Studehawk
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Posts posted by Studehawk
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Thanks again for the good info. I'm also planning to go to Mansfield in September. I'm going to be driving my 1942 M16 from southern Illinois. I'm trying to talk my sister into taking the Avanti up there also. You may have seen my truck at South Bend in 2017. I'm the guy that has the amusement ride train that I haul around in the back of the truck. I also had it at the International in St. Louis in 2015. I've had a 62 GT Hawk since 1964 and I got the truck from my mom in 2009 after my dad died. I do know a lot of Avanti folks but this is really my first dive into the Avanti world. Hope to hear from you again and maybe meet up in Ohio.
Roger List
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That's good info. Still doesn't explain though how it ended up with square headlight bezels. I was under the assumption that all the early 64's had round headlight bezels for a few months after production shifted to 64's. Would it have been possible to replace the entire front clip? This car has been repainted. It originally was Avanti Red and now it is a slightly different shade of red. Another quick question, did the 64's with square headlight bezels have clear covers. I thought they did, but maybe not. Thanks for all your info on this. Are you going to the South Bend swap meet in May? I'm planning on being there, maybe we could meet up and compare notes.
Roger List
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Sure sounds like this car.
Roger List
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Thanks, Studegary, you may have hit on something. Just got off the phone with my sister and I have some more info. We verified that the body number is in fact RQ3620. Although the production order was written on 05/17/63, the car was sold by Ben Lindenbusch in St. Louis on 1/23/65. Lord only knows why it took a year and a half before it got sold. It was sold to William J. Burglechner from St. Louis. We inspected the inner fenders and there is what appears to be a lower hood support bracket already bolted to the right inner fender. Based on the information from studegary above it would have been registered as a 64. The dealer my sister bought it from told them that he got it in MO. Since Tennessee, Illinois and MO are pretty close it may be possible to be the same car. You wouldn't know what color it was? Like I stated on a previous post, if the A/C wasn't factory they did an outstanding job installing it. My sister just sent me a copy of the original dealer form showing the year, model, owners name and selling dealers info. It clearly states it being a 64 Avanti. The plot thickens! Stay tuned.
Roger List
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Thanks again. I'll probably try that. I'm going to be going to the South Bend swap meet in May so I'm sure someone will have a car there for me to look at.
Roger List
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Thanks, that's the most encouraging news I've had about this. Can the support be moved without changing the hood? I wasn't sure if there is an adequate mounting location on the passenger side for the support. I'll have to do some research on the A/C. Thanks again.
Roger List
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Thanks for the reply. Yes, the production order shows the engine to be an R2, Engine number RS-2506, however I can't verify that actually is the engine that's in there right now. That will have to wait until I get back there in April. You brought up an interesting item about the hood though. Can the fenders and inner apron be replaced independent of the body? I was assuming that the whole structure was molded in one piece. The reason I'm bringing this up is that it does not have the typical long, thin battery that was on the early Avanti's that's so hard to find. The battery box and the battery in it looks more like a group 24. I don't think that it is a group 24 but it is much wider and shorter than the normal Avanti battery. The hood support is on the drivers side. According to photos in the service manual the hood support is supposed to be fairly forward on the apron, maybe only a few inches behind the hinge. I checked the apron at that location and there are no holes there and never were. The hood support is actually bolted to the apron using the starter solenoid bolts. It's also possible that it has the wrong support, but if it is, it is identical to the correct support. From 1963R2's post it sounds like if the car has the later battery the hood support should be on the passengers side. Many questions, few answers. Hopefully someday this will all make sense. Stay tuned.
Roger List
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Thanks for the reply. According to an Avanti Trivia post by mfg in December, RQ3370 is a production code used on production orders for serial numbers 3917 thru 4891. I rechecked the production order and the body number is supposed to be RQ-3620. I'm not sure where my sister got the serial number. I'm assuming it was either on the bill of sale or the title. I can guarantee you she did not get it from the VIN plate. I'm also trying to get the original owners name, hopefully someone on here may know who it is. If I'm not mistaken it does have a 160 mph speedo. Unfortunately I'm not in a position right now to verify the body number the engine number or the serial number on the VIN plate. I'm going to check these out in April when I'm back in Illinois. Does anyone know when or if they put a dual master cylinder on Avanti's? I've been checking some of my resources but I can't find anything conclusive. Thanks again for the replies, I'll keep updating this post as I get more information.
