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Loved it, thanks for posting!

I am asking for your help. I have a 1963 4 Speed. The clutch disengages as it should, but when you start moving, the gear will not engage unless you press the clutch to the very limit. Clutch shakes also a little. I conclude that the clutch comes off at an angle, allowing the gearbox to spin a little along with it. I have restored the pedals, New Clutch Plate, new Pressure Plate and Clutch Cover. The Releash Shaft has been restored and all the bushings and likewise the Suport Brancet. Whole Clutch Pedal Travel is OK. New Pressure Bearing. Fly wheel looks fine (have not measured). The only thing left is Housing, which might have wrong alignment? Could this be the reason? Something else?

DG 250M transmission & converter desirable for any ‘51-‘55 Stude V8, first gear start… operating when removed. $200

My pleasure...hope other aficionados have a chance to view it. Take Stephen Blake out of the video, and you can imagine the same assembly process for Newman & Altman built Avantis. Quality always came before cost, and it showed!

I’m sure we can all look back at a car we once had and kick ourselves for selling because of what they are worth today. I wasn’t really thinking of an investment when I bought mine, I had just always wanted one. They are a unique car with an interesting history. The video shows one chapter, part of the Blake era. Too bad we don’t have one for the Studebaker era, Newman/Altman, Cafaro and Kelly to go with it. Good find Desert Driver!

Knowing my '02' Avanti was quite expensive (~$65-80k new), they all ...all years... were a Rich Mans Toy. What amazes me is the deflated price on mine, when considering it might be worth up to $50k. That to me is a loss. But yeah, they are nearly a Hand Built Car

Well thanks for posting this, I found it very interesting to watch. Amazing how many hours they spent building one, have to believe in todays world it would be so much more automated.

Well said!!!!!

Aside from some grainy YouTube videos, I've never seen good factory video of the South Bend Avanti plant. I stumbled across this 35 minute gem posted to Facebook. Blake had a passion for what he was doing, and seemed to know every step of the build process...along with the names of all his employees. https://www.c-spanorg/video/?124750-1/avanti-car-plant-tour

Today's progress: #*&(@!$##!! &^*()%)$#! &&*(@#!!! Grrrrr... MF%$&*$&&*! I hope tomorrow is better!

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/745220531113254

Yeah, I followed it. Got too rich for my blood but I actually since I own one, I was glad to see the higher pice being paid. It tells me mine might be worth more than I thought.

What one person may consider acceptable may not be the same for a buyer, thus, seems only diligent to see and drive a car myself. There are no cars on the site for sale which are my liking, and one from the classified in the magazine from NC I agreed on a price and had plane tickets, but the guy cancelled without warning after I asked for more recent pix than from "5 to 10 yrs ago". I asked who was to pay for the ticket I bought? No response.

Color choice is a matter of taste… but I love the ‘Avanti Turquoise’ on 63R1187!

Thanks ronmanfredi. There is an access panel for the motor, I'll take mine out and see what is going on. I did get the rear headliner out with the glass in, but my rubber seal is still quite pliable. Silverstude, thanks for finding those pages. I looked and looked, but often got distracted by another article here and there, so missed what I wanted!

Mark L....Mine was a 63R1187 R2 sold to a Randy Simon last July

Lubing the worm gear and glass track center/sides can be done front the roof. The motors in these have plenty of torque, they aren't undersized. If the glass is out and the track moves freely on the gear and sides, then I'd suspect the motor has a problem. I know there is a rear access panel over the back seat, but I can't remember if you can access the motor from there or not. If so, then take it out for service. The headliner requires removing the rear glass and I think the small side windows in order to take it down, a big job.

Rear discs were never offered as an option on any of their pre-85 brochures. The pads in the pictured locate within the radius of the rotor.

I should’ve said the pad is riding high and not making full contact with the rotor. I’d still like to know if drums or discs brakes were standard in 1984.

Joemama .. Your going to have to be more interactive if You want to sell this car.

There were two flavors of rear discs that found root in the Avanti. One was Jim Turners and other was Dave LeVesque. Both similar and very functional. If yours has the GM mid eighties caliper ( Cadillac, Riviera, Toronado), then they are likely one of these. There are other third party kits which use similar components. I don't know what you mean by the calipers riding high. Is it, that the pads are off the rotor? Whatever, none of the Turner or LeVesque products have any odd look to them. Pic below is an old shot of mine (late 1990's) and the pad sweeps most of the rotor (Lincoln rotor)

Here are a few articles... http://studebaker-info.org/rjtechjan2023p1.html#Sunroof

Were the rear brakes drums or disc on the ‘84? My newest Avanti has rear disc brakes and the calipers ride high on the rotors, leading me to wonder if there was a conversion. Anyone know what Mr Blake put on?

Where in New York?,,

As there are no instructions out there on the Sky Top moon roofs (starting in 1980) I'm documenting what I am going through just to replace the glass. Here is what I need help on: Dan Booth says to just spray some lube on the worm gear as best as you can, and you are done. I still have to pulse the motor just to move the mechanism forward or backwards without the glass. Does anyone have any hints on how to get everything clean, lubed and moving? Or is the motor simply undersized? (PS, if someone has any idea how to remove the roll bar cover and headliner, I'll add it. Dan says EVERYTHING with the later moon roofs are done from above without removing those, but I still have this issue of cleaning and lubing it all.)