Raymond Loewy's gift to automotive design.... [PIC]

Produced for only a year and a half, this Studebaker Avanti became a design for the ages. Kust as the Hawk line used basically the same chassis from 1953 to 1963, the chassis for the Avanti was derived from the cut down Lark platform. Three performance packages were offered: The R1 had the base 240hp 289 V8; the 290hp R2 was equipped with a Paxton supercharger and the ultra rare (9 built) R3 offered 330 hp from a 304 cid V8 tuned by Paxton's Andy Granatelli. !963 to 1964 were the best sales years but sales slid to near nothing when it was publicly known that Studebaker was facing bankruptcy. The their doors finally closed in 1966, the Avanti tooling and production rights were sold to two former dealers who built over 300 Avanti lls powered by Chevy's 327 V8 until 1969. A 3rd generation in the early '80s saw another round of these Avantis that had a bit of a face lift and also offered a convertible. Muultiple issues with resulting warranty problems led to bankruptcy in 1986. Last but not least, the "New Avanti Automotive Corporation" Began putting Avanti bodies on the GM  G Body platforms and they went bankrupt by 1991. [Models by Automodello]