crate engines…
“Probably due to the price for the crate engines…”
But these weren’t cheap cars when new. And back in the day, the Avantis did use a Corvette engine. It’s just that the management in the 1980s were being penny-wise, pound-foolish.
It’s no surprise to me these didn’t sell.
Since they probably bought a box-era Caprice complete and yanked the bodywork off, I’m guessing they went with the 5.0 that literally “came in the box” to save money.
And in doing so, gave the car sucky performance for the luxury car price point. It’s no wonder these didn’t sell.
I actually knew a guy who had a white 4-door Avanti. He also had a convertible and a coupe. The sedan looked great in real life.
My friend grew up with Studebakers and had an R2 supercharged Lark in high school. His dad was rightly concerned the car was “too damn fast,” and made him take off the blower belts.
So Steve bought another set of belts and hid them at the end of the farm lane, along with an oven mitt. He’d stop on the way out to mount the belts, spend some hours terrorizing the community, then stop on the way home and pull the belts off the hot engine with the oven mitt.
That lasted until one of the local deputies followed him home in the dark, then flipped on the lights and busted him at the end of the drive way.
I have a soft spot for Studebakers and thought the Avanti was kind of cool as a kid, but the premise of this article has shuffled that impression.
The coupe’s ugly. The sedan might be an improvement. Heavy emphasis on “might.”
My first gripe with the original Avanti (which all versions share) is its embrace of what might be called “fender ridges,” the sharp outer top edges defining that area of car design as we shifted from separate wings to pontoon fenders and into unibody shapes that must have seemed unsettlingly blobby to people accustomed to cars that had a distinct “body plus fenders” layout.
These sharp fender ridges are a scourge of car design that emerged in the ‘60s and thankfully died out by the ‘70s. They were present on virtually every muscle car but then blatantly omitted on retro versions of those cars: Mustang, Challenger, Camaro, etc. I can imagine a recent scenario in which a designer proposed adding them back and got shot down by a two-word email comprised solely of a photograph of an AMC Matador captioned “Never again.” The sixth and seventh generations of Charger flirted with those creases but kept them subdued.
What really kills the Avanti coupe for me is the C-pillar. Like the Jensen Interceptor and first generation of Barracuda, that C pillar is a disastrous confluence of angles and curves. It doesn’t work. It looks ugly. Some people might tolerate it, but nobody loves it. Turning it into a four-door wasn’t blasphemy.
Also, smack me upside the head with a wriggling tarpon if the Autopian logo doesn’t owe a bit to that of the Avanti.
I happen to love the C pillar. And the fender ridges for that matter.
Then it’s found an audience and may the automotive world be more appreciably diverse and interesting for it. If my tastes were everyone’s, the world would be more boring. The fender ridges remain a clash between form and function for me.
Also, I f’ed up on the AMC reference re: fender ridges. The Javelin was the worst offender. The Matador’s bug-eyed gawkiness drew unwarranted fire in that regard.
The Javelin was the best looking of the early 70s pony cars and I won’t hear otherwise.
That’s the great thing about individual senses of style. The more they differ, the more they have space to work with a given design. When I saw Nacho’s Javelin in “Better Call Saul,” I thought “I don’t like those cars, but I like that car.”
The AMX also looked pretty good. Maybe better. YMMV.
Reading this comment thread, I’m thinking the Avanti is the automotive equivalent of cilantro. For many, it’s fresh and amazing. But for some, it tastes like soap.
Agree mostly on your assessment of Avanti, but for some reason I like the Interceptor, and while slightly unusual in the rear, it’s never offended me and I think it’s kind of cool. It’s kinda my “birth year” favorite car so I’m biased.
I think the FFs were particularly cool with its four-wheel drive and antilock brakes. I remember reading an article in one of the car mags when it came out and it was allegedly capable of 0-100-0 (mph) in 12 seconds. I imagine a V6 Camry could do that now.
Just a guess, but the C pillar is designed to mimic the rear line of the car. Similar to the way Studebaker’s 53 coupe C pillar mimics the crease in the door below. I’d much rather have a world with companies trying an occasional Avanti, then the sea of generic SUV crossovers. It’s like they’re trying to sell laptops based on the exterior design.
Re: the Autopian logo… At least the “A.” I hadn’t made the connection until you pointed it out. And now I can’t unsee it.
I think these rear fender ridges work better in some colors than others. I like the rear styling on the sedan in that coolish silver. I don’t think they look nearly as good in solid black or white.
The 1964 model year Avanti had the square shaped headlight trim while still produced by Studebaker, that wasn’t a change made after the dealers bought the tooling.
From 2001-2004 Avantis were also built on F-body chassis. The look translates about as well as you’d expect.
