1962 Indy 500 - Some Pic's

[DEEPNHOCK]

While doing some surfing, found some pic's on the 'net from the '62 Indy 500.

.

.

.
(Wonder what happened to those Champ pickups?)

.

[Chris Pile]

Man! Look at all those Champ trucks!
Very cool, Jeff.

[DEEPNHOCK]

Here's a link to an interesting article about the '62 Indy 500.....
Silver dollars and Avanti's!

http://www.psychoontyres.co.uk/tag/indianapolis/

(snippet copy - see link for entire article)

150 Silver Dollars And An Avanti – 1962 Indianapolis 500
Posted on May 27, 2012 by Ralph
Reply
$150 Silver Dollars and a Studebaker Avanti were among the prizes taken home by two drivers from the Indianapolis Month of May in 1962.
Watson Offy, becoming the first man to average over 150 mph for his 4 qualifying laps to claim pole and an impromptu prize from a rival car owner of 150 silver dollars.

In Ed Arnaudins photo above a Studebaker Skylark Concertible passes the white Watson Offy of Shorty Templeton as is pushed to its outside second row grid position and the black Phillips Offy of Bud Tigelstad making its way to an inside forth row grid position.
Shorty and Bud would finish the race in 11th and 15th places respectively.

As the Skylark pace car returns to pit road Parnelli Jones from the inside of the front row leads Roger Ward, Watson Offy, Bobby Marshman, Epperly Offy, and the rest of the field to the start line. Rookie Dan Gurney in the middle of the third row seems to be struggling to get his rear engined stock block Thompson Buick up to speed.
Parnelli Jones led the first 300 miles comfortably before experiencing problems including coming to rest in the pits. AJ Foyt, Trevis Offy, was second in the early running until losing a wheel. And so Roger Ward came through to chase Jones down and take the lead, heading his team mate Len Sutton across the line for a Leader Card 1-2 victory at a new record 140 mph average for the race.


My thanks to Ed Arnaudin and his son Steve for today’s photographs and to E.B and Brian at The Nostalgia Forum for their help identifying Roger and the two racing cars in the top photo.

------------------------------

Aerodramatically Different – Avanti by Studebaker

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Ralph
Reply
Thirty seven days after becoming President of Studebaker Sherwood Egbert stepped of a flight from Chicago with some doodles, drawn in flight, for a vehicle that was to be marketed as America’s most advanced automobile and handed them to Raymond Lowery and his team and sent them to Palm Springs for 40 days where they were to turn the doodles into a design featuring a fiberglass body mounted on a 109″ Studebaker Lark Convertible chassis.
The finalised design was launched in New York on the 28th of April 1962 and one would be sent to the Indy 500 the following month to act as Honorary Pace Car alongside a fleet of Studebaker Sky Lark Convertible Official Pace Cars.

According to the period Avanti promotional film linked here, the “Aerodramatically Different” automobile feature a Jet Thrust V8 engine, available with a Paxton supercharger, coupled to a Power Shift automatic transmission that put ‘traction at the point of action’ and for the first time on an American production model front disc brakes to bring this symbol of elegance to a safe rest.
The Avanti was in fact powered by an uprated 240 hp 4.7 litre / 289 cui Hawk V8, production of the elegant fiberglass body was outsourced to Molded Fibreglass Body Co who had been responsible for manufacturing the first Chevrolet Corvette bodies in 1953.

Sherwood Egbert hoped to manufacture and sell 20,000 Avanti’s in the first year however despite plenty of interest in the new car Molded Fibreglass Body Co had problems manufacturing the bodies and only 1,200 Avanti’s were built causing orders to be cancelled.
Studebaker closed down completely in December 1963 with around 1,600 Avanti’s sold and 2500 in the dealer supply chain. The story of the Avanti did not end there. A succession of entrepreneurs managed to build further models up until 2006, using initially the original stock of parts, then switching to first GM and then Ford floor pans and running gear. For a while a short while 4 door model was in production but the very last, built in Mexico, was a one off powered by a Roush Racing V6.
Ed Arnaudin’s photo’s show the Avanti being driven around Indy on race day, top, and during one of the qualifying days bottom, this car was part of race winner Roger Wards prize package making him the first person to become a private owner of an Avanti.
My thanks to Ed’s son Steve for scanning and sending his Dad’s photo’s.

[SN-60]

These are photos that few folks have ever seen before......REALLY COOL STUFF!!...Thanks DEEPNHOCK for posting them. (And how about that '62 Skylark Convertible!!)

[Chris_Dresbach]

Thanks for posting, Jeff. For a second is looked like the '62 wagon next to the champ trucks was missing a door!

[64V-K7]

The owner of that tow truck passed away in 2010

[studegary]

It would be nice if they could research enough to get names like Rodger Ward and Raymond Loewy correct, along with the Lark.

I know that there is one V6 Avanti, but I never heard that Roush Racing V6 part before. I believe that it is just a regular production Mustang V6.

[BobPalma]

'Cool photos, Jeff; thanks. I had not seen at least half of them! BP

[SN-60]

Boy, that 'never seen before' white Avanti must have looked absolutely awesome to the crowd when it was driven around the track! I'll bet that sight impressed more people than seeing the actual race cars.

[BobPalma]

Boy, that 'never seen before' white Avanti must have looked absolutely awesome to the crowd when it was driven around the track! I'll bet that sight impressed more people than seeing the actual race cars.

Yep. Cousin George Krem and I attended one day of Time Trials at The Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May, 1962. We paid a lot more attention to the The Avanti on the track than any race car!

'Couldn't get too close to it as peons, however; I was 16 and he was 20 at the time. BP

[DieselJim]

I believe the Avanti is or was owned by Jonny Thiele in Illinois. The license plate said Ward. He had it for sale in Rapid City. Jim

[LarkTruck]

I believe the Avanti is or was owned by Jonny Thiele in Illinois. The license plate said Ward. He had it for sale in Rapid City. Jim

I met Ward's son at the '07 International. He had the SECOND car there at that time. He told me he and his brother drove the crap out of the FIRST car (a 4 speed) over the summer of '62, and that it was traded back in (in the fall) for one with automatic so their mother could drive it???
JS

[SN-60]

To: LarkTruck,--That sounds right from the stories I've heard/read. I wonder what the serial numbers of the 'Indy Avantis' were/are?