bob caser

You are correct. Had and have are two different things. I have been blessed in life to own some great cars and even more fortunate today to still have some great cars. I work in the automotive business and have clients that have even greater cars to play with.

I had a Shelby Cobra at eighteen years old,what condition would that render you. Our neighborhood had numerous Corvettes , muscle cars a Ferrari Lusso among other cars. We had four Avanti's in the small confines of where I lived in New Jersey. Good times , great memories.

Parents purchased for me, I was 16 years old, I still have the car.

Bendix Motors, in Fairview, New Jersey.

I stand corrected, the R3 sold new in New Jersey was R 5532 and it was turquoise.

So, I am also a original owner delivered in New Jersey Avanti. From my experience dealers installed the mirror to the position that the customer chose, fender , door. I have never seen any order sheet that indicated to the factory to install a mirror in South Bend, but I am always willing to learn something new. My car had it's mirror installed by the dealer. As far as one of nine 1964 R3 cars one was sold new in New Jersey and from what I recall it was a black car and I think that it was delivered in Vineland, New Jersey.

Shelby American built around 1,000 cars during it's heyday. 600 odd 289 cars and some 325 427 cars. The 428 installed engine infuriated customers who believed they were getting the more expensive 427 FE engine. With a conservative estimate over the years there has probably been 30 times the amount of replicas built over the Shelby American production. Superformance, Backdraft Racing and Factory Five by themselves have easily produced over 12,000 component or kit cars. Continuation cars terminology is now a abused term in the industry. Avanti Motors was a true continuation vehicle until Mike Kelly changed the model.

It is the Superformance/ Hillbank facility in Irvine , Cal.

I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. I have regrets of not having taken photos at the time, shame on me. While still being being active in the automotive business everyday brings a surprise some good some bad. The whirlwind of the 1962 introduction of the Avanti, all of the press, advertising and Bonneville runs that were devoted to it will never be repeated.

These are for sale, personal stuff is elsewhere.

It would delight me to have a R3 powered car in the showroom. I have seen in person every Bonneville car over the years, Sherwood Egbert's personal car and # 1025 when Vince Granatelli owned it. But I have never seen your R3 Lark. A car that I consider to being very significant, and I thank you for saving it.

I cheated ! This is the view from my office.

Salisbury rear end

So , a parts and service letter was written on February,11,1963, how did this affect future cars being produced for sale. Was there a letter written by the states of California and New Jersey to Studebaker regarding the loud exhaust. I'm sure that in my stack of old documents that I still have a copy of a ticket issued by the CHP in 1965 for a loud exhaust on my Avanti.

We purchased R5051 new in New Jersey in October of 1963. It was dealer traded from New York to our dealer in New Jersey with a loud exhaust system. It was never a problem to pass the New Jersey mandatory vehicle inspection for safety. I moved to California in 1965 and accumulated many " exhaust to loud tickets " from the CHP. Also being a 1964 it was delivered with clear turn signals with amber bulbs. Possibly something was written regarding the exhaust, but I never received or saw anything from the factory on this issue.

I'm confused what does a Thunderbolt or a Corvette have to do with the question that was asked regarding a Chevy engine being installed into an Avanti.

Altman , did not like to look of the rake on the Avanti. I am attaching photos of a 1964 Avanti that I own with a Chevy engine with no modification made to the body at all. Over the years I have owned this car it has had a variety of Chevy engines with none of them necessitating body or chassis modifications.

Hello Stefan. I am not sure where I acquired this document. I have owned numerous Avanti's since October of 1963 when we bought one new from our local dealer. Over the years many automotive things enter and attach themselves to our lives. I have attached a photo looking out my current office window. I have been my involved with great cars through out my whole life ! The Avanti still remains my top choice, though.

I found the photo of a European export car with the Borrani wire wheels. It appears that the photo might have been taken at the Olympics. I believe that this one is a factory show car that was sent over in 1963 for a auto show. Bob Caser

I have always been fascinated by any Avanti that was sold new and exported exported. Ian Flemings Avanti being the most famous of them,I have attached something that you might already have obtained for your files. There is another 1963 Avati that was exported to Trieste, Italy and might have been a show car fitted with Borrani wire wheels when new. You have a gorgeous car.

As has been previously Studebaker did offer a sedate Avanti , unfortunately the competition offered a better product for that type of customer. In the fall of 1963 our household had a new " sedate" Avanti and also a Buick Riviera, sorry but the Buick was a better vehicle. Smooth , quiet, powerful and with better seating area. Some, Avanti quirks such as a second gear start with the auto trans, engine cooling issues, and muffler's placed beneath the front seats which caused the interior to become very hot, issues that the competition did not have. These were small issues that Studebaker should have resolved before offering the car for sale. My experience of trying to order a "spec " Avanti through the dealer network was terrible. I lived in the metropolitan New York area with established dealers who had no interest in ordering a Avanti. We bought our car from a dealer who had to trade to another dealer in order to get a Avanti. There was a 63 supercharged car that seemed to be passed from dealer to dealer for demo rides. I assume that this was a factory owned car that was in the region to support sales. We bought the Avanti for $ 4,500.00 in October of 1963 ,and less than two months later the factory announced it was closing. The value of the car went to half six weeks after we bought it. That's okay , because I still own the car and have amortized my depreciation over the last 61 years.