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The heads are not r3s with the proper casting number as I suspected. he has added parts to make it look like it. The engine has been rebuilt but without reciepts so have no idea of the internals. I put a bore scope in each cylinder and the piston tops are new and you can see honing marks on the walls. No oil in the engine yet and bore scope in through the drain plug all is as if it has never run. mystery oil in each piston going to use an old distributor to spin up oil pressure and then spin the motor without plug before trying to start up.

I have no idea of what all has been done. I will check for the casting numbers this evening after work. Its always an adventure to come on board after the fact and not have the original worker around to talk about what parts and procedures have been done.

The essence, and qualifier, for an R3 engine is the cylinder heads. More pix will help us identify your engine. R3 heads are identified by the casting number on the center exhaust port of the head. The last three digits of that casting number are 479. From your picture it looks like you have a Lionel Stone reproduction R3 intake manifold. --Dwight (got one R3 & that's enough)

Should be like this. That looks like a solution of its own.

That makes two of us!!

Putting together a 63 that was started by a friend that has passed away. Almost all is new and looks to be R3. I am at a loss as to the purpose of this plate other than as a place for the alternator bracket.

Black was the original color of the super chargers. The color was changed to Orange as the model year progressed.

I noticed in the latest issue of AVANTI MAGAZINE (213) that the Paxton supercharger on 63R1001 (first production Studebaker Avanti) was refinished in the color black….. I’m certain that the restorers of this particular Avanti were striving for authenticity, and I found that interesting.

Hopefully soon! I mentioned this because a ‘follow up’ story about the Due Cento (hopefully with more pics!) was mentioned in the last AVANTI MAGAZINE (Issue 212)…. Perhaps next issue?

Well, since I am one of about 11 that signed up for the digital version, I hope it is available electronically sometime soon either on the AOAI site or JOOMAG.

I would think that a 1955 Studebaker Commander super-short stroke 224 CI V8 engine would be a good starting point for an 8,000 RPM Stude engine… with some expectation of reliability!

Yes, Issue 213….. winter/spring 2026

So all black carpet was available in 63 afterall? I thought only 64 had solid black. See the gold and red cars in the table.

Latest issue, meaning Spring 2026?

This is from the 1963 Avanti Order Guide.

Your flyer must have been printed between the time ‘Avanti Black’ was discontinued and replaced with ‘Avanti Grey’….. and before ‘Avanti Black’ was offered again as an extra cost option. PS…. Your black Avanti is a nice ‘stable mate’ with your all black ‘51 Commander!….Ed

The information I provided is from The Studebaker Avanti Production Data book which was compiled by the Studebaker National Museum Archives. The book contains photographs of internal documents one of which contains the information I shared. The first black Avanti was 63R-1013. The first grey Avanti was 63R-2122. There were also 32, 1964 Avanti’s painted black.

The only colors listed in the flyer I have for the 63 is Grey, White, Turquoise, Gold, and Red.

Black was offered as a standard color from the beginning of production. Some time between November of 1962 and January of 1963 black was replaced by gray. Black remained available as a special order color.

OOOOOOOO SO NICE !!!

Beautiful Avanti….Enjoy!

Looks really nice, thanks for posting the photos.