My letter to Avanti Motor Company ...

[SBCA96]

Avanti Motor Corporation

106 Temple Street, PO Box 158

Villa Rica, GA 30180

770/456-0900 Phone

770/456-0989 Fax

Dear Avanti Motors,

Please, for the love of God, drop this new SUV that you are making under the name

of Studebaker. Studebaker was ALWAYS a leader in ideas, not DEAD LAST. This

concept is over. The SUV is dead. If you want a winner, then use the rights that

Newman and Altman bought with the Avanti back in 1965 and bring back the Lark

Wagonaire as a new model. Base it on a GM chassis, or create your own that can

also be used on the new Avanti. Wagons are the NEW big thing. Take the styling

of the original Lark, and update it. Keep the sliding roof, thats a concept that WILL

sell in the right platform and a wagon is it. Witness the sales of the "Magnum".

Whatever you do, stay away from Ford power. GM has the best powerplant with

the LSx based engines. The Ford modular V8 is filled with potential problems like

inadaquate spark plug thread contact, and lack of bearings for the cams. These are

the kinds of things that will come back and haunt you later. Ford also has issues

with cracking intake manifolds - not good. I like the over all styling of the new Avanti,

but those concept rims have got to go. I just bought a set of 03 Mustang Cobra rims

for my 1963 Avanti, and it closely resembles the original Avanti hubcap.

You have a good concept with the new Avanti, keep the style, change the wheels to

AFS Cobra knockoffs, and put in an LS1 or LS7 GM engine. That will bring the new

Avanti the kind of attention it deserves, and the performance it hasnt had since the

60's supercharged Studebaker versions!

If you used a chassis that was "modern", but kept the same mounting points and also

dimensions as the original Studebaker Avanti, you could also pick up "rolling chassis"

sales to owners of 1963 thru 1983 Avantis that have rotted frames and good bodies.

I hope this note gets to a desk that makes decisions.

Thanks for listening,

Thomas

[jeffgrohs]

Interesting comment on wagons. 5 or 6 years ago on one of my business trips to Japan, I was talking cars with the sales manager of the foundry we were working with. He had just bought a station wagon, as it was the "cool" thing for 30-somethings without kids.

[SBCA96]

Interesting comment on wagons. 5 or 6 years ago on one of my business trips to Japan, I was talking cars with the sales manager of the foundry we were working with. He had just bought a station wagon, as it was the "cool" thing for 30-somethings without kids.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well .. look at the sales of the Dodge Magnum, Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix.

They just dont call them "station wagons" now, they call them "crossover vehicles".

The name change doesnt change what they are.

Those "SUV" vehicles are just jacked up station wagons.

Tom

[Avantidan]

Hi Thomas;

I respectfully disagree with your assessment of the Studebaker XUV. The demand is not only great but global. The concept is not only alive but others models are coming from Jeep, Ford and others. In fact the demand is so strong that we are strongly considering an XUT truck to follow it. In any event, the Avanti remains our number one focus.

The 2006 Avanti will be offered on a Ford platform. We changed to Ford because GM does not offer the platform we need to build the Avanti. Ford has been a good partner and is much more responsive than GM. We are offering a coupe this year in addition to the convertible.

Your Lark Wagonarie concept sounds interesting and if you want to make the investment, we'll develop it.

Take care;

Dan

National sales Manager

Avanti Motor Corporation

Avanti Motor Corporation

106 Temple Street, PO Box 158

Villa Rica, GA  30180

770/456-0900 Phone

770/456-0989 Fax

Dear Avanti Motors,

  Please, for the love of God, drop this new SUV that you are making under the name

of Studebaker.  Studebaker was ALWAYS a leader in ideas, not DEAD LAST.  This

concept is over.  The SUV is dead.  If you want a winner, then use the rights that

Newman and Altman bought with the Avanti back in 1965 and bring back the Lark

Wagonaire as a new model.  Base it on a GM chassis, or create your own that can

also be used on the new Avanti.  Wagons are the NEW big thing.  Take the styling

of the original Lark, and update it.  Keep the sliding roof, thats a concept that WILL

sell in the right platform and a wagon is it.  Witness the sales of the "Magnum".

Whatever you do, stay away from Ford power.  GM has the best powerplant with

the LSx based engines.  The Ford modular V8 is filled with potential problems like

inadaquate spark plug thread contact, and lack of bearings for the cams.  These are

the kinds of things that will come back and haunt you later.  Ford also has issues

with cracking intake manifolds - not good.  I like the over all styling of the new Avanti,

but those concept rims have got to go.  I just bought a set of 03 Mustang Cobra rims

for my 1963 Avanti, and it closely resembles the original Avanti hubcap.

