Avanti!

     In 1991, Avanti Automotive Corporation filed for bankruptcy. With it, died the last direct link to old-line automaker, Studebaker. When the first Avanti premiered in 1962, it generated more excitement than any other car Studebaker had produced in a decade. It was a high-performance coupe with a fiberglass body that broke almost every major U.S. Auto Club speed record in its first year of existence.

     Unfortunately for Studebaker, it was too little, too late. When the financially strapped company left the U.S. for Canada in late 1963, two partners from one of the company's oldest dealerships took Avanti independent. The new car was called Avanti II, an exclusive and largely custom-built roadster. However, its distinctive grille-less exterior changed very little throughout its production run.

     After more than 30 years, the eye-catching Avanti still turns heads. At one time, one of the company’s owners approached the venerable taxi-maker, Checker (famous for its automotive approximation of a Sherman tank), about building the coupe. The offer was dismissed on the grounds that Checker's founder felt the Avanti was too ugly to bother with. Talk about beauty being in the eye of the beholder!

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© Russ Brown, 1998