Avanti Motors Corp.

[Guest dapy]

Just bought RQB 3716, a 1983 Avanti Motors (Blake) car. My insurer asked if it is the "Anniversary" model. I don't think so, but what would the difference be? According to the Avanti Motors production order form it has about every option available including the Recaro seats.

Edited December 13, 2012 by dapy

[Gunslinger]

I know there's a list somewhere (probably in a back issue of Avanti Magazine) of the VIN's for anniversary cars but I believe they each carried a commemorative plate on the interior stating it's an anniversary car and its number out of twenty or fifty or whatever the number was.

I guess one could say all 1983 cars were Twentieth Anniversary cars but only a limited number had the paint scheme and carried special ID plates that differentiated them from regular production cars.

[kboyd]

Some of the the Blake 1983 Avanti's were continuations of the Avanti IIs from previous years though they did not carry the Ii designation on the front and rear model name emblems. My 1983 (RBQ 3699, assembled in May 1983) is one of these cars. The twenty-five 20th Anniversary models were resyled with body color bumpers among other changes. The following link shows a build sheet for the 20th Anniversary models.

http://www.theavanti.net/build_sheet.html

[Guest dapy]

Mine is definitely not the Anniversary Edition, but the Avanti Motors build sheet is identical to the one shown for RQB 3673. and production of RQB 3716 in 1983 followed by one month. It has chrome bumpers, so is it an Avanti II or a Blake?

[kboyd]

By definition your car is a Blake Avanti since he bought the company in October 1982 from the Altman heirs. The confusion is that some (if not most) of Blake's 1983 production volume was just a continuation of the Altman 1982 Avanti II model. These cars were equipped with chrome bumpers and the only difference I see between them and the last of the Altman Avanti IIs is the change in the script on the front and rear where the "II" was dropped.

[Guest dapy]

Thank you. That clarifies the picture. What transmission would have been in the last Avanti II's?

[kboyd]

I do not know for sure but i am under the impression that the last few years of Altman Avanti II production the cars were equipped with the Chevrolet 305 engine and the GM 700 R4 automatic four speed transmission the same as the 1983 Blake cars.

A R&T roadtest I have for a 1981 Avanti ii lists the drivetrain as "a Chevrolet 305 cubic-incher coupled to GM's latest 4-speed lockup automatic". Perhaps someone else knows the exact year the GM 700 R4 was introduced.

[warren55]

I'm pretty sure all the later Avanti II's got the 200 R4.

Dapy, what did you do? Buy a second Avanti?

[plwindish]

I believe it was either 80 or 81 when the 4 speed automatic overdrive appeared. The 200 R-4 was used first, then the 700 R-4 was used. It may have been the same time as when the 305 appeared.