Roger List
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I'm going to try to post a photo of our Avanti. Looks like I can't get it to appear. Click on the link to view.
Roger List
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I'm new to this forum, but not new to Studebakers. After many years of looking, we have finally become an Avanti family. My sister recently purchased what appears to be a 64 supercharged Avanti. The reason I say "appears," is that something is terribly wrong with this car. She bought it from a dealer in southern Illinois after he did some work to it to get it sale worthy. Don't know what he did to it though. I inspected it for her in December when I was back there for Christmas since I live in Colorado. Several things were very odd upon my inspection. First was it has a full factory supercharger set up on it but the car also has factory air conditioning. Everything is there and connected for the A/C except the compressor. We are very aware that A/C was not available in supercharged cars. Another issue is that the hood does not open fully, in fact it barely opens enough to check the oil, checking the engine number is going to be a real challenge. It appears to have the correct support but it's attached to the wrong place on the fender skirt. I have an idea where it should be mounted but there is no evidence that it was ever attached in the correct location. I'm not sure when, or if Avanti's had a dual master cylinder, but this car has one that appears to be a non Studebaker part cobbled in very sloppily. Of special note is the power booster was removed and it is bolted directly to the fire wall. Another odd thing is it has square headlight bezels but no provision for the clear cover. They have the original bill of sale from the selling dealer in Ferguson, MO and about 5 years of maint. records for the car. I suggested they get a production order to try to figure out what's going on. She got the production order yesterday and sent me a copy, now the mystery is even worse. The Serial no. is R-4620 and it was manufactured with a supercharger. It is listed as an RQ3370 Avanti. The production order was written on 5/17/63. According to what I was reading last night on this forum, Serial no. R-4620 appears to be a late 1963, yet from what I was reading last night, an RQ3370 would appear to be a 64. I don't have the engine number in the car, I'll have to check this when I go back there in April. I asked her to check the body number, but she's not sure where that is located, so I may have to verify that also when I go back there. From what I gather from reading on the forum last night the VIN plate is attached to the frame rather than the body. I believe that I did find it when I inspected it in December. I looked it over quite well and the air conditioning definitely looks to be a factory installation, all the hoses, evaporator, switches and controls as well as the condenser, receiver and hose routing all appear to be factory, but strangely there is a "Supercharged" badge on the left front fender that appears to be original. If someone added the A/C after the fact, they really did a perfect job. At first I thought that someone may have replaced the body on the frame with a 64 body, but that doesn't account for the "Supercharged" badge. I guess it could have been added but it sure looks original. It has been registered as a 64. I'm at a loss to figure out what's going on here, and with the production order the mystery is even worse. My sister was considering having me remove the supercharger and restoring the air conditioning as we originally figured that it was originally and air conditioned car that someone converted to a supercharged car. Now we're not so sure. I'm open to any suggestions anyone on here my have. I know that this has been a long dissertation but this is really getting complicated and I haven't even mentioned some other discrepancies that I found. Many thanks for any ideas that anyone more knowledgeable may have on what may be going on here. I'm trying to get the body number, but it may have to wait. Thanks for reading all of this, I'll be looking forward to any comments those much more experienced on Avanti's than I am.
Roger List
Crooked steering wheel after new wheels and alignment
in 1963-64 Avanti
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What do you mean by loose? The way to check the bellcrank is to grab ahold of it where the tie rod ends attach and try to move it up and down. Another way is to have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth while you watch the bellcrank. If it moves up and down at all it should be rebuilt. If you have power steering the control valve can cause some looseness. Be sure to have the engine running when you check this because the spool valve will have a lot of movement without pressure from the pump. If you don't have power steering, check the pitman arm tie rod end. I recently worked on a friend's GT hawk and the tie rod end to pitman arm nut was several rounds loose. I've been following this thread a bit and am concerned about relocating the steering wheel on the steering shaft. If I remember right, the last time that I had the steering wheel off my Hawk I thought that it was keyed to the shaft with a missing spline tooth, ensuring that it would go on only one way. If the wheel appears to be loose at the top make sure that you didn't try to force the wheel down over the spline.
Roger List