All Activity

Dale, Thank you so much for your quick response and valuable information. This is greatly appreciated. Keith

Hi. I have an '81 that I pulled the fuel tank out of to fix a leak. When I pulled it out I noted 2 square foam pads on the floor of the car. I guessed that they maybe came from under the tank so when I went to put the tank back I realized that maybe they don't go under the tank. I looked in the manual and it doesn't address them nor could I find it anyplace else. Anyone know where they are supposed to go?

I had my 63 appraised by Mike Thies down in North Georgia. I think he did a good thorough job on the appraisal. I don't know if he would travel all the way up there, but it would be worth contacting him for advise. I'd trust him to lead you in the right direction. His contact info: gaservices62@gmail.com, 770-883-0160. Also, I noticed on his card that he is a part of the International Vehicle Appraisers Network - www.I-VAN.org. I see on the website they have 3 appraisers in PA - maybe one of them can help you out. Good luck! Dale

Good evening. My name is Keith and I live in Elizabethtown Pennsylvania. I am in need of your expertise, knowledge and direction. My father-in-law passed away, coming up on two years. He was a true lover of the Studebaker. On his own, he disassembled his 1962 Studebaker Champ. He then fully restored his baby. Prior to his death, he ended up having to sell it. He currently has a 1963 Studebaker Avanti. This was to be his retirement project. He was able to dismantle his car all the way down to the tires. He then restored his vehicle by redoing the frame, cleaning every nut and bolt, having the shell repainted and rebuilding the engine then attaching it back to the frame. He also has all of the original parts. (Restored - Got everything done to Avanti specs, color etc. but needs put together) My mother-in-law is ready to sell his Studebaker that he was not able to put back together. I am looking for an appraiser. Looking for someone who would be honest and give us a fair estimate as to what she could possibly sell this for. Thank for your time. Thanks, Keith Elizabethtown PA 17022

Looking back it may have been Regnalbob who posted about the video. Again just trying to help straighten the history to the best of my memory and examinations of many photographs.

The 2001-2007 Firebird and Mustang based cars are so unique and appealing until you get inside the car and then you see either a GM or Ford car. In 2006-2007 Avanti did make a custom dash that was reminiscent of the late 80’s cars, but that was about it. I had recently sold our 1982 Avanti II which had a fantastic instrument cluster in the dash and as I look at the dash of our 2006 S197 Mustang based Convertible, it was easy to see that there could be some improvement of the gauge area. In addition, I wanted to replace the Ford Shaker 500 radio with a more powerful and modern flat screen radio, move the A/C-Heater controls “up” in the dash and clean up the sides of the console. The 2006 had 107,000 miles when purchased from the original owner and while he did a great job on maintenance, there was some normal wear and scuffing on the inside of the car which I am cleaning or covering up with carbon fiber wrap in addition to covering up all of the tired woodgrain. First, I looked hard at radio options and selected the Kenwood DMX908S Touch Screen radio. It has all the bells and whistles that I want, plus it has more power than the Shaker 500 radio. Crutchfield Audio sells the Kenwood radio and a wiring kit that connects it to the Mustang stock wiring which allows the 4 car speakers and 2 door mounted subwoofers to work correctly. I had previously replaced the 4 car speakers with JL Audio speakers which was a good upgrade and let me tell you that this radio upgrade is a HUGE improvement over the radio. Next, I had to decide what to do with the gauge appearance. In doing research for options on the Mustang itself, I found US SPEEDO, a company that make gauge cluster panels for all cars. After checking out all of the options, I selected the Stainless-Steel Panel. I also felt that the dash panel that covers the dash was missing 3 trim rings that could go around the gauges. Now I’ll tell you this was not an easy thing to find since there was almost nothing available. But I finally found a company called GAFFRIG which makes gauge trim rings for all sorts of companies. They did have the 4” ID gauge rings for the speedo/tach and the 3 3/8” ID rings for the center cluster. They were polished aluminum with some kind of clear coating added. The ring edges are pretty wide and once the speedo/tach rings were set in place, the center ring wouldn’t fit flush since it overlapped the other two so I decide to modify the edges in 2 places so it would fit correctly. Lastly, the plastic coating on the rings looked dull next to the chrome A/C vents in the dash so I decide to sand off the coating, repolish the rings and then put on a heavy coat of car wax to seal them off. They look like chrome now. Attached are photos of the project and I hope you like it!

In watching the video again, I notice the R-2 badges on the car... the prototype never had those either. No emblems were ever on that car. This picture from the video is the actual car. Notice the roll bar and lack of hood emblem. Most of the video shows a car with no roll bar and all of the Studebaker and Avanti trim. You can also see that the actual car had a USAC sticker on the driver door during the runs.

Why don't you call Jim and, find out what he thinks the issue could be.

