Trivia!...Avanti Rollbars

[mfg]

Trivia...The Studebaker Avanti rollbar feature had to be eliminated on Avanti ll's that were ordered with moonroofs....True?

[Gunslinger]

False. Avanti Motors had to make allowances for the sliding roof...some headroom had to be sacrificed and the rear seat slightly lowered. They changed the rear seat from standard coil springs to a new construction called "pneumacel" (sp?) which was lighter and wouldn't bottom out with a thinner seat like coil springs would.

They couldn't eliminate the roll bar as it was structural to the car and its safety.

Edited June 14, 2014 by Gunslinger

[mfg]

I agree...false. They may have had to do some trimming of rollbar material for moonroof clearance, but it was basically still there. The info about the rear seat change is interesting.

[Gunslinger]

Once Avanti Motors began using the new rear seat material I don't know if all Avantis after that point began using it or only those equipped with sunroofs. When I bought a set of Recaro seats with the back seat from an Avanti that was parted out, it was new rear seats. They're much lighter than the coil spring type.

[plwindish]

I had not heard of the "pneumacel" type material being used in the rear seats of the Avanti II's. My '76 has the back seat cushion made of rubber band type product. Literally, it looks like shredded rubber bands pressed together. I don't remember ever having the back seat out of the 64 that I had years earlier so I don't know if it was of the same material or not.

[Gunslinger]

That's pneumacel...it looks like stringed spaghetti.

[mfg]

That's pneumacel...it looks like stringed spaghetti.

Never heard of the stuff!...Learn something new every day!