If an Avanti is a Lark in a Party Dress...

[jlmccuan]

Then here she is dolled up for the prom. Local cruise nite. About 170 cars. Beautiful evening.



Jim

_________1966 Avanti II RQA 0088______________Rabid Snail Racing

[StudeMichael]

"A Lark in a gilded cage".

1957 Packard Clipper
1958 Golden Hawk
1963 Daytona Convertible
1963 R2 Daytona
1963 R2 GT Hawk
1963 R1 Wagonaire
1963 R4 Avanti
1964 Champ
1966 Cruiser

[avantilover]

Truly a Classic Design that still looks great 45 years later.

John Clements
Avantilover, your South Australian Studebaker lover!!!
Secretary Studebaker Car Club of SA (as of 3/19/08)
Lockleys South Australia

[Gunslinger]

If the Avanti was "nothing more than a Lark in a gilded cage" as some car magazine said, why did they go ga-ga over the Ford Mustang which was nothing more than a Falcon in a sportier body? The first Barracuda was even more obvious as a Valiant with an Avanti style rear glass grafted on...in fact, the first Barracuda's carried the valiant nameplate and the name Barracuda was a Valiant sub-model.

Poet...Mystic...Soldier of Fortune. As always...self-absorbed, adversarial, cocky and in general a malcontent.

[barnlark]

Guess that makes my frame the Victoria Secret for the party dress.. That Avanti looks great.

[Johnnywiffer]

"If an Avanti is a Lark in a party dress, what's a '57 Golden Hawk?" A Starliner with wings?

John

[8E45E]

quote:Originally posted by Gunslinger

If the Avanti was "nothing more than a Lark in a gilded cage" as some car magazine said, why did they go ga-ga over the Ford Mustang which was nothing more than a Falcon in a sportier body? The first Barracuda was even more obvious as a Valiant with an Avanti style rear glass grafted on...in fact, the first Barracuda's carried the valiant nameplate and the name Barracuda was a Valiant sub-model.

Economies of scale, right? Lee Iacocca was a master of making Ford nothing but money from reskinning existing body shells in the 1960's and getting away with it. He also created the Continental Mark III in mid-1968 from the Thunderbird, so it wasn't just sporty cars sprung from bland-sedans, either!![:0]

Craig

[JBOYLE]

As I said in response to a similar thread about a month ago...

The oft-repeated actual quote darning the Avanti with faint praise was...

"It's only a Lark in a gilded cage to some...."

Road & Track, October, 1962.

What isn't often repeated is the rest of the subhead for the road test...
"...while to others it is the newest, freshest design to come from a U.S. builder since the supercharged Cord 812."

Why did I buy an Avanti? It's one of the very few ways an average guy can get a fairly rare car that is truly an automotive design icon...
like it or not, and I know even some of you SDC'ers don't...it's the one U.S. car made in the last 50 years that's in all the automotive design books...(the only other contenders would be the 61 Lincoln and the 63 Riveria...and if you can go back 55 years, the 53 Studebaker C/K).

63 Avanti R1 2788
1914 Stutz Bearcat
(George Barris replica)

Washington State

[jlmccuan]

Same here. I hate going somewhere and seeing the twin of my car around every corner ie Mustangs and Camaros. I call them "Me too" cars. As in, "Oh, you drive a Camaro? Me too."

Jim

_________1966 Avanti II RQA 0088______________Rabid Snail Racing

[Johnnywiffer]

I agree. In the same vein, I rarely see a '54 Land Cruiser with rear-mounted air.



Or a black '88 Fiero GT for that matter.
John

[StudeRich]

I would not be far off if said that sharp Land Cruiser is the ONLY one with Novi Trunk Air! On the other hand, there is a reason why there are few '88 Feiros still running!

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA