aardvark

Hey Gold.. Glad to hear Your enjoying the Ride. I knew Ya would. Remember I bought mine on Jan 15th, 24. They are absolutely a fun ride.. Plenty of power, pretty good handling. Not really a full blown sports car but close (My Porsche 928 will whoop it in the twisty roads)...I've done 2 small venue car shows. It went over extremely well at the shows. Lotta questions. The most asked is "What is this?" I set my trip odometer to 000 and decided I won't drive it over 1000 miles a year. I'm at 750ish now. So soon it will be mothballed for the Winter. I'm currently sitting at 43k miles. I'm Lovin It !!! My answer to the tire issue is I wouldn't exceed the width listed in the glove box. Why? That size might be the max to keep tires from bashing into the fiberglass, especially in the Front during a turn. That turn could end up in the Fiberglass being cracked.

One of my concerns is... How many were Convertibles vs T-tops or Hardtops in my 2002 year. Another poster is asking how many were Supercharged in His year. It would be nice to source these answers from somewhere..

Ron... see last post. Mind you, I'm a little frustrated. John Hull has been Helpful to a degree and I thank Him. I have a 2002 and John told Me I owned 1 of 33 that year. I quickly photocopied that e-mail and put it in my Avanti File. But what about further info ?? When You buy a Car and want specs showing rarity and limited production number on most any vehicle, the info is available... info like paint colors, (theres a thread right now on how many black 63-64 Avanti's were made) engine sizes and options, Hardtop vs Convertibles.(add t-tops in our case.). These and many other items play into finding out the rarity in numerical order of wether a car is rarer than the next of the same year. It plays into valuation. If I buy a 67-69 Camaro . I want to know if it's an SS/RS a Z-28, Convert or other, Do numbers match thruought and so on. The same goes for these cars and they are FAR RARER than any Camaro or Mustang.. The frustration Is We Have Little To Go On! Y'all here have been VERY helpful but we're all left lacking.

I see Your Points. (plural). My only issue is needing to keep the 3EE on a trickle charger, since it seems to drain itself over time. I had to replace the 3EE once already when it went dead from sitting over a few months time. The weight? Maybe 30 lbs? My Portly Sis would throw the geometry off far worse than that. The Battery Box on mine cracked and I had to re-glass the area and re-paint. I've heard that's a common issue.

As said.. I don't think the prior ownership played much into the price. Ward is a somewhat unknown to the General Public and the Pix';s were 62 years ago. I'm routinely seeing 63-64's in VGC selling at or near that price range.... Good for me, since I bought in cheap and it's jst been in the last few years, that these cars have been coming up in price. Now., If this Boys car comes up "For Sale.. add $20k. ALICE !!

Gotta ask. What is wrong with the 3EE? I do keep mine on a trickle charger and am having no issues. Diehard makes em.

That's Cool... Now, a Alice Cooper Avanti might bring something, Say if He signed the dash in 'marks-a-lot' and a certif of authenticity. He's apparently on His 2nd Avanti. ......One was resto-mod'ed

Likewise r'llark..... It was a good time and quite crowded for the small property the Creekside Lodge is. I ended up parking off of the ''genera show area'' and back in the trees.... which was good ... we were in the shade and had our own picnic table.

Not much. MFG, And nothing leaking. Early on in the process we had some psi but it went away when the front bleed valves were opened, bled out and closed up. So I thought the system needed re-bled...starting in the rear and moving forward (standard process). Wednesday I'll order up another Master. The Booster already was rebuilt and from a source of Robert Ziff's, but a booster wouldn't do that (am I wrong?). The disks are not even grabbing when the brakes are on. This has gone past the realm of fiasco into a P.I.T.A..

MFG. I do now some things about Him. It might have been a iconic moment, but I have my reservations in the thought it added to the value,,,( except for a very few). The $51k price reflects that.

Adding to the fiasco. I bled everything out and the pedal goes to the floor. Master Cyl likely croaked. ... Can there be anything else???

Looks like it sold for $51k, I have to question the ownership of a unknown person (at least by me) having much effect on the price. It really didn't go for a skyrocketed price due to that. What I'm seeing in a Exceptional Condition,. these cars bring about $40-50k.. They have been rising substantually in value over the last year or two.

Yup... Wednesday I'll be ordering up a Dual Master from AvantiParts.Biz. It comes with lines and fittings included. I also might be ordering up a single to try out and see what went wrong the other day... The pedal went to the floor. I haven't bled out the back brakes so I need to go thru the full bleed process before I decide on that. I just want to test with stock parts, make things work and then start the conversion in the Fall months. This whole process has been a fiasco !!

Interesting... MFG... I'll have to look for that.

I stand corrected on the Build Date a bit. Is it a round or square lighted car ??. 63 Production models were sold in 64.,,and 62 was when they made 63's. It's a convoluted mess on how these cars were dated and then released to the Dealerships ''for sale'.

Paul.. My records show Your car was 1 of 306 built the month of May of '64' or 3258 build in '64'. (1389 in '63') I don't know how these cars are verified as a specific color,, The color is not coded in the serial number or VIN... like newer cars. The only way to find out (that I know of) is from the Build Sheet. These can be obtained by the ----Studebaker National Museum...201 Chapin St..South Bend, In..46601.---- My '63' denotes white. What raises the value on these the most is supercharged (or not) and a Manual Tranny vs Auto, as well as production numbers, and what car had what options... and then at this stage of age is the mileage, originality and condition. So to me (and only my opinion), paint color is far down the list when considering valuation....especially when there were only 6 colors available in the first place. and 5 since black was replaced with grey. MFG ...understandably black would be a production line issue. It's the hardest color to prep and paint, as well as hell to maintain. Not for the faint of heart.

