Avanti Bodies

[R2Andrea]

The starting serial number for South Bend bodies should not be construed to mean that there were 4900 Ashtabula bodies built before South Bend began production. It means only that a block of numbers was reserved starting with that number.

[Gunslinger]

Point taken. The only way to really determine who made what and how many with any accuracy would be to examine every build sheet for every car and build a data base from that.

[Bob Langer]

This is a quote from the book The Postwar Years by Richard Langworth.

In the executive committee meeting of September 7,1962 , Clarence Francis announced that Avanti production was still behind schedule by about three months. Because of the heavy demand for this new car, it is recommended that a production line with a planned capacity of 25 bodies a day be established in our South Bend plant. Current production is approximately 10 cars a day and Molded Fiberglass Products does not anticipate being able to deliver more than 25 per day in the foreseeable future. A combined production of 50 per day will be needed to meet demand.

There will be a savings of $20 per body in freight costs with assembly at South Bend. After discussion, the committee approved spending $600,000 fora South Bend production line. The first South Bend body was built in February 1963.

[Werdegast]

How have you arrived at your hypothesis?

It looks like a new series of body numbers was started, not that it was only the last few hundred Avantis had Studebaker assembled bodies.

[jlmccuan]

Well, we're getting closer. Is there any way to tell where a body was built? Evidently, cars earlier than Feb, 1963 are out. This is a very interesting topic.

[studegary]

How have you arrived at your hypothesis?

The last Studebaker Avanti built is S/N 5643. Most early Avanti body numbers and serial numbers track reasonably close. Studebaker also (besides MFG) started assembling bodies in Feb. 1963 with body number 5001. Only a little more than one-half of the Avantis were built by Feb. 1963 (55% by the end of the month). Feb. 1963 serial numbers run from 2982 to 3562.