Not exactly correct on the above B numbers, at least not according to what I have from Joe years ago. DWR-46: Please no offense to this. None of my post are meant to offend anyone. I only hope to figure out some of this great history and it would seem like there is a lot of crazy info floating around. DWR-46 I did enjoy your post on trying to correct folks on the Bonneville Record Breaker video. I noticed that the car that they used mostly in the video had no roll bar and had emblems on it, the prototype that became the Due Cento did not have any of those. There are a few shots in the video that are the actual car. B-7 was an R-4 that was in the #7 Hawk B-8 was not an R-4, it was an R-3 that went to the engineering department B-9 was also an R-3, the Lark convertible #3 had R-4 B-28, dual valve springs, and a 275 camshaft.

Your rear brake wheel cylinders may need rebuilding…one may be frozen, a leaking seal or a bad hose. Don’t go adding something that may not be necessary.

What you're describing is the rear brakes locking up, causing the car to swap ends. In other words, the rear brakes are providing (proportionately) more braking force than the front. But, think about it, if the rears didn't lock up with the Bendix/Dunlop brakes then why would they lock up with the Turner brakes (which provide more braking force than the old disc brakes)? The answer is that they couldn't. You have something seriously wrong. I would go through the complete brake system and make sure that everything is correct. A couple months ago I had my mechanic convert my '64 Avanti's disc brakes to the Turner system, and install his dual master cylinder kit. Everything worked out perfectly and the car has strong brakes that stop the car straight. I am quite happy with Turner's brakes & MC. --Dwight

After buying a '57 Silver Hawk that had a fully documented mechanical restoration, I decided to try to find an Avanti with the same. I jumped on this '63 R1 when it became available, despite some FB forum advice to pass on it due to to very deteriorated interior (South Georgia humidity). It had a very compete engine and transmission rebuild in 2005, with all parts purchased from Myers and all parts and labor receipts provided. I was able to turn the interior around in a few weeks, as the seat covers had held up well. I only had to replace all the other vinyl pieces and headliner. Also required were a complete brake job including lines, power steering work and tuneup. The second part of the story is from this old advertisement for the car found on Bob Johnstone's site. It says the car got a "ground up" restoration, all needed parts replaced in the early 90's and described it as a "show car". The seller was Preston Hill, a rural South Dakota Studebaker dealer. I purchased it from the estate of the person who bought the car from this ad in '93 and have that title. Not sure if Hill sold the car new or bought it later. If anyone knows anything about the car or the dealership, let me know.

My OEM discs were frozen due to many years of unuse, so I elected to modernize with the much larger Turner disc kit (all lines and hoses replaced too, and rear drums checked and adjusted) . On Jim's advice, I didn't install a proportioning valve, but wonder if I might need one. Car veers heavily right on a hard stop and I think it may be the rears causing this (often described as wanting to "swap ends"). I think it would be downright dangerous on a slick road, so wondering if I need to have the rears doing less by installing a variable proportioning valve.

Guess I’ll save them in case I ever get a 63 or 64 that needs plugs! Mike

master+coat+video+how+to+do+a+box+chassis&gs_ivs=1 This chassis for sale has everything but the rear leaf springs. I've decided not to switch chassis on my avanti due to my age. I also have a tilt column and some gauges I have a dashboard that is an excellent condition This car was sent to a restoration shop There was a problem between the owner and the shop. The chassis was coated with epoxy at that time which thankfully preserved it The rest of the car sat behind a used car lot for years. We'll accept any reasonable offers. 97 3 945 6849 thank you.

I'd like to thank all of you who have contributed to this query. Despite the simplicity of applying sealant to the area, I feel that I won't get away with it when the car goes for inspection. I'm leaning toward fabricating a two piece steel cover that can be attached either side of the hole and possibly adding some heat sheild material to it or a flue seal. Either way I reckon that the area needs something to negate heat flow into the cabin. 🙃

Those plugs are ‘oldies but goodies’….NICE!

The J-12Y plugs are for an Avanti and are colder than the H-14Y plugs. IIRC the H-14Y are correct for a regular 289 or 259. --Dwight

I sent one to Switzerland a few years ago, the only metric gauge was the speedometer. oil was still PSI, and temp was Fahrenheit.

I aquired two sets of spark plugs, supposedly one set for a supercharged 63 or 64, the other for a 58-64. Neither number in my workshop manual. Confirm or deny? Mike

Mine is for sale!,

😂 ... I can try

My 1980 had the cow catcher bumper when I bought it in 1992.

Hi Tom, I've never had my evaporator out so I don't know what mine looks like. If it were mine I would just clean all the old stuff off of the pan. Then give it a coating with something watertight and reinstall it. I think you would be just fine. Best of luck, John C.