All Activity

It would kill the enjoyment of owning my cars if I had to bank on that they would increase in value….. I mean, it certainly is nice if a profit is made when a car is sold, but most experienced car collectors know their lucky if they break even.. and generally they lose a few bucks on the deal…. That’s just the nature of the animal aardvark…. Anyone DEPENDING their collector car’s value will go up may as well roll the dice in the stock market.

MFG As. said in multiple ... this is a Hobby and Business at the same time. Every deal I've made on vehicles I meet the sellers expectations so there is never a hard feeling finishing the deals. No Stealing..IF that's the implication,... (In fact the '02' Avanti I gave the seller full asking price) The purchase numbers are real and the profits are already in place ''at time of purchase''. What I'm seeing is these values have escalated over the 2 years I've owned the 3 vehicles I listed (above). So I'm better than my 50% goal on the profit margin. You see, the upside is I get to own and drive these beauties without fear of financial losses. That, my Friend is Goal. #1... Goal #2 is I eventually move on and profit well. (Got the Porsche and a VW up ''for sale'' now to possibly cover the Avanti purchases and then all is well on my financial front.)

All done here?

No problem Bob, Glad I could help you!

Pretty basic for a factory job (body lift)…. but it worked!!

Well, I hope you reach your financial goals… I never knew any hobbyist that had to so strongly consider the present and future financial aspects of purchasing in Avanti. (other than automotive repair shop or body shop owners) However, any way a person can achieve their goal of Avanti ownership is a good way I guess. (Other than stealing one!!!) More power to you, Good luck & Happy New Year!

Thank you.

Bob I never could run on emotions for a purchase. Financially it was never possible and IF I did that, I couldn't afford to be in this Hobby/ profession (however You view it). I have to approach a deal as having a 50% profit margin or the deal is dead... Why?...I know there will be some repairs and modifications needed IF I can't buy with a profit margin, I can't continue on buying the next one... You see. me selling off at a profit is paramount to me continuing. Current history is a 928 Porsche bought for $16k... a '63, R2 Avanti at $16k...a '02' Avanti for $19k. All are wonderful;l examples and are (as You call them) good drive, low mileage cars in near excellent condition. I have 2 other VW purchases as well. So at present a few things are up for sale to re-coup my losses as well as pump up the $$ stockpile. I'm far from wealthy and live on Soc Sec'y with a few side incomes..None of this would be possible if I went in to this venture with financial losses, a infatuation of a brand or needing multi $$$ restorations. These MUST profit or I'm financially dead in the water. For those of You in different financial states, Carry on. Generally it's folks who are not burdened with finances that are my sellers. MFG. We've been thru this before but my stance is that of a Business Model as well as a Hobbyist.. They can run synergistically.

I have lowered 3 Avanti II's to the original Studebaker rake. This is accomplished by reversing the changes that Altman did. Removing all shims and the crescent shaped extensions that were installed. I am currently in the process of this on RQA0348. It is my opinion that since most owners of Avanti II's would definitely want air conditioning that the old-style York compressor that was mounted high on the engine was the clearance problem. In the 80's I used a side mount Corvette style Frigidare compressor. Today of course I am using modern Sanden type compressor. The pictures show the stack of shims originally under the radiator support, and the added clearance notch to clear the bumper brackets.

Complicated, but very thorough info… I’ll see where it leads me… Thank you.

I have successfully repaired the wiper system on the new to me R2. First, the switch works as follows. All the way counter clockwise is off and the "park" happens at this time also. Clockwise then goes to slow. The next movement clockwise runs through a variable resistor and increases the speed to maximum as you turn the switch clockwise. I read a lot of articles from several online sources about this which helped me understand what was going on. The previous owner had installed a rebuilt motor and a new wiring harness. I had already taken the switch, which was in fair condition, and took it apart to clean and lubricate the moving parts. Didn't help at all. I did read where the switch had to be grounded for everything circuit to work properly yet when I grounded it, nothing changed. I removed the motor and did a bench test similar to the method shown in the first attached photo. The park function still wasn't working right, so I removed the cover, studied the mechanism, cleaned the 2 arm contacts and double checked the action when rotating the disc. Everything seemed OK, but still didn't work correctly. I finally took the switch out of the car and made up 4 6" leads with spade terminals on one end and female bullet connectors on the other end and connected the switch to the motor. Then I took a small 12 volt alarm system battery that I had and connected it to the switch, grounding the switch case and motor case. Next I cycled through the switch and again, not so good. Then I remembered reading that the switch case had to be grounded, which it was. But wait a minute, what is connected to the case? Then it occurred to me that there was a small brass leg coming out of the switch which was under one of the case legs that holds the switch together. An ohm meter showed that there wasn't any continuity between the brass leg and the case arm WHICH WAS TOUCHING IT. WTF? There must be some residue or film blocking the ground. Ok, I know how to fix that. I took a piece of "white" wire and soldered it to the brass leg and the case arm. Connected it to the ground on the battery and now EVERYTHING worked perfectly !!! So I reinstalled the switch, connected the extra white ground wire to the dash frame and everything works perfect !

You need a bushing driver set at a minimum. I also used a press with mine instead of beating it to death.

Bushing driver set a must…. And a good vice!

