Description
Up for auction is my 1963 Studebaker Avanti. I found the car near the Iowa boarder in Illinois. It has been sitting since the late 90s or very early 2000s. Car was presentable, but not road worthy at the time. My plan was to make this my driver while I did a frame off restoration on another 64 Studebaker. Well, I've had the car for well over 18 months and may have put 100 miles on her. Over the 18 months I have done quite a lot of work to make it a reliable driver.
Car was delivered new to the Denver area, and it shows, as there is very minimal corrosion. The hog troughs are in perfect condition, as are the frame rails. The only bit of rust is on the rear tubular cross member.
After bringing the car home to Cincinnati, I immediately changed the oil, and made an attempt to fire it up from is 16 year slumber. After 5 minutes of fiddling around it roared to life.
Here is a list of what (i can remember) has been done since it rolled off the trailer.Carb rebuilt with an Edelbrock AFB bottomNew valve seals installedOil pan pulled and new front (lip seal) and rear main installedRebuilt fuel pumpRebuilt correct paxton supercharger, with new s/c to bonnet hose. Pulled core plugs and cleaned the block the best I could with a pressure washerInstalled new Stainless Steel exhaust from headers to tail pipes.New gear drive starterNice Cragar SS wheels and tires still have the whiskers on them.
As for the interior; it is in good shape, and was most likely redone when it was repainted, back in the 90s. Carpet is black and in good shape. The headliner was a mess when I took possession, so a new style fiberglass replacement was ordered and installed. However, it still needs work. Some of the padded vinyl trim pieces need to be re-wrapped with fresh hardboard and new retainer clips installed. Roll bar cover needs attention as well. I also have a new 1/4 window hinge latch bracket that gets fastened behind the sail panel. I have the passenger side door panel ss trim, but it will need some dings pushed out before reinstalling. The dash is in good shape and has just the one crack shown in the pictures. The original tachometer is no longer with the car. Speedometer does not operate, but I have a new speedo cable that goes with the car. I also installed a new SS trunk cable, as the original was not operational.
The exterior is in decent shape. It looks good from 10 feet, but the paint is not prefect as this car was driven a lot. It has some random rock chips and a few door dings but he body is straight and the only fiberglass issues are in the front wheel well lips. Both front and rear bumper are in great shape as are all stainless exterior trim pieces.
The Avantis came stock with bendix disc brakes up front. I rebuild both front and rears with new pads and shoes. All new rubber hoses installed, as well as a dual master cylinder.
The car starts up very fast and sounds fantastic going through the gears. I have driven and owned quite a few supercharged studebakers and this little R2 pulls STRONG. It drives down the road straight and stops smoothly.
I have tried to describe the car as accurately as I can, if you have any questions please contact me.
On Aug-26-16 at 18:55:15 PDT, seller added the following information:
Compression on all 8 cylinders ranged from 160-165 lbs. All cylinder seals were replaced when I rebuilt the brakes about 1 year ago. Brakes work fine. Windows roll up and down smoothly without any hard spotsFiberglass cracks are on the front wheel well lips only, about a half inch, very common for a Avantis. Cant be seen unless feeling the inside fender lip.No crack in window glass.Very complete car. Missing sail panels and original tach.4speed trains shifts smooth and does not pop put of 2nd when the gas is let off.One of the 1/4 window latches is broken, but I have the replacement hinge part with the car. The sail panel trim needs to be removed to properly replace.All rubber is good and pliable
Amy more questions please ask