Studebaker Avanti R2 Supercharged
The Studebaker Avanti is one of the most dramatic and consequential automobiles in American automotive history — a car that was simultaneously years ahead of its time and too late to save its maker. Conceived by Studebaker president Sherwood Egbert and designed by Raymond Loewy's team in a remarkable 40-day sprint, the Avanti was intended to be the car that would restore Studebaker's reputation and save the company from bankruptcy. It failed at that mission, but it succeeded brilliantly as an automobile.
The Avanti's styling was sensational. Loewy assembled a small team — Tom Kellogg, Robert Andrews, and John Ebstein — at a rented house in Palm Springs, California, away from corporate politics and conventional thinking. Working around the clock, they produced a design of extraordinary originality: no grille (almost unheard of in 1962), smooth flowing surfaces, an asymmetric hump in the hood to clear the supercharger, and a coke-bottle waist that anticipated design trends by a decade.
The body was molded fiberglass, making the Avanti one of the few American cars outside the Corvette to use this construction method. The material allowed the complex curves of Loewy's design to be faithfully reproduced while keeping weight down. The chassis was a modified Studebaker Lark convertible frame, reinforced and tuned for the Avanti's sporting mission.
The R2 Supercharged version was the performance flagship. A Paxton centrifugal supercharger boosted the 289 cubic inch V8 to 289 horsepower (a coincidental matching of cubic inches and horsepower that Studebaker's marketing department exploited). Andy Granatelli's engineering team campaigned Avantis at the Bonneville Salt Flats, where the car broke 29 speed records — powerful marketing ammunition that helped establish the Avanti's performance credentials.
Inside, the Avanti was equally innovative. Aircraft-inspired toggle switches, a padded dashboard (years before federal safety requirements), built-in roll bar structure, and standard front disc brakes (a first for an American production car) demonstrated that the Avanti was designed with genuine engineering integrity, not just styling bravado.
Production difficulties with the fiberglass body supplier hobbled the Avanti from launch. By the time production issues were resolved, the momentum was lost, and Studebaker closed its South Bend factory in December 1963 after producing only 4,643 Avantis. The car's legacy survived through Avanti Motors, which purchased the rights and tooling and continued production (with Corvette engines) well into the 1990s, but it is the original Studebaker Avanti that commands the highest collector interest.
Verify Studebaker production (vs later Avanti Motors cars) through serial number. R2 supercharged cars are significantly more valuable — verify Paxton supercharger is original. Fiberglass body doesn't rust but check for stress cracks, repairs, and crazing. The steel frame underneath does rust — inspect thoroughly. Front disc brakes are an advanced feature for 1963 but require specific Bendix parts. Four-speed manual cars are rarer and more valuable than automatics.
4,643 total Avantis produced by Studebaker June 1962 - December 1963 at South Bend, Indiana. R2 supercharged versions represent approximately 20% of production. Avanti Motors continued production afterward under different ownership.