Supercharger color

[63stick]

Every Paxton I see in cars is orange like the fans. Mine is original and gloss black. Mine is one of the first 100 built. Did the color get changed? Nobody has ever touched mine except to change oil.

[1963r2]

I thought they changed color when they got rebuilt. 

Pb

[Bob Preston]

Perhaps this is a question for the trivia page. The production data booklet only mentions orange as the factory color. 

[Ron Dame]

R1092 was mine. Though I have little history on it, the supercharger was black, and had what I believe to have been original stickers. As of Fall, Lance Bush of the Restored youtube page owned it and was trying to sell it.

[mfg]

This question has been batted around for years…….

For authenticity judging at AOAI meets, either orange or black is acceptable .

Personally, I feel that although an orange supercharger ‘presents’ itself better, Studebaker intended the superchargers on Avantis be painted black, as much of their early advertising indicated.

[Nelson]

If you think about it it would make sense that two colors were delivered to the factory so as there was no mix up on the production assembly lines. Lark Hawk being orange on one line and Avanti being black on another line. They are clocked different for the exhaust outlet so don’t interchange without some dismantle/reassembly.

[Bob Preston]

Why then, are so many Avantis equipped with orange superchargers? The production data booklet shows a photo of a pre-production R2 engine with a black supercharger and a caption that reads “Production cars were fitted with orange superchargers from the factory.”

[mfg]

53 minutes ago, Bob Preston said:

Why then, are so many Avantis equipped with orange superchargers? The production data booklet shows a photo of a pre-production R2 engine with a black supercharger and a caption that reads “Production cars were fitted with orange superchargers from the factory.”

That’s an interesting point..I’ve never seen the reference that you mention Bob, but it would validate ‘factory orange’ Paxton superchargers on some Avanti models. (as well as black)

The very first Avanti I ever saw (a Gold R2 four speed) definitely had a black supercharger.

Once again, either black or orange has been accepted by present day Studebaker Avanti expert judges at major meets, so if it satisfies them, it satisfies me! 
 

And frankly, I feel orange looks way better than black painted  superchargers on Avantis….My own ‘63 had a black blower when I purchased it years ago.. but it’s ‘Chevy’ orange now!!