You have a good concept with the new Avanti, keep the style, change the wheels to

AFS Cobra knockoffs, and put in an LS1 or LS7 GM engine.  That will bring the new

Avanti the kind of attention it deserves, and the performance it hasnt had since the

60's supercharged Studebaker versions!

If you used a chassis that was "modern", but kept the same mounting points and also

dimensions as the original Studebaker Avanti, you could also pick up "rolling chassis"

sales to owners of 1963 thru 1983 Avantis that have rotted frames and good bodies.

I hope this note gets to a desk that makes decisions.

Thanks for listening,

Thomas

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[gilbybarr]

Gotta say while I like the Ford connection, dont care much for the somewhat pudgy look of the Mustang based new Avantis. Now they are talking about building 6 cylinder verts and coupes to appeal to a "new" group of enthusiasts. Sorry, just dont see that one making a big splash.......over $60K for an American 6 cylinder based vehicle? Sure wish they could go back to the origins with the styling....but that's not realistic I guess. By the way, what ever happened to their development of their own chassis so they dont have to depend on a donor vehicle?

Love my '80....gets more attention than our '65 Corvette Coupe.

[Avantidan]

Time will tell if the 6 cylinder versions work or not. The 4.0L engine does offer 210 hp so it isn't helpless but not the performance of the 300 hp 4.6L. There are issues that hamper certain aspects of original styling such as DOT regulations for the taillights but we do consider it as much as we can. We would love to develop our own chasis and that remains a goal but it is very expensive and very involved process to get past all the crash testing and government regulations and the per unit price would take a huge jump.

Enjoy your '80!

Gotta say while I like the Ford connection, dont care much for the somewhat pudgy look of the Mustang based new Avantis.  Now they are talking about building 6 cylinder verts and coupes to appeal to a "new" group of enthusiasts.  Sorry, just dont see that one making a big splash.......over $60K for an American 6 cylinder based vehicle?  Sure wish they could go back to the origins with the styling....but that's not realistic I guess.  By the way, what ever happened to their development of their own chassis so they dont have to depend on a donor vehicle?

Love my '80....gets more attention than our '65 Corvette Coupe.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Guest DRN]

The compromises that Avanti needs to make to be an independent carmaker in the current market and regulatory structure are not unlike what their predecessors have had to make..

the original was a rebodied Lark convertible with a police suspension;

Newman&Altman built the same car with whatever parts they could source: GM, AMC, Chrysler all had parts in Avanti II's at one point or another;

Kelly and Cafaro rebodied Monte Carlos;

the AVX/first generation Georgia Avantis were Firebird based..

The concept of the Avanti from the start has been a uniquely styled car that has good performance for a buyer that values good design and/or seeks to drive a unique vehicle. The latest offerings hold to that tradition in my view.

I believe the new Avanti to be the most unique yet practical limited production car in the US; I also find it to be the best looking. I look forward to seeing the new model introduced. The new Mustang chassis will be superior to the previous Fox-type Mustang chassis. As to the V-6 and V-8 offering..the original came in 2 flavors: R1 and R2.

All the best to Avanti!

[Avantidan]

Well said and I couldn't agree more.

Thank you;

Dan

Avanti Motor Corporation

[SBCA96]

The new Mustang chassis will be superior to the previous Fox-type Mustang chassis. As to the V-6 and V-8 offering..the original came in 2 flavors: R1 and R2.

Superior to the Fox platform? God, I hope so, what a crap setup that was, to be a

superior design to such an inferior suspension setup isnt saying much. Ford did a

great job of copying the 4th Gen F-body (Camaro/Firebird) suspension, so yes its

a definate improvement, but their decision to go with a hydro-boost brake setup

and the ignition-kill steering lock up is screaming for a lawsuit. The Modular V8

that Ford boasts about doesnt even have cam bearings on those overhead cams

and a high RPM they are starved for oil. They finally fixed the spark plugs from

shooting out of the heads, but the intake manifolds still crack. Nope, I think that

staying with the GM LSX engines would have been a better plan. Maybe a call to

Art Morrison (http://www.artmorrison.com/index.html) would have been a good

place to start, since they already make a Hawk based frame that has many types

of suspension options. Since the Lark frame is basically a shortened Hawk frame,

this would be easy to adapt. Avanti used to use their own frame, with the limited

numbers they should be able to find a loop hole for production, even if it required

selling an "almost turnkey" car, like some of the Cobra kit cars and the Australian

GT-40 (which would be a better buy then the new Avanti at only ~40k).