I have no idea why people kept trying to resurrect this car. It wasn’t good looking in the first place. Those who cared died long ago.
Having said that, for $3000 that sedan is very solidly in “why the hell not” territory, if you have a taste for oddballs (I do).
At $3k, it would be a fun LS swap candidate. Leave everyone confused and frustrated when they can’t figure out what the heck just went by.
To me, the Avanti is one of the ugliest cars ever made… I’m going to throw up now…
100%. There isn’t a single good angle. I can’t think of another car I think is worse looking.
Well, the #1 spot for me is the Cybertruck
They are pretty close. I wouldn’t want either, if forced I’d choose a lobotomy, but at least the CT is a cohesive design. Avanti looks like they simultaneously tried to make the most boring and exciting car at the same time and just ended up jumbling things up. CT wanted to be a dumpster, and nailed it.
And I think the original car is really handsome. Especially in person. It’s unconventional, sure, but I don’t see the ugliness. Is it the lack of a grille?
The worst part is the pointy things on the front
I had heard that one of the issues they were facing by the mid 1980s was that they were starting to run out of Studebaker Lark convertible chassis, Avanti Motor Corp had been buying new chassis from Studebaker until 1966, then bought up a stockpile when the Hamilton plant closed, and by the mid ’80s, the inventory was running down and they needed to make a major design change
When production moved to Ohio, they switched to a GM G-body chassis with a new body that closely resembled the original one, but was made with new molds to better fit the new dimensions. The ’60s space age interior also gave way to a more contemporary, but more generic look that had a bit of a high quality kit car feel about it
Mike Kelly had ambitions of eventually moving to a bespoke chassis and growing Avanti into a full-fledged automaker that would become a sort of American DeTomaso or Maserati – he claimed to want to compete with BMW, but we all know that was never going to happen, even if all the other plans came to fruition
“achingly pretty”
I know it’s subjective but, IMO, the Avanti was FUGLY from the beginning. No amount of perfume was going to make this pig look “achingly pretty”. Just not possible.
Agreed 100%. The original “Starliner” coupe was prettier, and the two-door and four-door sedans were also much better designs, even if they were poorly engineered and produced.
Totally agree…to me it’s one of the ugliest cars ever made
As a kid, I remember the generation that made the convertibles going under and someone else buying the Avanti remains again with intention to make more. I found it fascinating that a mess had such staying power. The oft-vaunted (ugly) grilleless front wasn’t even new in that generation of cars unless one qualifies—which nobody ever does—it as the only one being front engined (off the top of my head, but I wouldn’t doubt there was another), never mind being beaten by at least Renault by 60 years or so. The interaction of the lines of the side windows and rear window is as discordant as one might expect if two different people came up with designs where they liked the rear of one and the front of the other, but they ran out of time to figure things out properly, so they decided to stick the two sketches together as a (visual) challenge. Then this car that seems to have the “ahead of its time” cliche as part of its model name (so overused that nobody questions it and I wonder if it wasn’t the marketers who successfully sold that invisible clothing) had to be mounted to an ancient chassis, but the design team didn’t take into account the leaf spring mounts (it’s a true work of genius!), so they just kind of stick out the rear like I’d expect of a Jethro “hold my beer” driveway hack job. The rear end droops like a dog taking a shit and the tail lights are like afterthoughts they just tucked onto the back. Maybe noticing it was missing tail lights at the last moment and figuring that fix out distracted them from catching the leaf springs thing. Really, the theme seems to be tacked on and rushed. I think the earlier version of the convertibles looked a lot better because they didn’t have that roofline, but the herpes-flare-like reoccurrence of this design has always left me bemused.
That said, while I think they’re ugly, that sedan is still rare and interesting, so if it goes for anywhere near that cheap, it’s a damn good deal for an oddity that’s probably pretty comfortable, cheap to run being a Caprice underneath, and will impress people who inexplicably think they’re attractive (guys with ham radio towers in their yards and their basements filled with a model train set where they can play God with their own idealized miniature world … why, yes, I am thinking of a specific person).
Am I the only one who thinks that front end is just not that good looking? It comes off as a bit awkward to me. The rest of the car looks great, though.
It was the ugliest front end for decades, IMO. Particularly the square headlight ones, that look like the headlights aren’t square.
It was finally dethroned by the Morgan Aero 8.
You’re not the only one, in fact, I think that the Avanti is one of the most over-hyped car designs of all time. It’s ungainly, has an awkward stance, and looks like it was designed in six-weeks by some designers that were drinking heavily.
A correction on racing at Daytona. The Avanti ran the 24 Hours of Daytona, not the Daytona 500. The finish is listed as 27th.
