Dwight FitzSimons

I am ninety-some percent an originality person. I do make exceptions for safety, reliability, & drive-ability: wider wheels, radial tires, electronic voltage regulators, LED light bulbs, modern batteries, modern paint, etc. I do like a Studebaker to look as original as practical. One biggie: The paint color should be as close to original as possible, but I am never going to paint a car with lacquer again - urethanes are so much better. --Dwight

Here are two pix from slightly different angles. I can take pix of the other side if it matters. The pulley is a single belt. --Dwight

One thought: A while ago someone reproduced the disc that was glued to the center of the wheel cylinders on early '63s. That might look cool when viewed through your Halibrands. I believe the fellow advertised them in the AOAI magazine. --Dwight

I don't know the answer to that question, but I now have a whole new mission in life: determining the color of those screws!

Most, if not all of us love these cars because of our memories of them, and my memories of superchargers are of orange ones. Restoring them as original takes us back to those times. But, when my '64 Avanti was mechanically restored I specified black for the blower because I thought orange would clash with the red R3 engine color. I now think differently. Of course, I can easily paint the blower Chevy orange, but that will leave the capscrew heads painted, which they aren't supposed to be. So, the major mistake is that I will have painted capscrew heads. Can't we all agree that painted bolt heads on a blower is a "major mistake?" --Dwight, powered by Studebaker & Packard

Wildfeir, have you found a P.S. pump? I have one off a '70 Avanti II that looks like your pic. I can take a pic or 2 tomorrow (Sun.). --Dwight.

I, too, would vote for the Cobalt wheel cylinders if keeping the original Bendix/Dunlop disc brakes. They are a better, more modern design than the originals. I, personally, have converted my Studebakers to modern disc brakes, either Turner or Hot Rod & Brakes (have used both). The HR&B disc kit has gotten good reviews & costs $150 or so less than Turner's kit. Jim Turner now uses Chrysler minivan calipers in order to avoid the clearance issues the previous GM calipers sometimes had. One note on rotors: I have just had to replace the rear rotors on my Olds Aurora due to rust (flunked Va inspection after only 1000 miles, 2 years). I'll never again buy non coated rotors. The coated ones cost more (20% ?), but I want to do my brake jobs only once. One can also paint rotors and I have done that. So, the good news on supercharger colors is that you can paint yours either orange or black, whichever you prefer. I made a major mistake in having mine painted black. --Dwight

It is listed as sold, so, hopefully, someone will restore it. One of the fun (Studebaker) episodes in my life was seeing a wrecked '64 Avanti rebuilt properly. In the late 1960s I happened to see a freshly wrecked '64 Avanti indoors at a local wrecking yard. It was Avanti Gold with Claret interior, R2 & 4-spd, and it was torn up worse than the one above. A year or so later I came upon that very same car parked on the street. I looked it over and it looked good to me. This was in the Charlottesville-Harrisonburg, Virginia area. Has anyone seen it? The Claret interior was fairly rare, so someone might remember it for that reason. --Dwight

Dave Thibeault had some cast in aluminum a few years ago. Dave generally does things well. --Dwight

Both were designed by Raymond Loewy? --Dwight

Left & right exhaust manifolds ARE identical on ALL Studebaker Avantis, whether standard R1-R2 manifolds or R3-R4 "headers." There was no need for a boss for an alternator bracket on Avanti manifolds. Your R3-R4 manifolds will fit any Studebaker V8 from 1955 through 1964, whether 224, 259, 289, R1, R2, R3, or R4. I have a set of Studebaker International's reproduction R3 headers and they have no numbers or letters cast into them, so yours are not the most recent repros. --Dwight

Hi, Paul, I mailed the second booster to SI about Saturday, 10-1-2026 by USPS, Priority Mail. It should be there. I'll dig out the USPS receipt and post it. You don't owe me anything additional; I should have looked under the boot on the 1st booster. --Dwight

I had a similar situation at my previous house. If you try backing in have someone watch to make sure your tips don't hit the concrete. Note that if they hit while backing in the result could be disastrous: jamming the exhaust pipe up into the back underneath of the car. --Dwight

There are two different Turner front disc brake kits: 1) the older kit with GM calipers, and 2) the newer kit with Chrysler minivan calipers. Clearance issues would be different between the two. -Dwight

Apparently, If Copart doesn't get what they want they send the auction into overtime (looks like 2 extra days). I hope they don't want too much or this Avanti won't get restored. --Dwight

Apparently, the auction on this very deserving wrecked '63 Avanti closes at 9 pm on Monday, Jan. 5. https://www.copart.com/lot/84553735/clean-title-1963-studebaker-avanti-ny-newburgh

Two seems like a reasonable number, so I'll say 2). --Dwight

56J's forever!!! Yes! I have two of them, both almost rust free. Stay tuned: someone will get a good 56J cheap. --Dwight, powered by Packard

We should all do what we enjoy doing. For me, working the Studebaker market to make a profit is business, and there's nothing wrong with being a businessman, as long as one is honest. And, I've seen nothing in the preceding posts to indicate that anyone here is anything other than honest. But, business doesn't interest me; that's why I majored in engineering and physics. Accordingly, I am currently fixing up a neglected '63 Avanti in order to see it back on the road (even though I know I will take a loss when I sell it). That's where I get my satisfaction. There are others like me. Stay tuned: someone will get a good Avanti cheap. --Dwight, powered by Studebaker & Packard

I believe that all the transition Avantis were round headlight, and that R-4892 was the first square-headlight car. As nearly as I can tell from the pix the square headlight enclosures are sitting on top of the fiberglass, not recessed into it as the square-headlight cars are. I have seen that done before to '63 Avantis. Not surprising, then, that someone has added "Supercharged" emblems to the fenders of an R1 car. --Dwight

Yeah, that's what S-A did for me; they had 2 on the shelf. I was assuming that SI might not have one on the shelf. Note that glass beading the rust off a rusted piece of steel/iron until it looks perfect will NOT remove all the microscopic rust. That microscopic rust will grow unless either: 1) it is removed with Naval Jelly (or the like), or 2) it is painted with a non-porous paint like POR-15 or epoxy. If your new booster has no pits showing through the paint then I think you will be home free. Merry Christmas to y'all (a Southern contraction of you all). --Dwight

Hi, Paul, A bit of advice from experience: I received a rebuilt booster in January for my '64 Avanti. It was nicely painted, but there were pits (from rust) all over it, which showed through the paint. This booster will likely have the same problem. So, if you can get the rebuilder to glass bead the booster but leave it unpainted that would allow you to finish it as you want. In my case I would have used Naval Jelly (phosphoric acid jell) to make sure that all of the microscopic rust was gone, then filled the pits with finishing putty. Then paint. --Dwight

I have noticed several reupholstered Avantis missing door SS trim, including one of my Avantis. I doubt that the owners wanted the trim pieces left off, so maybe the upholstery shops are the culprits, leaving them off intentionally. Or, perhaps the tabs on the ends broke off. --Dwight

That was addressed here:

Hi, Paul, Jim has accepted my second booster (from my pictures), so I'll mail it to SI. --Dwight