Sorry but its just not right for the Avanti to have a V6, doesnt matter the HP rating,

thats like a V6 Corvette, you have to go back to the 50's to find a 6 cyl Vette. I'm

not debating the use of brand X parts, obviously there will never be a Studebaker

Avanti again, but Ford was the wrong direction, many problems with the engines

that will become a liability in an 80k car. I have a friend who is a diehard Ford guy

and he seems to tell us a new "recall" with the 4.6/5.3 each week. His intake was

over 2000 dollars to have fixed, at first Ford said they would replace it, so he had

the Dealer do it, then they said no. It barely has over 100k on it - pretty sad. I put

almost 200k on my LT1 powered F-body, the heads have never been off.

He has also had to replace the rack, all the brakes (worked out good for me) and

ball joints ... etc. With 214k on my Camaro (bought it used, beat the crap out of

it) I have yet to replace ANYTHING except the shocks. Hopefully Avanti owners

will not drive their cars very much, and then it wont be a problem.

As for the XUV .. the SUV is dead .. check GM and Fords storage lots, pretty soon

they will be coming off the line, and into the shredder - which doesnt bother me at

all, the less of them on the road the better, they keep flipping over around here,

and then I am late for work while they scrape up the body parts.

But then, you mentioned overseas, so maybe there isnt a completely saturated

market like here in the US, where you can sell them. Too bad you had to use the

"Studebaker" name on it ... but I guess "Edsel" is still copyrighted by Ford huh?

On the other hand .. I read that in Russia they refer to ALL trucks as "Studebaker"

still since we gave them all the second issue service vehicles after WWII. There

are some pretty hot looking women in the Ukraine, you could get some to model

with the new XUV in fatigues and holding automatic weapons and crossbows.

A wagon would have sold, of course, then Avanti would have been sued by Dodge

because the Magnum already LOOKS like an updated Lark, I saw a few pics in a

car rag and at first glance I thought it was a custom Lark.

As for investment money? Nope, the RIAA took all my cash. Sorry. But then you

guys know how it is to be sued. How come Avanti didnt counter sue GM for that

sliding roof feature on one of their MANY SUV's? On a similar note, when will GM

be sued by Honda for the blatent rip-off of the 2005 Accord with their 2006 Impala?

I mean, COME ON guys! If the original XUV was a rip off of the Hummer, then that

Impala is a carbon copy of the Accord take a look!

2005 Honda Accord

2006 Chevy Impala

They say revenge is a dish best served cold, Dan, an anonymous tip to Honda??

Tom

[Guest DRN]

Unfortunately our authorities having jurisdiction, aka "safety nazis", don't seem to regulate in a logical fashion. They allow motorcycles that are best suited to the track to be imported, sold, and operated as androidal projectiles by beings possessing the judgement of algae on the nation's highways; yet they throw up a million hoops for someone wishing to build and market a limited production car in the name of protecting safety of the public.

Why don't they create a classification for the manufacture of limited production or specialty cars that has the same safety requirements of a motorcycle? The purchaser would be made aware of this classification as would the insurance carrier, and operating the vehicle would essentially be at the operator's risk just as with a motorcycle. This reduction in certification requirements would allow the small independent carmakers to produce product, create jobs, and thrive.

I'm sure there are many holes in my reasoning, but eh, its a fantasy anyway..

[SBCA96]

Why don't they create a classification for the manufacture of limited production or specialty cars that has the same safety requirements of a motorcycle?

I could sware that this did exist, it was for companies that create UNDER a certain

number of vehicles per year. If memory serves, this is how Avanti was able to

"dodge" the smog police back in the late 60's and then held out against the bumper

police in the 70's. The 80's saw the larger bumper "bookshelf". I assume, ( and

wrongly perhaps) that the magor body is complete and the chassis/driveline from

the Mustang is used. If thats the case, then an Art Morrison frame could be used

instead of the Mustang. Obviously I dont know all the herdles that exist in creating

a vehicle in the current market, but it would seem that purchasing a frame from

the likes of Art, with existing suspension parts (Corvette), would be cheaper then

buying a whole 25,000 dollar Mustang, and cutting it apart. Dont you change the

crash test results anyway by swapping body panels, and interior pieces?

XUV?:

Tom

Edited December 14, 2005 by SBCA96