Avanti1963!

Be careful on the battery height. Some 3EEs are too tall.

The car looks beautiful. Couldn't ask for a better owner.

Ed, I see nothing wrong with Bob's post about the Paxton prices. You may not realize it but many of your posts come across as a bit antagonistic. I suggest that you tweak your approach so folks will feel welcome on this forum. This should be a site where all can feel comfortable sharing their knowledge and experiences.

Lew, I tried to send you a message but it said you are not receiving any messages. Am I doing something wrong or is there another way to reach you? Thanks

Thanks 64 StudeAvanti. What you provided below aligns with what we have been saying. 'FWIW, the authenticity manual states "With the exception of a few very early cars, the factory original units were painted orange ...", "around serial number R5200, they went back to installing as purchased again painted black". "Both black and orange are considered correct and authentic". Page C-106." To summarize for the future restorers out there, all Avantis, except for a few at the beginning all the way to serial 5200, were orange. This would be from Serial number 1001 (minus a few) to serial number 5200 or approximately 4200 cars (of course, the R2 models, not the R1s). If you have a car from around serial 1001 to 5200, it should be orange. After 5200, 443 Avantis were made, and it appears that Studebaker mixed in some black superchargers. Not all of them, mind you, as we know of some original owners with Avantis that came from the factory with orange after 5200. So, unless you have one of the few at the beginning or some of those intermingled in the last 443 Avantis (R2s of course), the superchargers were orange. There is no need to interrogate some folks that have seen these things first hand. regnalbob's family owned a Studebaker dealership and the cars he mentions were sold new there. Also, my family purchased three new Studebakers from his family's dealership so I can vouch for all of this. With all of the above facts, we now know the full story and can put this topic to bed. BTW: Chevy orange is an excellent match for the supercharger, and the fan blades too.

Leo B, the pictures your provided do not represent the factory produced cars. As mentioned, early prototypes and maybe 1001 had a black supercharger but 99% of them were orange. These cars don't represent how the factory produced cars left the factory. As evidence, the lower picture above has a McCulloch emblem on the supercharger which wasn't on the factory produced cars. Further, the air cleaner wasn't the black wriggled finish as shown in that same picture. The prototypes and a few early cars may have had black superchargers but the factory produced cars were orange. If the authenticity manual states they were all black, it is wrong. There have been a few other items in the manual that have since been determined to be incorrect as well. Aside from this, the vast majority of the manual is correct and is still a great source to have on the shelf.

I suppose I will be more direct so we don't provide the wrong information for future restorations and state that, I have owned many Avantis over the years and have seen hundreds since the 1960s. 99.8% of them were orange. The few black exceptions had a "rebuilt" tag wired to them from Paxton. Of course, nothing is absolute and there may be exceptions where an original Avanti buyer requested a black supercharger as special order or maybe a few of the initial cars had black, but in general, the superchargers came in orange from the factory. I should add that R2 Larks and Hawks also had orange superchargers when factory new.

I believe that mfg has it backwards. Most people believe that the R2 superchargers were orange when new. When rebuilt by Paxton, they were usually painted black. Along with the black paint, some had a little tag indicating it was rebuilt.

There is an Avanti supercharger bracket on ebay if anyone needs one. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325060013597?hash=item4baf162e1d:g:uhEAAOSwbaViEY6T

I was told be a reputable Studebaker restoration shop that they were left as a natural cast finish.

Lew, thanks for the posting the excellent pictures.

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Adam, I sent you a note about the steering wheel a couple weeks ago. Please email me at jeffbradel@gmail.com Thank you.