Banned Avantis!

[mfg]

At the time, 'some' 1963 Studebaker Avantis could not be legally delivered to California Studebaker dealers.....Why?

[bob caser]

I believe there was actually two reasons. Exhaust was to loud and then the DMV wanted an additional number or letter added to the VIN / Serial number.

Bob Caser

[mfg]

6 hours ago, bob caser said:

I believe there was actually two reasons. Exhaust was to loud and then the DMV wanted an additional number or letter added to the VIN / Serial number.

Bob Caser

OK...I was looking for the straight through exhaust...CORRECT!

[StudeNorm]

Would that be the reason my Avanti has Quiet Tone exhaust listed as an option? It was originally destined for Gilroy, California delivery.

[studegary]

2 hours ago, StudeNorm said:

Would that be the reason my Avanti has Quiet Tone exhaust listed as an option? It was originally destined for Gilroy, California delivery.

Probably.  Does it list option 331?

[bob caser]

My Avanti which was bought new  in New Jersey did not have the quiet exhaust,  I moved to California in 1965 and proceeded to receive " exhaust too loud tickets " from the police.  This is were Hot Rods were born, how could this be.

Bob Caser

[64studeavanti]

A while back I was speaking to Dan Booth and he had a different take on the additional letter for some CA Avantis. He believes it had something to do with identifying corporate cars,  holdover etc. All I know is that 63R4551, which was a Las Vegas Driveaway car, does have the letter A appended to the serial number. It was clearly added after the fact as it is a different font and size.

This car was delivered to Los Angeles and does have the quiet exhaust.

Edited April 7, 2021 by 64studeavanti

[bob caser]

I have two 64 Avantis one sold in New Jersey R 5051 and the other sold in California R 5487 B. I do know that by late 63 the California DMV was requiring the addition of a letter. If not stamped on the plate then it was added to the paper title.

Bob Caser

 

[64studeavanti]

The suggestion that California required an additional letter because the serial number is too short does not make sense. My Los Angeles destined car is 63R4551 with an 'A' added to the serial plate. In mid 63, Studebaker dropped the year designation from the serial number. The ones with the year designation had a 7 character serial number. The later ones only had 5. 

There must be another reason for the addition of the letter.

[bob caser]

I do not believe that it was stated that the number was to short, California was seeking additional reference for its registration and title thus the " A" or "B" being added.

[scottgriggs]

According to a passage in the Lamberti Papers (https://www.studebaker-info.org/Lamberti/lambertipagesintro.html), Studebaker was forced to install quiet tone exhaust systems on Avantis bound for New Jersey, due to complaints about the noise level of the standard exhaust.  There is some mention of how they would handle that, as the quiet tone exhaust was an extra cost option.