Does removal and replacement of the bushing and bearing in the steering knuckle require the specific tools mentioned in the workshop manual or will brute strength and awkwardness suffice? Thanks.

Im watching and learning. . .thank you for the posts

I really enjoy driving my 1963 supercharged Avanti in nice weather, and occasionally enjoying a ‘cruise in’ type show. I’ve met the nicest people over the years!

Definitely. For someone who has to have the car, or is willing and able to spend without limits just for the sake of a restoration, none of the above applies. I have copies of receipts for the work performed on one of the vehicles I considered that total about $35K and that work was done 12-13 years ago. The 2 big ticket items were new paint and an engine rebuild. The paint was good, but far from flawless and there were a number of other issues that needed to be addressed, at least at the price point. On another one the seller claimed to have receipts totaling $57K which included an engine rebuild and new paint in a non-original color, also about 12 years ago. For me, a repaint in anything other than the original color gets a substantial reduction in value, even if it’s a flawless paint job. It does create a unique and personalized car, however, I believe radical modifications can limit the number of potential buyers, regardless of how cool they may be. In this case, I discussed with the seller that the price was appropriate for that car with the correct color paint, which to me meant that it would need to be repainted in order to achieve that value. I offered just $3500 less than the asking price (much less than the cost of a quality paint job) but that was $1500 below the lowest price they were willing to accept. I wouldn’t come up because there would have been added expenses in a trip to see the car and have it transported. The color was the dealbreaker. The car was inherited and had mostly sat in storage for the past 12+ years. Now it continues to sit due to an emotional attachment. This, of course, touches on the sellers perspective. If there’s an emotional or sentimental connection for the seller they may want to reconsider the idea of listing the car for sale.

Wow!!

So what was the problem? I've had bent yoke, bent drive shaft, bad pinion bearing, bent axle, bad U-joint, misaligned drive shaft, incorrectly installed motor mounts, and engine not dial indicated to the bell housing cause vibration. I've had and have Studebakers that vibrate a little at 35 mph. No reason, they just do but that doesn't pertain to an RQB. My son used to be a Mustang fan but they vibrate - they just do. Ford pick-ups are noted for suddenly going into violent convulsions - they just do (and I don't believe the geniuses in Ford engineering ever figured out why. (It happened to me once and it was really scary! Felt like the whole truck was disintegrating around me. Stopped looked over things and started back out and it was just fine and never did it again.

Thought I'd just spruce up a bit around the sway bar. Ended up replacing bushings and retainers. It is called mission creep; (you set out to do one simple thing and that leads to another--and another and....

RQB3263/81/305 2026 UPGRADES IN PROGRESS ... ceramic coated flowteck rams horn headers and reducers to be delivered today.... valve covers delivered yesterday very nice but pricey gaskets are extra ......with all the old stuff removed getting new spark plugs is easy also.... checked headbolt torque done..... question .... using these beautiful edelbrock valve covers ...... what do I do for an oil fill cap ?? OEM not compatible.... HAPPY, SAFE, HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL...... BEST WISHES FROM BILL IN CHILLY FLORIDA

Loooong story short: 1) Do your homework and… 2) Keep in mind the old adage…. ’There’s nothing more expensive than a cheap Avanti!!’

Bob.. very well stated and sensical. I also agree with Your R2's values and assessment of how they are figured,,, due to condition. Whether we use a 1-10 scale or come at it from a different angle are similar in methodology. There are condition guidelines to follow whether some agree or not. The first thing needed excluded from that process is ''Emotion''. Some disagree wholeheartedly that the Transactions are Business Like. I hold strong to that fact. You can easily get hosed if walking into a deal with an emotional bent and a "Gotta have it!" attitude. Thanks Bob

Here’s a method that should work for many who want to determine a dollar value for a classic car. This isn’t a breakthrough discovery as I’d imagine that most use something similar even if they’re not aware of doing so. The objective is for an individual to put a value, in dollars, on a particular vehicle. This is a cold hearted calculation where the variables of emotions, sentiments and virtuosity are excluded. The first step is to establish a standard for the condition of the vehicle one would like to achieve. It could be concourse level, a decent car for local shows, a solid driver or a smoke spewing rattle trap with a family of raccoons in the back seat. Once we have the standard a dollar figure can be determined by analyzing recent sales. As an example, recent sales of ‘63-‘64 R2’s have topped out in the mid-$50’s. Less recently a couple sold in the $70’s. Based on photos and descriptions these cars would fit in the “decent car show category”. It would be reasonable to conclude that such a vehicle would have a value of $55K-70K, with the differences possibly being a flawless paint job compared to one with a few blemishes or perhaps a 4-speed vs automatic transmission. Regardless, we’ve established what could be called a reasonable maximum potential value for a particular model in a generalized specific condition. From here, the next step would be to calculate the cost to bring a subject vehicle up to the established standard. For some it may be $3000 in parts and materials and 2 months of their free time in the garage. For others it may be the same cost for parts plus $10,000 for someone else’s labor. In this example, the DIY buyer may be willing to pay more for the subject vehicle than the buyer who will need to farm out the work. This is just a look from a buyers perspective. Also keep in mind that you can’t pay too much for the right one but you can pay too little for the wrong one.

That's cool. Molded Fiber Glass (MFG) was the company in Ohio that was initially contracted to make the Avanti bodies for Studebaker.