1962 Studebaker Avanti
Source: Wikimedia
Try saying Studebaker 5 times really quickly. We can wait. Not hard, but fun right! The Avanti was one of Studebaker’s coolest cars. The design was actually created during a flight. The new head of Studebaker was doodling while he was bored and the Avanti just came out. He dropped it off with the designers and they had a scale model 8 days later.
The Studebaker Avanti was designed to be a mix of safety and high speed. At the time that was a very odd mix. Fast cars were inherently terrifying to drive at high speeds. That sense of being truly at the limit was one of the biggest adrenaline rushes possible Making it safe to drive as well was surprising.
Source: Shutterstock
To celebrate the beginning of the Avanti, the very first one went to the winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 1962. This gave the Avanti some great advertising and immediately associated the Avanti with speed and winning. This solidified at Bonneville.
That being said, the Avanti was in fact incredibly quick. It was a regular competitor at the Bonneville Salt Flats and it tore it up! It was a consistent record setter and competed/defeated Corvettes wherever it met them. Studebaker closed in 1963 so the Avanti had a very short run. It was supposed to produce 20,000 Avanti’s in the first year. They only produced 1200. Judging by that number, Studebaker’s closure wasn’t exactly surprising.
