Four speed vs. Powershift!

[mfg]

Had the opportunity to drive a friend’s ‘63 Avanti R1 four speed this afternoon.. Great car and fun to drive… however…. I think that an automatic (Powershift) equipped Studebaker Avanti is actually ‘all around’ a more pleasant car to own and drive…And a Powershift, in good condition, certainly doesn’t give anything away as far as performance is concerned… Just my opinion..Ed….(Thoughts… Comments?)

[Nelson]

I was sold on 4 speeds only until one day, my buddy, DanDumas, stopped over with (at that time) his recently acquired R3 Avanti with a power shift. It had a bad supercharger since the day he bought it. I sold him a nos Paxton for $75 and we put it on the car and went for a test drive. We left my dad’s drive turning left then left again onto Pfiefer Rd. Dan pulled it down to first gear and put the pedal to the floor. The Avanti pulled very hard and when he upshifted to second the rpm’s went wild. I thought he had blown the transmission and so did Dan. Dan let off the throttle an the Avanti and it regained traction. We both realized the second gear shift was so fast and hard that we were actually smoking the tires in second gear. From that time until today I’ve had a special respect for the ps Avanti transmission..

[Dunkin]

Just my opinion, four speed cars are more fun to drive, and I think their value is higher.

[Nelson]

I agree Duncan. I am just saying I had no desire to own a power shift until I got the ride in Dan’s car years ago. The 4 speed is sure fun to drive.

[mfg]

5 hours ago, Nelson said:

I agree Duncan. I am just saying I had no desire to own a power shift until I got the ride in Dan’s car years ago. The 4 speed is sure fun to drive.

Dan Dumas is a name I heard of years ago… I never met the gent, but did he own one of the nine factory R3 Stude Avantis?

Or was his Avanti powered by an R3 engine furnished by Paxton Products?

[Nelson]

He’s had several R3 engines but the Avanti I am referring to was in a 63 so not a factory car. Dan and I grew up together in Cincinnati. We both worked at Burger Chef restaurant at the time. I remember he bought a beautiful R2 GT and would park it in the furthest spot from the store where it would be safe…..he thought. However, a fellow riding a horse rode up next to it and the horse turned and kicked the side in.😵‍💫 Sometimes you can’t win. 

[mfg]

1 hour ago, Nelson said:

He’s had several R3 engines but the Avanti I am referring to was in a 63 so not a factory car. Dan and I grew up together in Cincinnati. We both worked at Burger Chef restaurant at the time. I remember he bought a beautiful R2 GT and would park it in the furthest spot from the store where it would be safe…..he thought. However, a fellow riding a horse rode up next to it and the horse turned and kicked the side in.😵‍💫 Sometimes you can’t win. 

Thank you… I recall that his name would be mentioned in Turning Wheels from years ago, but I forgot any details… Him and Myles Walker.

[Dwight FitzSimons]

I grew up with PowerShift cars, so am partial to them.  In the '60s I had an R2 PowerShift '64 Avanti.  It provided all the performance fun I needed, for a time.  I later put a crate R3 into it and that WAS all the performance fun I needed.

My current R3 Avanti is a 4-spd, so, when I get it back on the road, I'll find out which transmission is more fun.  At my age the 4-spd may become tiring.

--Dwight

[mfg]

18 hours ago, Dwight FitzSimons said:

I grew up with PowerShift cars, so am partial to them.  In the '60s I had an R2 PowerShift '64 Avanti.  It provided all the performance fun I needed, for a time.  I later put a crate R3 into it and that WAS all the performance fun I needed.

My current R3 Avanti is a 4-spd, so, when I get it back on the road, I'll find out which transmission is more fun.  At my age the 4-spd may become tiring.

--Dwight

Dwight, how would you rate ‘seat of the pants’ acceleration between an R2 equipped Stude Avanti and an R3 equipped Avanti?

Since you have experienced both engines powering the same car, I figured your thoughts on this would be interesting!

[Luma]

Hey Nelson ! The best part of the Gold GT Hawk story was when I called the Montgomery Police Department and told them "A horse ran into my Car ! "

This was a very memorable thread. Nelson is the greatest guy to know if your are bit by the R3 virus ! Dwight I just got some Avanti interior parts from you a couple months back. MFG is 63R1379 White with an Orange interior?

    Luma

[Dwight FitzSimons]

11 hours ago, mfg said:

Dwight, how would you rate ‘seat of the pants’ acceleration between an R2 equipped Stude Avanti and an R3 equipped Avanti?

Since you have experienced both engines powering the same car, I figured your thoughts on this would be interesting!

An R3 is considerably more powerful than an R2, all else being equal.  I used to think it was fun to ease my R3 Avanti up over 100 on the primaries, then floor the accelerator and feel the kick from the secondaries kicking in (mechanical linkage).  I don't do such foolish & dangerous stuff any more, of course, and haven't for over 50 years.  These days I'm satisfied with just experiencing the feel of acceleration (and handling) without testing any limits.  All my cars have high-performance tires, but I don't burn any rubber off them, I scrape it off in the corners.

--Dwight

[mfg]

100 on the primaries… Wow!… Thanks Dwight!

Luma….  63R1379 was originally gold with elk/fawn… it’s now Avanti Turquoise.

Ed

[Nelson]

On 9/7/2024 at 12:28 PM, Luma said:

Hey Nelson ! The best part of the Gold GT Hawk story was when I called the Montgomery Police Department and told them "A horse ran into my Car ! "

A great memory. I think my dad and I stopped up there right after it happened. I remember my dad getting a good laugh out of the situation especially since he realized your concern over parking your Stude. Wasn’t that GT an award winner at one of the very early SDC nationals?

    

 

[Luma]

Third Place at the 1969 National Studebaker Meet. Turns out it was also the 2nd GT R2 displayed at the 1963 Chicago Auto Show according to the build sheet. I found one picture of the show where you can see a corner of it.