avanti @ mecum

[arkus]

just watched a 1/2 hour show on "cars tv" about a recent mecum auction in california. a guy named steve vining was talking about his '63 avanti r-3 clone which apparently was going to be for sale. he said the avanti was  in production for 2 years and the "vast majority of production was in 1963" with another 1200 odd cars "manufactured in 1964". he also talked about the "very small front disc brakes and the "old style rear drum brakes" and said you should be "very aware of the guy in front of you". he said his car was not originally an r-3 but was speced out to that and that studebaker only shipped about a dozen r-3's from the factory. amazing what you can learn from a tv show. all these years of avanti ownership and i thought production ended in december, '63 and there were only 9 real r-3's. also i need to reconsider my braking abilities; i always thought any of my avantis stopped quite well, even now and certainly in 1977 when i purchased my 1st one. (which i still have). never too old to learn?

[Gunslinger]

There's a lot of "experts" out there spreading misinformation...even if unintentionally.