Bonsall Book

[J Boyle]

How rare is the Studebaker Avanti book by Thomas E. Bonsall?

One's on ebay and I don't want to overpay.

Any reviews from AOAI members?

[avantidavid]

How rare is the Studebaker Avanti book by Thomas E. Bonsall?

One's on ebay and I don't want to overpay.

Any reviews from AOAI members?

There is actually about 3 books on Ebay. I would not pay more then 30.00 for the one your talking about on Ebay. Go to Amazon.com and do a seach for the book and you can get the same book with a dust jacket. There are a couple of books with dust jackets. The dust jackets are not in prestine condtion but none the less you can get the book with a dust jacket for around 35.00

[Gunslinger]

There's two editions of the book...the original is from 1979 and an updated edition from 1994 (two different publishing houses as well). The 1994 printing has more information as it also covers the car and company up its 1991 demise. If there's any difference in value between the two I have no idea. It just comes down to which you prefer on your shelf.

It may be interesting to see if there's ever another updated version to cover Avanti 2000-2007 incarnation and current limbo status.

[cobrajoe74]

I've managed to pick up both editions from EBAY in the past...autographed 1st edition w/o a dust jacket & 2nd edition with...can't remember how much I paid but I'm sure neither was more than $25 ("Buy It Now")...the reason I bought the newer edition was the Avanti II dust jacket & that it was so cheap!!...I've seen prices of $150+ (yeah, right-I'll take 3!!!)...anyway, they're filled with a lot of old advertising info (no color) as well as expected Avanti history (newer edition same as old with additional chapter to update)...for me, a quick 1 hour read & just more stuff to display in the car...if I put all the manuals/brochures/magazines & Avanti diecasts in the car at a show you can't even see the seats/console/floor!!!...am I just a collector or a hoarder???...Joe

[lschuc]

There's two editions of the book...the original is from 1979 and an updated edition from 1994 (two different publishing houses as well). The 1994 printing has more information as it also covers the car and company up its 1991 demise. If there's any difference in value between the two I have no idea. It just comes down to which you prefer on your shelf.

It may be interesting to see if there's ever another updated version to cover Avanti 2000-2007 incarnation and current limbo status.

There will never be an update to Bonsall's second printing of his Avanti book. Bonsall died in July 2008 of complications after suffering two strokes. He was 61, but had other health problems too.

Lew