Nelson

I noticed that hole also. I don’t remember why it was there but I put about five layers of aluminum duct tape over it as I’m sure the ice would find it and walk right in.

Great photo. I would love to have met him and taken him to dinner just to bs.

Some of the Bonneville cars had #’s lower than B9. I would think the B #’s started at 1. Some may have been destroyed on a dyno but the numbers certainly would have started at 1.

I always thought the car probably had frequent engine changes so they just never reinstalled a fan shroud. However, the broken idler during the road test could be the reason. I remember Andy saying the car always overheated which it most certainly would with no fan shroud. You would think Andy would have realized that? That was back in the day when Avantis had shrouds with the bottom section in it. Later everyone started cutting the bottom of the shroud away which made changing water pumps a much easier job.

No. It may have a 4 speed tag but I don’t think it does. It was a 259 three speed car (?) pulled from the assembly line and moved to engineering for installation of the R3 package. I imagine the car was pretty near completed when it was pulled. I know convertibles started life as a hard top then went to another area where the roof was cut off and convertible components added. I would think that would be Pre frame but i am uncertain of that.

I imagine a build order sheet was in the car as it traveled the assembly line so the proper equipment could be installed.

Bob. I never heard Studes were delivered without floor covering? I know seat belts were in the trunk in 1964. Are you sure you don’t have that crossed up? The carpets were installed with twist type nails to get a nice fit. The tool would have been air powered I would think.

I’ve found production orders in Studes under the carpet, seats, console and glovebox but I’ve never found one in an Avanti.

Shims or spacers at the door latch mechanism at the B pillar. Spacers at all four corner connections of bumper to body. Just a lot of shims in our Avantis🤔

Spacers at the hinge to door connection for adjustments.

And shims at the top of the king pins., at one side of the axle in the rear end on R1 and R2.

There are spacers/shims at the disc brake bridge to square with the rotor.

Burnt fluid?

Thanks for the comment, Bob. I just wish I could see those cars you saw back in the day. Good photos of those Bonneville cars, especially under hood shots and inside trunk shots of the two R3 convertibles. I own both of those cars and have one pretty much finished. If it wasn’t for having those two as samples plus the HR road test Lark it would be anyones guess on how things were supposed to go together and how they should be fitted. One big surprise was they didn’t run an air cleaner at Bonneville and evidently were sold that way. One of the convertibles has never been restored under the hood and witness marks made by the hose from the air intake to the blower are pronounced as wear on the inner fender. When this one gets restored I will do nothing to the paint work or misjudgments made during the original build. To me that is what is so cool about original cars……they are still able to tell their story.

Sort of like a Graham Hollywood after the coffin nose Cord.

Low or no trans fluid?

If my memory is serving me today I think the steering column at the dash was shimmed as needed to accommodate the shims under the cowl?

Factory R3 Avantis typically used shims at the back side of the lower control arms to gain positive caster.

True. I was thinking precision adjustment for shim but it is a spacer in the the raw sense of the word.

Spacers or shims?

Hahaha! I just showed that photo to my wife and said “so you think I’m bad”. Her response was “those are toys”. My response back “ they sure are”.

Did the 63 Corvette use a Borg-Warner or was it a Muncie?

I imagine the guessing is over but Bob Caser is the closest. It’s hard to substantiate as there have been SO MANY interviews with Caroll Shelby but way back in the later part of the last century, Shelby was interviewed concerning the original or the initial prototype of the AC Cobra. He talked about how they were putting something together which would evolve into the Cobra. He mentioned that the rear end was taken from a Studebaker and fit into the AC chassis. Being that I was and still am, an avid Stude guy his statement has been imprinted in my mind. An even closer match to his statement at that time is “the rear end came out of a six cylinder Studebaker”. Im sure Caroll Shelby, like Andy Granatelli, liked the lime light and enjoyed his time on stage. If he used a model 27 Dana it sure wouldn’t have lasted through one hard shift but if it was dimensionally what he needed at the time he, at least, would have a roller.

No, not a 289. Actually the firstCobra was a 260.

Since we’ve been talking Shelby Cobra’s, what did Carol Shelby borrow from a Studebaker to use on his very first Cobra?