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My first Avanti

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  • My first Avanti

    I just bought an Avanti, my first. I took a test drive in 1964 when I was a newly minted teacher. The price equaled my salary for the year. Knowing what I know now, they might have been willing to come down a little if I had made an offer. Anyway, I can now check this off my bucket list.

    Everything I have read about how hot it gets inside is true. Fortunately this one has still working AC. However, I have not seen mention of the useless sun visors in these cars.
    Click image for larger version

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    Don Wilson, Centralia, WA

    40 Champion 4 door*
    50 Champion 2 door*
    53 Commander K Auto*
    53 Commander K overdrive*
    55 President Speedster
    62 GT 4Speed*
    63 Avanti R1*
    64 Champ 1/2 ton

    * Formerly owned

  • #2
    Don,

    Best of luck with your Avanti. See, it always pays to be patient. It also doesn't hurt to have the money for the car.

    Rog
    '59 Lark VI Regal Hardtop
    Smithtown,NY
    Recording Secretary, Long Island Studebaker Club

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    • #3
      Those sunvisors have been complained about since day one...it's just something Avanti owners have simply learned to live with. It stems from Sherwood Egbert having some intense dislike for sunvisors and didn't want any at all, but the best the stylists could get by with was those small visors. Egbert gets a lot of credit and blame for the Avanti...without him there would never have been an Avanti to begin with, the interior being very "aircraft" was due to his being a pilot, the small visors are due to him, and the more vertical windshield was due to him since he was so tall and banged his head on the mock up and told the engineers to increase headroom, resulting in raising the front of the roof. For better or worse, all those were due specifically to Egbert.
      Poet...Mystic...Soldier of Fortune. As always...self-absorbed, adversarial, cocky and in general a malcontent.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Gunslinger View Post
        ... and the more vertical windshield was due to him since he was so tall and banged his head on the mock up and told the engineers to increase headroom, resulting in raising the front of the roof. For better or worse, all those were due specifically to Egbert.
        I'm not sure about the windshield, it certainly makes sense, but if you compare the Avantis windshield slope to other cars of the period, like the Jaguar E-Type, it's no worse than most.
        63 Avanti R1 2788
        1914 Stutz Bearcat
        (George Barris replica)

        Washington State

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        • #5
          Originally posted by JBOYLE View Post
          I'm not sure about the windshield, it certainly makes sense, but if you compare the Avantis windshield slope to other cars of the period, like the Jaguar E-Type, it's no worse than most.
          But the angle was raised, as Gunslinger stated, per first hand input received from the designer that made that change.
          Gary L.
          Wappinger, NY

          SDC member since 1968
          Studebaker enthusiast much longer

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          • #6
            ddub, Congrats on the long awaited purchase. Besides the heat inside the cabin and the useless visors, I'm sure you will find some other annoying items such as perpetual expansion tank leaks. I bet you also paid more than your first year's salary to get this one! Enjoy the car, make up for all the years you did without it! I met a man at the recent IM that had ordered his 63 new, waiting 5 months for it and drove it from Florida to attend the meet, also a red R1 with air like yours, but his car still was wearing the original paint and was shown in the survivor class at the meet. Your car looks nice, ENJOY IT!!
            sigpic[SIGPIC]

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            • #7
              No problems with the expansion tank, a PO has done away with it. It is a high mileage, "older restoration" with a few problems but I can't quit grinning.
              Don Wilson, Centralia, WA

              40 Champion 4 door*
              50 Champion 2 door*
              53 Commander K Auto*
              53 Commander K overdrive*
              55 President Speedster
              62 GT 4Speed*
              63 Avanti R1*
              64 Champ 1/2 ton

              * Formerly owned

              Comment


              • #8
                Pull out the interior, get yourself 100 sq. feet of "Fat Mat" it's just like Dynamat, but less expensive. cover the entire interior and double it up on the floor under the seats. I did that to mine, and it makes ALL the difference in the world. I bought mine off eBay.

                Jim
                "We can't all be Heroes, Some us just need to stand on the curb and clap as they go by" Will Rogers

                We will provide the curb for you to stand on and clap!


                Indy Honor Flight www.IndyHonorFlight.org

                As of Veterans Day 2017, IHF has flown 2,450 WWII, Korean, and Vietnam Veterans to Washington DC at NO charge! to see
                their Memorials!

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