meet in a new-generation Camaro and Bob Andrews, one of Loewy’s designers on the Avanti, pulled up next to him in an Avanti. Jordan remarked at the time that the Avanti looked fresh enough to still be in production.”
While the Avanti was a stunning design, the Lark underpinnings were less than stellar. It was a very front-heavy car with a 65/35 weight distribution. But Car and Driver was able to achieve some fairly satisfying handling characteristics by inflating the rear tires to 36 psi versus 32 for the fronts.
The design drew international praise from Europeans who normally criti- cized the excesses of American cars. Jaguar’s Sir William Lyons and Italian studio master Sergio Pininfarina declared it one of the most beautiful American cars ever built. At its debut at the Paris Auto Show, even Ray- mond Loewy said the Riviera was the handsomest American production car — apart from his own Studebaker Avanti, of course.
The Riviera’s performance drew praise, too, even from the irascible Tom MacCahill of Mechanix Illus- trated. “It’s as different from former models as a chorus girl is from a duck-billed platypus,” wrote Mac- Cahill in the October 1962 issue. “Under its lithe looks are a power- plant and chassis that get it over the ground and around bends more like a Grand Prix [car] than a typical Michigan balloon. This is a great car for the sports-minded — in fact, a great car in any league.”
The Riviera was offered only as a hardtop coupe, with a standard 401-cubic-inch V-8 rated at 325 hp, while a 425 with 340 hp was optional. Buick built only 40,000 Rivieras in 1963 in order to maintain an aura of limited production.
STUDEBAKER AVANTI The Avanti was one last gasp for Studebaker before it finally expired in March 1966. But what a statement it was. Under the direction of Paris
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native Loewy, the South Bend, Indiana- based company had a long legacy of superb designs, ranging from the post- war Champions and Commanders to the Golden Hawks. But the Avanti was literally the coupe de grâce.
The Avanti, Italian for “forward,” was inspired by then Studebaker CEO Sher- wood Egbert, who wasn’t a car guy but felt compelled to do something that might save the company. “He was look-
The standard engine was a modified 289-cid Hawk V-8, but an optional Paxton supercharger was also available. The car was fitted with front disc brakes, which were British Dunlop units, made under license by Bendix. The cockpit was designed to appeal to pilots and featured some overhead switchgear. The production fiberglass body was made by Molded Fiberglass Companies, the same company that produced the original Corvette bodies.
ing for a halo car, a home run, some- thing that would indicate what they were still capable of,” says Studebaker historian John Hull.
Egbert supposedly drew a thumbnail sketch of the car while on a business trip and handed it over to Loewy’s design team to execute. The team included Tom Kellogg, John Ebstein and Bob Andrews. They had 40 days to arrive at a final proposal.
The public caught its first glimpse of the car at the New York Auto Show in April 1962. “It was new, daring, differ- ent, a shock,” says Hull.
The novelty never wore off. Hull related a story how GM’s Chuck Jordan was the guest speaker at an International Avanti meet in Dearborn, Michigan, in the early 1980s. “Chuck had driven to the
But quality concerns stalled production, and Studebaker could neither build nor sell enough Avantis to save the founder- ing company. The Avanti model name, tooling, and plant space were sold off to Leo Newman and Nate Altman, who owned a Studebaker dealership in South Bend. They revived the car in 1965 as the Avanti II. Meanwhile, Studebaker disap- peared for good in March 1966.
The Avanti lived on, however, produced on various chassis under various owners through 2007, a real tribute to the power of the Loewy-led design.
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