"The Fifty"...

[Gunslinger]

What was "The Fifty" regarding Avantis?

[mfg]

Fifty Sudebaker contest prize giveaway Avantis?

[Gunslinger]

Anyone else hazard an answer?

[brad]

Well, it wasn't shades of Grey!

[Gunslinger]

Nate Altman initiated a lease program and embossed invitations were sent to prospects inviting them to be members of a select group..."The Fifty"...who would hopefully be interested in leasing one of fifty new Avantis being made available for the purpose. I don't know how successful the program was but there were a number of Avantis leased over time and a leased car was counted in the annual sales figures as sold.

I've never seen one of these invitations other than the image of it in a book. It must be one of the rarest Avanti Motors Corporation promotional items as most were likely tossed out. It's probably one of the least known Avanti Motors initiatives.

Without knowing definitively, I would think the production orders for lease cars would be marked as such. I wonder how many of these cars still exist and do the current owners know it? It wouldn't add any value to the cars but would be an interesting talking point for those cars.

[plwindish]

I've never heard of this program and would think the Production Orders would have a notification about the program attached to them. Perhaps our learned archivers such as John Hull might be able to answer that question. What year or years did this lease program run? The length of the leases and if some buyers took advantage of the program for more than 1 Avanti would be very interesting as well.

Edited February 28, 2015 by plwindish