r1lark

I'll say FALSE, since I remember a shaft seal installed in the cover also.

That is such a cool Goodyear ad! Don't think I have seen that before. The Avanti in the pic is just perfect in my opinion - color, wheels, tires, and especially the stance!

Isn't this the Avanti that Joe Granatelli swapped the big Caddy V8 into? Not sure on engine size, whether it was a 429 or 472 cubic inch.

This is a tricky one. Acrylic Lacquer automotive paint is available from both TCP-Global (their 'Restoration Shop' paint line), as well as Dupli-Color (their 'Paint Shop' line). TCP-Global will custom mix paint to match 'old car' colors, but I am pretty sure Duplicolor does not. I cannot personally vouch for the quality of these paints, since I have not used them. I don't think you can go to your local automotive paint store and get acrylic lacquer paint anymore, but obviously it can be ordered online from specialty suppliers as noted above. So, what constitutes "readily available"? Each person most likely will have a different opinion of what "readily available" means, but here it will be what Ed's opinion of "readily available" means! I'll say the answer to this question is "false", since you can't just walk into a local auto paint store and pick up acrylic lacquer paint the same day. And most likely folks with a California address can't order it online from specialty suppliers either.

Well, I'll start this one off. There weren't many 299 A-series R3 engines, so I'll say #1 - seven.

Well, never having owned an Avanti, this is a WAG: if the master cylinder leaked on the steering 'rag joint' and damaged it?

If I remember correctly, that's true.

The MAN - Andy Granatelli...........

They called it a 'Reserve Coolant System'. At least, it wasn't listed as standard equipment in '71, but was in '72, so I'll say true.

Didn't he loan Nate money to get the Avanti II business going?

1980 was the first model year of the mandatory federal VIN.

Gosh Ed, you sound just like my wife !

The last production Studebaker Avanti assembled was R5643 because.............Studebaker shut down production.

.......................the rest of the Studebaker Avantis after R5643 were previously assembled engineering prototypes that were updated to '64 specs and assigned serial numbers up thru R5653 (I think 5653 is right.......).

Isn't this the R3 that Paxton installed in R5590, later restored by Brad Bez? There is a really cool video on YouTube of the engine on the dyno: