Ending Avanti!

[mfg]

Before it was shut down, the very last Studebaker Avanti to come off of the Avanti production line was (most likely) R......?......

1) 5638........2) 5641......3) 5642.......or.....4) 5643

[Desert Driver]

R-5643

[mfg]

12 hours ago, Desert Driver said:

R-5643

Probably not!

Any other thoughts on this one?

[Desert Driver]

2 hours ago, mfg said:

Probably not!

Any other thoughts on this one?

R-5643  12/31/63  source: Studebaker's Last Dance by Andrew Beckman, Studebaker Museum Archivist

[mfg]

1 hour ago, Desert Driver said:

R-5643  12/31/63  source: Studebaker's Last Dance by Andrew Beckman, Studebaker Museum Archivist

Once again probably not.....remember, we're looking for the last Studebaker Avanti off the PRODUCTION LINE......not the last 'production' Avanti!

Any other thoughts on this trivia question?

[mfg]

ANSWER......Although it's known that for various reasons Studebaker Avantis sometimes came off the production line in non-sequential order, there's a good chance that #2, R5641, was the  "Ending Avanti"....The last Avanti off the Avanti production line!

[Desert Driver]

From Bob Johnstone's excellent web page:  https://studebaker-info.org/avanti_all.html

The last Studebaker assembled was Avanti #R-5643 on 12/31/63. R 5643 is an original R3. The order was written on 10-7-63 and the final assembly date was on 12/31/63. In 1978 most of the actual production dates were, apparently, unknown. According to Mr Krem. R5643 was built with manual steering and the quick steering ratio. It is in the Crawford Museum in Cleveland, OH, and has less than 10K miles. It was donated by former Studebaker dealer Joe Erdelac (now deceased). In 1975 he tried to sell the car for $100K (!), which made Cleveland TV and newspapers. There was a handwritten note in the trunk of the car that said something like "This is the last Studebaker Avanti built, 12/31/63, Happy New Year" and was signed by an employee with his badge number as well.

Addendum/
From Web searches
"The Illustrated Studebaker Buyer's Guide" lists R5642 & R5643 as 
the "final production Avantis". These were two of the nine (Production) R3's 
made. They actually repeat that R5643 was the last car, three times!
The guide also says that there were at least five engineering 
prototypes, EX-2942 and EX-2944 to EX2947. Those last four were given 
serial #'s R5650 to R5653; so as many as ten may have been put 
together after production.

 

[mfg]

3 hours ago, Desert Driver said:

From Bob Johnstone's excellent web page:  https://studebaker-info.org/avanti_all.html

The last Studebaker assembled was Avanti #R-5643 on 12/31/63. R 5643 is an original R3. The order was written on 10-7-63 and the final assembly date was on 12/31/63. In 1978 most of the actual production dates were, apparently, unknown. According to Mr Krem. R5643 was built with manual steering and the quick steering ratio. It is in the Crawford Museum in Cleveland, OH, and has less than 10K miles. It was donated by former Studebaker dealer Joe Erdelac (now deceased). In 1975 he tried to sell the car for $100K (!), which made Cleveland TV and newspapers. There was a handwritten note in the trunk of the car that said something like "This is the last Studebaker Avanti built, 12/31/63, Happy New Year" and was signed by an employee with his badge number as well.

Addendum/
From Web searches
"The Illustrated Studebaker Buyer's Guide" lists R5642 & R5643 as 
the "final production Avantis". These were two of the nine (Production) R3's 
made. They actually repeat that R5643 was the last car, three times!
The guide also says that there were at least five engineering 
prototypes, EX-2942 and EX-2944 to EX2947. Those last four were given 
serial #'s R5650 to R5653; so as many as ten may have been put 
together after production.

 

Let me attempt to be a bit clearer on this......R5643 is considered to be the last 'production' Studebaker Avanti, meaning that it was assembled at the Studebaker factory in South Bend, and assigned the last Avanti serial number. (excluding the re-serialed prototype Avantis which were built much earlier)

However, it was not the last Avanti which came off the Avanti production line, since it was actually completed in Studebaker's Engineering Department.

The reason it, (and no doubt the other eight production R3 Avantis), were completed in Engineering should be obvious.

Also, the Studebaker Avanti regular production line, (for R1 & R2 models), was shut down several days before 12/31/63, the date when R5643 was finally completed.

This information comes from an interview with someone who's father, at that time, actually worked for Studebaker. (management employee)

PS...your addendum states that the Avanti engineering prototypes were "put together after production"....that is a mistake....they were all built in 1962.....Ed