New York Times - Collectible Cars by Tudor Van Hampton. Nonconformist from front or rear, the
Studebaker Avanti was a striking design in 1963. Moving from drawing board to assembly line in a year, Avanti offered buyers modern touches like a
fiberglass body,
disc brakes and supercharged engines. Studebaker was gone just a few years later, but the car continued, living many lives. Avanti production in South Bend, Indiana, lasted less than two years, but entrepreneurs enamored with its space-age lines - the mouthless front, crisp form and sporting performance - revived the car repeatedly through the decades, with its run ending, at least for now, in only 2007. The car was controversial in its day; it began as a rakish grand touring car, the result of a whirlwind design program in 1961, and for many collectors, it still inspires.
Raymond Loewy, the celebrated industrial designer, directed the development of its extraterrestrial styling. Its nose positioned low and its rear end high, Loewy’s design provided styling cues that this car was meant for speed. The public first saw the Avanti - its name means “forward” in Italian - at the
New York Auto Show on April 26, 1962. The show had already opened, but Studebaker kept the car under wraps for days until a shareholder’s meeting in South Bend, where it simultaneously unveiled a second prototype.
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