I'll be the first to admit my absolute ignorance when it comes to the facts and history of these beautiful cars. I've always been fascinated by the lines and the rarity of Avantis, but never had an oppurtunity to have any real experiences with one. Heck, I've only seen a handful of these ever (saw one driving a few weeks ago within a mile of the school I work at -- been keeping an eye out for it since but with no luck).
I ran across an article at Wikipedia.com and thought someone else may find it interesting as well. What follows is a hod-podge of several articles cut-and-pasted as my clicking finger led me through... I'm sure it's old news to many, but there may be another soul out there like myself who'll be interested.[?] The original link is posted at the bottom of the page.
Could this have anything to do with the webpage that touted the new Studebaker as an environmentally responsible company planning to take over the world with electric cars??
"On October 1, 1982, real estate developer Stephen Blake bought the rights to the Avanti II and shortly after that developed a more up-to-date backbone chassis with independent suspension, and a convertible model.
Blake's company declared bankruptcy in 1986, and the company was purchased by Michael Kelly, who relocated production to Youngstown, Ohio. These cars continued to be sold until approximately 1991.
A second generation of Avanti automobile was styled by Tom Kellogg, one of the original Avanti design team members working for industrial designer Raymond Loewy, in the late 1980s. This car was based on GM's "F" platform Camaro/Firebird and carried the same styling themes as the Avanti marketed today. Sad note is that Tom Kellogg would die from aggravated injuries in a car wreck in Orange County, California. While driving an Acura sports car, he was involved in a wreck on the Long Beach freeway. He died shortly afterwards, in Newport Beach, California, on August 14, 2003.
Michael Eugene Kelly, owner of Avanti Motors Corporation, was arrested by the FBI on Dec 22, 2006 in Florida. Kelly is suspected of running a $400 million Ponzi scheme from 1999-2004 and is in jail without bail facing mail fraud charges.
(A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying abnormally high returns ("profits") to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather than from net revenues generated by any real business, named after Charles Ponzi.)"
I ran across an article at Wikipedia.com and thought someone else may find it interesting as well. What follows is a hod-podge of several articles cut-and-pasted as my clicking finger led me through... I'm sure it's old news to many, but there may be another soul out there like myself who'll be interested.[?] The original link is posted at the bottom of the page.
Could this have anything to do with the webpage that touted the new Studebaker as an environmentally responsible company planning to take over the world with electric cars??
"On October 1, 1982, real estate developer Stephen Blake bought the rights to the Avanti II and shortly after that developed a more up-to-date backbone chassis with independent suspension, and a convertible model.
Blake's company declared bankruptcy in 1986, and the company was purchased by Michael Kelly, who relocated production to Youngstown, Ohio. These cars continued to be sold until approximately 1991.
A second generation of Avanti automobile was styled by Tom Kellogg, one of the original Avanti design team members working for industrial designer Raymond Loewy, in the late 1980s. This car was based on GM's "F" platform Camaro/Firebird and carried the same styling themes as the Avanti marketed today. Sad note is that Tom Kellogg would die from aggravated injuries in a car wreck in Orange County, California. While driving an Acura sports car, he was involved in a wreck on the Long Beach freeway. He died shortly afterwards, in Newport Beach, California, on August 14, 2003.
Michael Eugene Kelly, owner of Avanti Motors Corporation, was arrested by the FBI on Dec 22, 2006 in Florida. Kelly is suspected of running a $400 million Ponzi scheme from 1999-2004 and is in jail without bail facing mail fraud charges.
(A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying abnormally high returns ("profits") to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather than from net revenues generated by any real business, named after Charles Ponzi.)"
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