American actor Dick Van Dyke owned a 1963 Studebaker Avanti that was displayed in a midcentury design exhibit at the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Van Dyke played the lead role of Albert Peterson in the broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie, which ran from April 1960 to Oct 1961 and he began his film career by recreating the role in the film version in 1963. Van Dyke was cast in his best known roles in 1964: as the chimney sweep Bert, and as Mr. Dawes Senior, the chairman of the bank in Mary Poppins. From 1961 to 1966, Van Dyke starred in the CBS sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, in which he portrayed a comedy writer named Rob Petrie. He also starred in the successful musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 1968.
