Beach Boy Al Jardine 1989 Avanti Convertible

[rgallatin]

The car originally owned by Al Jardine of the Beach Boys.

A brief tribute to the Al Jardine owned 1989 convertible.

[StudeRich]

Thanks for posting that Richard, I am a big fan of the Iconic Group from Hawthorne, CA.

Dennis Wilson was in my Class at good 'ol HHS.
Al Jardine often parked his '49 Merc Convertible next to my Peacock Green '48 Champion 2 door Sedan or Dad's New '60 Champ 5E6 or my '57 Stude. Arctic White '50 Chev. 2 Door.

Al's New Band "Al Jardine and Friends" featuring Brian Wilson's Daughters, had a Concert up here a few years ago at the Skagit Valley Casino where I met him again, had him sign my yearbook and had a good talk backstage after I got past the Body Guard!

[Silverplate]

Thanks for posting that Richard, I am a big fan of the Iconic Group from Hawthorne, CA.

Dennis Wilson was in my Class at good 'ol HHS.
Al Jardine often parked his '49 Merc Convertible next to my Peacock Green '48 Champion 2 door Sedan or Dad's New '60 Champ 5E6 or my '57 Stude. Arctic White '50 Chev. 2 Door.

Al's New Band "Al Jardine and Friends" featuring Brian Wilson's Daughters, had a Concert up here a few years ago at the Skagit Valley Casino where I met him again, had him sign my yearbook and had a good talk backstage after I got past the Body Guard!

Great story, thanks for sharing.

[bison]

Hi Rich
did you hang out at the Foster Freeze on Hawthorne Blvd.?
I had an old boss who went to HH about the same time ( i guess his cousin use to hang around there and knew the Beach Boys ) one day he took me around and showed me all of the local noteworthy sites , along with the house that Marilyn Monroe use to live in .
he must not have know which house the Celebrity Studerich lived in ,as it was not part of the tour
good ole Hawthorne
take care , Blake

[Devan]

The article mentions it was built on the Camaro chassis. Pretty sure that's wrong. Surprised no one else caught that. Maybe I'm wrong. By 1989 I believe they just started using a shortened Caprice chassis. I was always curious as to how this Avanti would handle and wrote a couple auto magazines to request a road test but to no avail. Anyone ever read a road test of the Avanti on this chassis? It was pretty good for the day and could be made to handle as witnessed in the SS edition.

[swvalcon]

It would be pretty hard to use a camaro chassis as they where unibody from just behind the firewall on back. And from 83 on they where completely unibody.

[Silverplate]

I maybe wrong but I am pretty sure a Pontiac Furebird chassis was used at some point. The interior and dash were Furebird all the way.

[swvalcon]

The Pontiac one is just some glass panels glued over the firebird panels. Or a Pontiac Firebird with new skin. Some company did the same thing with one to look like a 60's corvette. Those I wouldn't even call a Avanti recreation like the Avanti 2's. More like a kit car.

[StudeRich]

Hi Rich
did you hang out at the Foster Freeze on Hawthorne Blvd.?
I had an old boss who went to HHS about the same time (I guess his cousin used to hang around there and knew the Beach Boys) one day he took me around and showed me all of the local noteworthy sites, along with the house that Marilyn Monroe used to live in. He must not have known which house the Celebrity StudeRich lived in, as it was not part of the tour.
good ole Hawthorne take care, Blake

Hi Blake, we really did not hang out at the Foster's Freeze near 120th. & Haw. Blvd. next to Chaffee Motors Ford, and later Bob Keifer Plymouth.

We were busy cruising between the Hawthorne A & W and the Wich Stand at La Brea and Slauson? West L.A. or at the Richfield Station I ran at Night at Imperial and Hawthorne Blvd. (THE STRIP).
It was next to Andy LaCoco's Cockatoo Inn and Restaurant, about every other Night, I would fill up their Caddy Limo Airport Shuttle. if you remember, in those Days they were Factory looking, 3 side window Limos, not super stretched aftermarket jobs.

We also serviced it, including the time someone put Sugar in the Gas Tank. The rumor was since Andy was from Chicago, that he was into the Mafia.
There was a LOT of "Action" at that Hotel & Restaurant, if you know what I mean!

[plee4139]

Al J.

Thanks for posting that Richard, I am a big fan of the Iconic Group from Hawthorne, CA.

Dennis Wilson was in my Class at good 'ol HHS.
Al Jardine often parked his '49 Merc Convertible next to my Peacock Green '48 Champion 2 door Sedan or Dad's New '60 Champ 5E6 or my '57 Stude. Arctic White '50 Chev. 2 Door.

Al's New Band "Al Jardine and Friends" featuring Brian Wilson's Daughters, had a Concert up here a few years ago at the Skagit Valley Casino where I met him again, had him sign my yearbook and had a good talk backstage after I got past the Body Guard!

During the sixties I was a member of a comedy team called The Pickle Brothers. We toured with the Beach Boys as an opening act in over 70 shows! This is all documented in my book "Leave 'em Laughing: a brief History of the Pickle Brothers Comedy Team," available on Amazon Kindle. Check it out.

[studegary]

I maybe wrong but I am pretty sure a Pontiac Furebird chassis was used at some point. The interior and dash were Furebird all the way.

The Firebird was used for the 2001-2004 models.

[Green 53]

The 1989 Avanti's were built on Caprice chassis

Denny L

[Devan]

Right, Green53. And to my knowledge no auto enthusiast magazine ever took one for a test spin. That would have been an interesting read. I always said these major publications (Motor Trend, Car & Driver, AutoWeek etc.) have a lot of influence on the public perception of a car. These same magazines constantly harped on Studebaker's image and aging lineup instead of its performance and quality. They did the same to AMC when they went to a more performance image. Same goes for Buick. Even today the always mention new Buicks in relation to their old man image. Come on! Buicks haven't been those Buicks for ages. They did the same thing 20 years ago to Honda, harping away that as good as their 4 cyl. was, it was no V6. When pressured to bring out a 6 cyl, Honda brought out a very good one but proved only that the 4 was so good they really didn't need the 6.

[ken-renda]

This exchange reminds me of my looking to buy the 2006 or 7 Avanti convertible at the Charlotte International. The rep said it was an Avanti body "adhered" (glued) to a Mustang and warranty would be thru Ford. While it was a beautiful car that I wanted, the description did not sound like something I wanted to deal with. I once took an 89 Avanti to a Chevrolet dealer who said they would service until they opened the hood and said the only thing they would do "is change the oil"; supposedly because of insurance limitations. It ended up in a hot rod shop. Ken, Deltaville, Va.

[8E45E]

Right, Green53. And to my knowledge no auto enthusiast magazine ever took one for a test spin. That would have been an interesting read. I always said these major publications (Motor Trend, Car & Driver, AutoWeek etc.) have a lot of influence on the public perception of a car.

CAR Magazine in the UK tested one in a 1989 issue.

Craig