I was watching a show" Graveyard Cars" which is Chrysler based resto's. What is odd to me that cars are numbered in rarity by their color. It really means nothing in my opinion.

Mfg. Problem in going that route is I wouldn't know where to start combining, mixing and matching the parts needed. You Sir, are one of my ''Go To Guru''s, when it comes to these cars, as well as the others offering info above. Again.. Thanks to all of You. I'm needing to rely on Folks like "Robert Ziff at AvantiParts.biz..".for Him having the Turner Brake kit's and some phone time He has spent with me in the past. He sells the kit, whereas to go back stock seems senseless from both a $$ and a performance (braking power) stance. Simply what I'm finding is there needs to be 4 piston assemblies purchased at $150+ each.= $600....vs..... an entire kit (Turner) for $675ish, that comes complete with vented disks bigger calipers and pads and all mounting hardware.....It's a No Brainer from a mechanical and $$ point of view... Ok, my initial goal is to keep the car 100% original.. That is my goal. But who is going to see a Disk Brake and Caliper change once the tires are on? What will be noticed is when I switch to a Dual Master. So I'm slightly breaking from my stance. I might add as mentioned before, we live in the heart of the Blue Ridge , Smokies and Apalactians. All of these roads are heavily sloped and exceptionally curvy, so good brakes and tires are the most important features any vehicle needs around here. The Parkway is 5 miles from us and the road leading to it is tighter than the Tail of the Dragon... One speed limit sign says "15mph next 5 miles'' due to curves and slopes.......So it's a no brainer to Upgrade.

Silver... Yup. I put extreme pressure on it and iI heard a ''pop''. I didn't push it all the way in. I was just trying to free whatever corrosion was on/in it. penetrating fluid must have worked because earlier it wouldn't budge. Is it the right way? Nah!...All I'm trying to do is get it up and down my road to see if the new pads and disks resurfacing will stop the car right. Then I'll know the rest of the system is working. Finally, I've decided to do a Turner Conversion in the Fall.. Mark....Your going a direction I'm leaning to... cept maybe the rear disks. I'm taking notes..

Update, Got everything together and tried spinning the passenger side wheel and it spins tight with a pry bar between the wheel studs ...So it's bound up. So I tore the assembly off and went to the bench. After playing with the calipers (both sides of the Caliper setup) one side is froze up. I placed that side in a vise.. It's tight and won't return even under me cranking on the vise hard.. So I sprayed a little PB Blaster on the piston area and put it under pressure in the vise, where it will sit for a afternoon............I thought the Drivers side was going to give me issues but doing the same on that side seems to have freed everything up and it seems to be releasing fine. AAAARRRRGGGH,,,!!

Dwight Good points..... I disagree a little on the pads not having (any) effect on braking. Yes the Cylinder is the most important, but the surface area that grabs also plays into things as do the disks (vented unvented). I currently have the ''original'' stuff up and working but haven't road tested yet. Still, to my understanding these small pads wear fast. I've got too much $$'s out right now on Collector Cars and need to sell off a few. That's neither here nor there. I do plan on converting to Turner by the end of the year. I also want to abolish the Single Master. Right now everything has been replaced except the Front Calipers, and they are working, but sub par. Sooo...once I see that everything is working (road test), I'll then go after changing things up for the better. Before it was everything I could do to get the Car to stop. It seemed to only have about 15-20% braking power. The Booster was rebuilt (it helped a tad.).. Next I had the disks de-glazed. Then installed new pads. (time to road test again) Once I know the Booster is good and the real issue is (or was) the disks and pads. Then it's all about the Calipers.... and changing them out. This has been a 4 month ...off and on... battle.. I've had the car a year and only have driven it about 10 miles ... Frustrating.

Oh and too Ya'll,.. I'm writing down these sources for parts so I have em for future, records. Thanks !!..

Thanks for the responses back Y'all. Your feedback is GREAT! MFG.. When I bought this ''nearly perfect 100% original'' ride. the intent was to drive it nearly daily.. Living in the Mountains with 20-30% grades. brakes are paramount . That said, when researching the costs and seeing what the Original System is, just the cost of brake cylinders will be over $500ish... and that's all I get. No disks or new hardware.. To me, the Original setup, while being innovative and ahead of it's time in 63', is far sub-par to what can be installed today. Reality is sinking in. I'm after keeping this car 100% Original, but the brake pads are as small as my old BMW Motorcycle, weighing in at 600 lbs... Bottom line, I think I got the.Original Calipers up and working, Everything else in the System was already replaced before I bought the car.. I won't know know the results until I get the car on the road just how well I did....That said, I think the front brakes are needing upgraded and Turner seems a logical choice. Mark. Love what Your doing. I'd like to be there as well. The dual Master and newer front and rear disks is an Excellent Choice. I do want to go with a dual system..Who's Master are You using (connect me) and is the re-plumbing a big effort?

No responses??

Who do I source stock Brake Calipers from? I've got 1 hanging up and can't even source a rebuild kit, but reality is... I want to source a fresh set. I'm considering Turner Brakes, and think it would be wise, but outlaying $7-800 is quite a hit for me at this time (rough economy and all). When using Turner Brakes, is it necessary to upgrade the Master Cyl to a dual setup, or can I stay with the Stock setup? (Yeah, I know.. the Single is inferior, but actually the stock Calipers are as well..The brake pads are foolishly small (size of a Motorcycle i once owned) So the goal right now is to get my 100% Stock Avanti up and on the road..Later I'll consider changing it up.