Indeed, I once had the honor and privilege of fighting this Avanti’s engine fire while working as safety staff at a Lemons race at Oregon Raceway Park:
https://hagerty-media-prod.imgix.net/2020/07/rustbeltother_1963_studebaker_avanti_.jpg
The team ended up replacing a considerable quantity of charred wiring and got it back on track the next day.
A couple of little corrections, Brian: first, Loewy didn’t actually design the car. Tom Kellogg, Bob Andrews and John Ebstein did. Most of the work was done by Kellogg. They worked in Palm Springs, California, not Paris. The Studebaker half-four-door prototypes, again designed by Kellogg, were built by Pichon-Parat, a company located outside of Paris.
Many years later, Kellogg told me he “consulted” with the later builders of Avanti “continuations,” mainly on integrating the plastic bumpers into the design. He was not especially pleased with what they came up with.
As a side note, Tom showed me designs he worked up when Loewy was auditioning him for a job, pre-Avanti. Based on Loewy’s earlier and rather Bizarre take on a BMW 507, they bore an astonishing resemblance to the car Studebaker built.
Tom was a helluva designer. Tasteful, versatile, and prolific.
I had to go read the linked article after reading one door on one side and two on the other.
It was a prototype. So you could see both versions in one car. Lol.
Fairly common but more at the clay model stage. Legend has it that when Michelotti first saw former client Triumph’s TR7 (itself a British Leyland in-house job) on an auto show stand, he immediately went around it and exclaimed “They did it to the other side too!”
Yeah, the plan was to build an actual 4-door as part of a full line in the ’60s. The unexpected early retirement of Sherwood Egbert for health reasons is probably what really killed all those plans, he was the last one at the top of Studebaker who really had any interest in keeping the car division going
Mother’s first job was working in the steno-pool for Studebaker in South Bend – and was part of the dealer takeover of Avanti before she married my Father….
Avanti and it’s adventures were a regular part of the conversations around the dining table in the late 60’s and early 70’s during our visits to my Grandparents in Ford County, Illinois. (They all drove Fords, natch)
Personally – if I were looking for an oddball 80’s sedan – I’d rather have a Bitter SC.
The Bitter SC was a 2 door.
It was also a 4 door and a convertible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_Automotive
I knew about the handful of convertibles but TIL about the sedan. They only made 5, so no wonder.
I didn’t know Avanti had been killed off and revived that many times. I knew about the original being sold off to dealerships when Studebaker gave up on them, but not that the resold and resold again brand remained active all the way up to 2007. Having it finally go under after the owner got busted by the feds sounds straight out of the DeLorean saga.
So I guess this means the brand is technically available? I’m not suggesting the Autopian and Galpin should buy the rights and start building new Avantis out of whatever cars the writers are willing to sacrifice, except that I’m clearly saying you should.
Some outfit called Studebaker Wagon & Motor Company, LLC, registered to a PO box in New Carlisle, Indiana, has an active filing for the trademark right now, still under review
2CV Avanti?
CJ-2A Avanti?
Fortwo Avanti?
The mind reels. I’d definitely read a Bishop article sketching them up, though.
The original Avanti – and more Studebakers, really – should be in video games. Dunno if complex copyright is the reason, but it’s a shame there isn’t many Larks, Hawks, and Avantis. Or rainbow colored, formerly bear-owned, Champions. Can You Picture That?Who wouldn’t want to be Movin’ Right Along in Forza Horizon?
Anyway if The Autopian ends up with this one, a blower sounds like an appropriate upgrade.
No, no, that’s just a myth. MYTH!
“Yes?”
“Aw, geez, it’s a running gag.”
I’ve long had a thing for the early Avanti. The most beautiful American car of it’s day, so clean and unfussy. This 4dr version does not wear the look well. Looks a bit like a Dachsund.
This was because in my formative years my grandfather and his brother sold off a big chunk of the back 40 of the family farm to developers, who build a shiny new apartment complex on it. In the ’70s and ’80s it was very much a “swinging singles” sort of place, and the parking lot was full of every kind of cool car you could imagine from those days, including a couple of Avantis. An absolute sea of British sports cars from Midgets to E-Types, Alfas, Porsches, Corvettes, even a Ferrari GT4 for a while!
When I was 16 and looking for my first car, an original Studebaker Avanti was one of the cars I was looking at. I ended up with a 1968 Mustang. This was 1996 and that car would have been rare then and worth a fortune today. Whoopsie.
Surprisingly even original Avanti’s don’t bring in great sums of money I think that is more have to find the right buyer type deal as they aren’t your charger/Camaro/Chevelle/mustang type deal.
I don’t think they have ever been all that valuable, other than that rare supercharged version. Looking around online, seems like a median of $25K or so.