Any info about this R3 emblem?

[mr moto]

What can anybody tell me about this style of R3 emblem:



I've only seen it on-line but never on an actual Avanti. Even "the last Avanti", which I believe is about as original an R3 as there is, doesn't appear to use it. Am I not looking in the right place? Was it ever used in production?
I'm sure someone will know!

[studejohn]

Used on larks and Hawks to my knowledge. Pm sent

[BobPalma]

What Studejohn said; it is the standard-production front fender "Lark" / Hawk emblem when factory-equipped with an R3 engine.

Of course, only one was so equipped, but properly-built clones, like The Plain Brown Wrapper, will have one of them on each front fender, as does the 'Wrapper.

It was not used on Avantis. BP

[R3 challenger]

I found the R3 fender emblems now on the Wrapper perhaps more than 40 years ago at Neuman-Altman. I noticed they had a whole bin-full of 1964 R1/R2 Lark/Hawk fender emblems, so I asked Dennis Lambert if he had seen any R3s. He said to look carefully in that bin--he had seen two in there. Dennis was right--they were buried, but they were there. Those are the two R3 emblems now on the Plain Brown Wrapper. I can't remember the exact price, but he only charged me the same price they were asking for the R1/R2 versions, maybe $3 each or so; looking back on it, that seems like the small parts bargain of the century now. <G>

George

[Buzzard]

They appear to be similar to the R4 ones on my GT Hawk R4 clone. I purchased them possibly from Chris at StuV circa 1971. The only other ones I saw was two years ago on a 53-55 Lowboy in the DR. George Car Show in Indian Wells (Palm Springs) California. The car had a Cadillac with dual fours.
Bill

[nels]

They appear to be similar to the R4 ones on my GT Hawk R4 clone. I purchased them possibly from Chris at StuV circa 1971. The only other ones I saw was two years ago on a 53-55 Lowboy in the DR. George Car Show in Indian Wells (Palm Springs) California. The car had a Cadillac with dual fours.
Bill

Bill, I remember when George bought them. They were $1.25 each, same as R1, R2 and R4 at Standard Surplus. Chris Banke at StuV wanted $6 ea for the R3/4 emblems which I thought was highway robbery. Of course I was in college trying to survive on $1/day so $6 was a ton of money.

[candbstudebakers]

In early 73 I bought a set of R-4's from Standard Surplus for about $1.50 each with the chrome ring for another $1.50 each, I ran them on my 60 champ pick up with a R-1 after I return from our trip to Minnesota in late 73 I changed the engine to a 413 Chrysler but left the emblems for many years after, when I parked the truck in the 90's I removed them and swapped them to Bill Oliver for a lot of different swap items at a zone meet, he might still have them.

[studerex]

Anybody tell me what these go to? Some of my collection.

[studejohn]

studerex thats a nice collection. You must have been collecting for years.To put together as hard to find parts as thoughs..I like

[go-studebaker]

George,
I remember that crate of R1 and R2 emblems for 1963 and 64 in N/A still being there in 1993

So I wonder what happened to all of them. Did Me Ed get them ?

Regards
Greg

[R3 challenger]

Hi, Greg. I suspect most--if not all--of those original 1964-type emblems were sold before SI bought the inventory. Studebaker International has the 1964 R1 and R2 versions in their latest catalog. I have not purchased any, but I've heard that those plastic inserts may need some filing to make them fit in an original chrome retainer, so they may be reproductions. Maybe someone with experience with the SI emblems can fill us in on this. Have they been improved?? And are the SI 1963 R1/R2 emblems repros or originals?

Thanks,

George

[go-studebaker]

Hi George,
It has been about a thousand years since I stopped by to see your gold 64 R3 Avanti in 1991 or 1992 - I can't remember.

Anyway, the crate with the emblems was half full of 63 and 64 round grill badges for R1 and R2 Lark and Hawk. There were hundreds of them in there, but I never went through the box as I was looking for interior things.
It was just something I noticed at the time and now realised that I should have bought the whole contents........

If you send me a PM I will add you to my list of people I force a UK Club newsletter on.
Happy New year
Greg

[Buzzard]

studerex, yep that's em ! What a collection you have put together.
Bill

[Dwight FitzSimons]

These silver and black "cats eye" R3 and R4 emblems were used on the front fenders of 1964 (not '63) Lark-types and Hawks equipped with an R3 or R4 engine. The R3 and R4 grille emblems were red, white and blue, like the R1/R2 ones. There was only one R3 Lark-type (Commander 2-dr sedan) and one R4 Lark-type (Daytona, either conv. or HT, can't recall which) built in '64.

The automotive operation was running on fumes in South Bend in late '63, so some things did not get done. An example (likely) was R3/R4 emblems for the Avanti. The front fender emblem for an R3 '64 Avanti is the same as for an R2 ("Avanti Supercharged"). Externally, the only way one can tell an R3 '64 Avanti from an R2 one is that the front sits a little higher (to clear the carb. enclosure), but this wouldn't be definitive. One has to look at the tachometer, which reads to 8000 RPM (graduated to 7600) on an R3-equipped car. Of course, some of these tachs were sold separately, so this isn't definitive either.
-Dwight FitzSimons, '64 Avanti R5407 (original R3 engine #B69, but from a crate)

[Guido]

Dwight,

I didn't realize your Avanti was built so close to the one I had, mine was 5400. I found it in NJ, interesting that they ended up within 45 miles of each other.

Gary