Topical Guide 389
Mark Dorset
Cars: Studebakers: The Avanti
WHEN THEY HAD BOUGHT all the Spotters’ stock, when every Spotter had been saved, they began working for themselves, first to make up what they had lost, then to make up what they had spent to buy the Spotters’ stock, and then to finance the circuit of the United States they had been looking forward to, and their retirement.
A station wagon would have been the practical choice, but Herb was no longer in a mood to be practical, so he ordered a gold metal-flake Avanti for the grand tour.Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 19
The Studebaker Avanti [was] a personal luxury coupe manufactured and marketed by Studebaker Corporation between June 1962 and December 1963. A halo car for the maker, it was marketed as “America’s only four-passenger high-performance personal car.” Described as “one of the more significant milestones of the postwar industry,” the Raymond Loewy-designed car offered safety features and high-speed performance. Called “the fastest production car in the world” upon its introduction, a modified Avanti reached over 170 mph (270 km/hr) with its supercharged 289-cubic-inch (4,740 cm3) R3 engine at the Bonneville Salt Flats. In all, it broke 29 world speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
See also: Cars: Studebakers, Chryslers TG 57
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