Does anyone have their Avanti II Color Guide?

[Paul K.]

Well, I am back to having two Avantis after purchasing an Avanti II off of ebay earlier this month. It was the Mandarin Orange one that was sitting for 20 years in a garage in Los Angeles. The woman was the original owner and had John Hull maintain it when he had his shop in So Cal. She had every piece of paperwork since new including the "Color Guide" which was a one page brochure containing actual paint color chips and vinyl, leather or fabric swatch of each car. The Avanti factory sent her four color guides for vehicles they were building or had already built on spec and were for sale for her to choose from. I have the color guides for RQ-B 2161, RQ-B 2138, RQ-B 2152 and mine RQ-B 2163. If anyone owns one of these Avanti IIs, I would be happy to make a color copy of their color guide. Attached is a picture for RQ-B 2138. Anyone else have theirs?

63R-2569

RQ-B 2163

Edited October 9, 2023 by Paul K.

[Gunslinger]

I've never even seen a color guide for an Avanti II...at least I don't remember having seen any. Avanti Motors...at least during the Altman years, always said they had over 400 different interiors...colors, fabrics, leather and vinyl combinations, in their catalog, and if someone didn't see what they wanted they could provide it and it would be installed. That makes for quite a catalog should someone actually have a complete one.

They said they would paint a car any automotive color available, though I believe they did have a set of standard colors for cars built on spec.

Sounds like they would send those samples out for anyone interested. Avanti Motors was quite interested in customer service long before other manufacturers did...for most it was little more than a slogan.

If someone has a complete interior catalog from Avanti Motors (if one actually existed in one big binder rather than individual sheets), that would be quite the collectible and a piece of Avanti history from the time period.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Gunslinger

[Paul K.]

I doubt there was any single catalog as that would be HUGE. From the four color guides I have, I can tell you that it seems they preferred Cadillac colors for spec cars or to suggest for special orders. One color guide is Spartucus Blue, a 1970 Cadillac color,(I owned and restored one) another Ice Blue Firemist (firemist was a Cadillac color trademark) and Saturn Bronze (a 1973 Cadillac color). I know quite a few of the dealers that offered Avantis were Cadillac dealers. That may explain it. Offering colors that Cadillac buyers liked would make Avantis easier to sell.

[Gunslinger]

My '70 Avanti was originally painted Cadillac Briarwood Firemist...sort of a burnt cinnamon shade of brown, according to the build sheet. That fits in with using Cadillac colors. The car was done in an Earl Sheib quality silver paint when I bought it and it now a pearlescent cream after a body-off.

According to the build sheet, my car was originally built for John Seaton, later owner of Avanti Motors, but as he was an affiliate salesman for Avanti and supposedly purchased over fifty Avanti's, there's no telling whether this was a car built personally for him or for resale by him.