1963 Studebaker Avanti R2 Sport Coupe

The 1963 Studebaker Avanti personal luxury coupe was newly-appointed president Sherwood Egbert's last-ditch effort at pumping excitement into his fast-fading brand. Its handsome design began with an Egbert sketch doodled on a plane, and was brought to life in a 40-day crash program by Raymond Loewy's team of Tom Kellogg, Bob Andrews, and John Ebstein. Powered by a 289 cubic-inch V8 (with optional Paxton supercharging), its fiberglass body rolled on a modified Lark convertible chassis. The first American production car with front disc brakes, it set 29 speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1963.

Just 3,834 1963 Avantis were built and some 1,600 sold when Studebaker closed its factory on December 20, 1963. The name, tooling and plant were sold to South Bend, Indiana Studebaker dealers Nate Altman and Leo Newman, the first of several who would build small numbers of Avanti replicas and new-design cars off and on through 2006.

This highly-optioned Avanti-Gold example was found - through a local newspaper classified ad - disassembled in 'basket-case' condition, but with all its original (November 1962) paperwork, in the service bay of a former Studebaker dealership. A rare 4-speed manual, supercharged R-2 model with a 4:09 Twin-Traction differential, it was meticulously restored by Westmoreland Antique Car Restoration with some help from the second (and current) owner.

The current owner acquired this R-2, 4-speed car on Halloween 1999. It had resided in disassembled condition in the service bay of an ex-works Studebaker Dealer for 27 years. All the significant original paperwork remained with the car, confirming that it was a very early car (South Bend Body #8) and highly optioned with a supercar, 4-speed gearbox, 4.09 Twin Traction Differential, Hill Holder clutch, heavy-duty springs, power steering, and tinted windows. It was one of just 643 with a 4-speed transmission in 1963.