Randy Atkin

I have heard yet another story regarding the paint peeling problem and that was the paint manufacturer sent a rep to see what Avanti Motors was doing that could be causing the failures. It was found that during wet sanding of the primer the workers were dipping the paper into buckets of water that had dish washing soap added in an effort to avoid clogging of the paper which is commonly done on the final finish coat but not on the primer. Doing this was leaving a minute amount of soap on the surface which affected the adherence of the finish coats. The story continued that they stopped adding the soap and no more paint problems.

I hate to disagree with the King of Avanti but '89 Camaro glass is different. I stand by my answer the correct rear glass is '93 -'02 Firebird Trans AM and same years for Camaro.

Wayne - I apologize. I compared your photo to mine and see it is not the same. Sorry. Maybe what I wrote will help someone else.

Wayne - You are correct. Yours is not a proportioning valve as there was no need for one with the Studebaker system. It is a brake failure warning switch which activates the warning light on your dash whenever there is a loss of pressure in either your front brakes lines or rears. It was used on AMC cars from '67-'74 and is no longer available to my knowledge. Muscle Car Research LLC, (Google them) offers a complete repair kit, their part # AMC-Valve-Kit-3 for $27.00. Your switch can only be repaired if the cylinder bore is not corroded. The pistons do not come with the kit so yours need to be in good shape and reused. A word of warning - when reassembling the nylon bushing it is very delicate. Just tighten by hand. It doesn't retain fluid so it doesn't need to be leakproof. Hope this helps.

I would only add to drn1965's comments that the 2006-2007 dashes were also heavily modified, actually I would say more than the 2005, to resemble Avanti dashes of the 80's. I have seen the picture of the black Avanti outside the Cancun showroom doors many times and mistook it for a 2006 or 2007. I now agree it appears to be a 2005.

Thanks for the comparison photos drn1965. I never noticed all the differences of the actual prototype. At the SDC Rhode Island meet I talked to the former (and I think original) owner of the red 2005. If I recall correctly, he changed the "Avanti" script to the old style as he preferred it. He told me he had trouble with the upholstery on the door panels in that the Avanti script was deteriorating so he had the door panels remade without script. It seems to me he did some other minor interior changes. Apparently he changed the headrest script also. This car has been for sale for several years now. While it is very nice the price seems too high to me, thus not sold. Personally I like the sloping trunk lid of the 2005 better than the 2006-2007, but I do not like the 2005's flared out wheel openings.