Geoff

I inadvertently found your answer in a generic 'Net search. LSeat says they are Recaro. https://www.lseat.com/products/1980-avanti-ii-recaro-custom-real-leather-seat-covers-front.html And am I recalling correctly, the Studebaker Avanti front seats are out of an Alfa Romeo, yes?

Yes if your car had one, 25 did not have a grille. I think I replaced air filters twice in the span I drove it. In other instances I'd just remove the filters and blow them out with a blow nozzle on an air hose. I had auto shop my junior & senior HS years, so I [and whomever helped me] got credit for working on the car, that made it super convenient. Auto shop side note: My shop classmates loved the 5 breather caps, they make oil changes go quick. We always added 5 qts. of oil simultaneously.

I recall performing 3EE battery maintenance on 1025 quite a bit when I was driving her in the '90s. We would charge the battery, and open the caps to add distilled water and electrolytes some times. From 1995-1997 I don't believe we ever changed batteries, just maintenance and charging. We did replace that battery once we started repairing my '97 crash, in 2012. The battery tray's strength is something else isn't it? I wonder if borrowing a page from C5 'Vette's floor, and making a balsa sandwich between fiberglass (FRP/MFG) would be a worthwhile investment? It's a stronger solution, and not much heavier. It's not original so show cars wouldn't want that. For everybody else, that could be a winning solution.

Definitely a possibility. Photographers will shoot "B roll" just for backup purposes, though sometimes those are what hit print. I was granted a media pass once to shoot an ALMS race at Laguna Seca. It was at the 6-hour season ending race in '05. Amazing access, fun times. Some of my "I don't think this'll make it" shots were what got published.

That sounds like an interesting solution, make an air box seal against the hood when closed, and suck air from the boundary layer. Insert a NACA duct in the hood so air gets directed into the air box. An alternative might be to make that air box seal against a hole in the inner fender. Almost anything is better than what R2 ultimately got; that poor thing is just sucking radiated heat from the exhaust manifold. Smokey Yunick might have made something work there though; he sure delved into the hot vapor engine.

Dave, or if anybody knows how to get hold of Dave? I haven't heard an update about what he decided to do with his stock interior? I would be interested in 4170's seats. 4174 would benefit greatly, having an interior which was neglected for a couple decades. I've been on Recaro's Instagram sporadically asking if they'd reproduce their earlier KRX model, please and thank you.

This is an interesting topic and you bring up placement. Related and affirming what you said, in my build I want to [buy/borrow] some Longacre scales, and my battery placement will be the last item I fit. I'll set the scales and sit in the car, having a friend move the battery around until the cross-weight reading is as good as it gets. It might only be 38 pounds. Considering that's a 76 pound swing (38 pounds in spot A vs. 38 pounds not in spot B), that's no sneezing matter. I love cornering forces, the Granatellis were hunting longitudinal grip. Both require mass to be set specifically.

Due Cento [DC] would've eclipsed 200 with its existing setup. DC only needed to make a return when the salt was not wet. As it was, DC was doing a rolling burnout of 190-or-so MPH. I've read in an article the tachometer registered DC was well over 200 MPH (peak speed); she just couldn't maintain traction for the required two-way average.

I'm tearing down my 1985 to start fresh with a blank canvas. The only module I've found is an aluminum box mounted beneath the glove box. The wired connection (and an empty connector) are on the outboard side, facing the door. Attached are a couple of pictures.

Oly-hay it-shay George! I'm not building my '85 to be factory stock but if I was, I would definitely be bugging you for more detailed pictures this next year: "Where does this go?" "How is that oriented?" "Please help! I've disassembled my car and I can't recall how this fits." Yours is a fantastic looking Blake, and I'm liking them more and more in white. My build will pay tribute to the Mid-Ohio car and I dig that car's white over black livery, except I think I'm going to choose white over Old Glory Blue on the exterior and a mix of white and Old Glory Red for the interior.

I could maybe dissuade these fears with an experience I had driving 1025. I remember it vividly. I was living in the SF east bay area. It was 12/12/95 and that was a particularly bad El Niño year. I was a junior in high school and 1025 was my daily …… when it wasn't down for repairs that is [engine fan embedded in the radiator, 4 of 5 lugs sheered off RF, a clogged fuel filter, and more I know I'm forgetting] That day started bad, a storm cell came in the night before and by 0700 high winds had blown some tree branches into power lines, and area creeks and rivers were rising. They weren't overflowing yet, that started happening around lunchtime and only got worse as the day progressed. I got to school for a 0740 start and immediately heard the principal with a megaphone saying, "The quad is flooded. We don't have power. School is closed. Go home!" My drive home at 0745 was during torrential rain and sustained high winds. Cars were leaving beautifully long rooster tails on the freeway and I was behind them for a handful of miles with no ill effects. I suppose it's true to say, I was behind several different cars, all the way home and didn't have an issue at any point in time. Not that rainy day, nor any other rainy day. Hydrolock was never a reason I couldn't drive ten-twenty-five. The boxed opening for the air filters is tilted down, I'd say 30° to 40° up from straight down. If I was to theoretically drive so close to a trailer, the kind with a whole row of tires across the rear, that the Avanti's radiator inlet was all but making contact with the rear of said trailer, and if we were driving in fairly deep water, I could hypothesize spray from those tires would bathe the air filters with water. Along a related tangent however, how much water is needed to hydrolock a 289/299/304 Studebaker V8? Was I WOT when the trailer's splash came up? Was the throttle closed? Paper Frams (that's what 1025 had) getting wet is one piece of the equation. From the filter box water would go through ducting, into and out of a Paxton supercharger, through hard piping and into the R3 pressure box where the Carter is up next. Has the splash quantity streamlined out, so as to be a thinner stream over a longer period of time? I don't see it remaining concentrated like a floating puddle after passing through the Paxton.

True. My "AV" nomenclature would more relate to car companies' internal designations [BMW: E30, E36, E46, E90. GM: A-body, F-body, Y-body. Mustang: fox body, SN-95. Audi: B4, B5, et al.] that level of breakdown. A 1995 BMW M3 is an E36 BMW M division tuned, 3 series. However, that's all at a level of breakdown not everyone has to delve into, or know. I just use the AV# coding personally. Again, it's at a level of breakdown not everyone has to delve into, whether it catches into the vernacular or not. I find it cool the 2002 Avanti door tags even have a mention of Studebaker at all.

Could it have possibly been in the space between inner and outer fender? Ed you're correct, 1025's air filter housing was in front of the radiator, below the bumper's height.

A2 is $595/hr. and they have a 2 hour minimum. I'd pay for my time and would gladly pay the second hour if it meant finding Cd for other cars we all enjoy. It was an article in Car Life magazine where the author guesstimated Avanti was "in the high point threes." It would be pretty cool to actually gather some data points.

I have a classing system I've placed a little bit of time thinking about: Studebaker Avanti for model year '63 & '64 Avanti II (or AV2) for Newman & Altman AV3 for Blake AV4 for Kelly & Cafaro AVX for all which the AVX was the prototype / proof of concept The Kelly & Cafaro years could break into more divisions: AV4.1 early coupes & convertibles | AV4.2 LSC | AV4.3 sedans | AV4.4 post-sedan coupes & convertibles I suppose that means AVX could split AVX.1 for Firebird and AVX.2 for Mustang