Joe Granatelli Hot Rod

[plwindish]

The Granatelli's, well known for their "tinkering" with cars, putting different motors in, etc., put a different motor in a 64 Avanti that originally had an R2 in it. Brother Joe owned this car which is in the Northern IL area and currently for sale. What motor was put in this 64?

[Gunslinger]

A Cadillac 429. The radiator had to be made vertical for clearance. I once read in an early issue of the AOAI newsletter the car could turn the tires blue in any gear.

[mfg]

I've also heard about that Avanti....At one time it had tons of extra chrome under the hood, and all the underhood wiring was concealed.

Can you give us any idea of the current condition of the car......and the asking price?

[plwindish]

Right you are Gunslinger! A big honking Cadillac 429 really fills up the engine bay.

One of our Chicagoland AOAI members has had some health issues lately would like to thin his Avanti collection from 12 to 2. The Grannatelli car is an orange-ish gold metallic with a brown cloth interior with Recaro seats and wire wheels. Battery is relocated to the trunk. Car runs but needs a repaint as paint is peeling around the cowl under the windshield. This historical car is available for $12,900. The car was on display in the ACD museum for a time. Lately, it has been stored with the other Avantis in a totally enclosed shed with concrete floor until we got the cars out for viewing a week and a half ago.

PM me with your email if you'd like to see info on the cars, pics and contact information.

Edited April 14, 2015 by plwindish

[mfg]

When you call it a historical car I couldn't agree with you more!...To own ANY Avanti that was in the possession of the Granatellis (and they worked over a bit) would be a thrill!!

[Gunslinger]

If not for the documented Granatelli connection, the car might likely be considered little more than a curiosity and even a monstrosity.

[plwindish]

Serial # for the car is 4795. According to John Hull, who's done a good amount of checking and also consulted with other sources, no production order record for the car exists. The car does have Supercharged badging on the fenders, leading one to assume it started life as an R2. The 9 R3's were pretty well documented so I doubt it was an R3. My thoughts are that the car was a test mule for Paxton Products to play with. It does seem odd that no Production Order can be found for the car. If there was no production order, would it be included in the 64 production stats?? Maybe this will be a +1 to the final production numbers.

Edited April 16, 2015 by plwindish