It’s a shame that Studebaker had to close up shop only a year after introducing the Avanti. Their unique car was futuristic and found enough of a following that people are still trying to keep the model alive today. It featured a fiberglass body, powerful engine options, and a striking exterior design. This particular example has been parked in the owner’s garage since 1986 and is claimed to only have 70k miles on the clock!

This engine was last started two years ago. You could get three different power levels in your Avanti. The top two were supercharged, but this is the base R1 model. That’s not a bad thing though. There’s a four-barrel on the top of that 289 and it put out 240 horsepower which was more than enough for some high-speed cruising.

Avanti owners traveled in style too because the interiors were nicely trimmed with a few European touches. The red and fawn surfaces look good and, if original, make the mileage count believable. It could use new carpet though. This thing was well-outfitted with power steering, power brakes, power windows, automatic, and air conditioning!

There’s some paint flaking on the trunk, but the body looks good overall. There’s some corrosion on the bumpers and I’d want to take a look underneath to see if there are any rust problems. If not, I’d probably try to preserve what’s here rather than completely restoring it. The missing the wheel covers, ignition shielding, and hood “S” ornament are included in the sale.

The black over red color scheme looks pretty sinister. There are quite a few scratches and flaws in the paint, but it would be fun to see what it would look like after a thorough detailing. It’s amazing what you can do with some polish and lots of elbow grease. There have been a couple of iterations of the Avanti since this one was produced, but a Studebaker-built one like this is what I’d want!

This survivor Stude is located in Oaklyn, New Jersey and the owner is asking $8,000. You can contact Ralph here via email if interested. Also, if you have an original car like this sitting in your garage that you’d like to sell, please consider listing it with us!