There’s a fascinating story behind the Avanti. You are correct in your knowledge that it was originally built by Studebaker, and in 1963 when it debuted, it was ground-breaking. Aimed somewhere between the Corvette and the not-yet-born Mustang, it was intended to be a high-quality personal car with muscle, a bit more upscale than the Corvette but not as pretentious as, say, a Jaguar. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to save Studebaker, but the brilliant Raymond Loewy design lived on after Studebaker’s demise in the form of the Avanti II. A pair of Studebaker dealers bought the remains of a Studebaker truck plant, the Avanti name and tooling, and production rights and started building some hand-assembled Avantis using GM hardware under the skin, mostly Corvette small block V8s and transmissions. The operation folded in 1982, and in the three and a half decades since then, it has had four other owners and has been headquartered in three states. It seems that the final Avanti-type vehicle ever built was in 2006 and nobody has picked up the torch to continue the legacy. It’s probably just as well.

This handsome blue Avanti II is one of only 190 built in 1980 when it was still under the ownership of the Altman Brothers and Leo Neuman, those original Studebaker dealers who kept the fires burning. That probably makes it the most legitimate heir to the throne and you can’t argue with the quality of the work that went into these cars. The Avanti II was aimed at a very upscale clientele and carried an original sticker price of about $25,000, roughly twice the cost of a new Corvette. It is rumored that it required some 10 to 12 weeks to assemble an Avanti II, depending on colors and options, and the true Avanti IIs carried frames and suspensions as designed by Studebaker, not cribbed from the GM parts bin. It was one of the very last bespoke automobiles available from an American auto manufacturer and for that reason alone they remain special cars.

With just 25,137 original miles, this is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a late Avanti II. Like the original, the body is fiberglass, so that has certainly helped it weather the passage of time, but as you can tell from the shiny paint, brilliant chrome, and very clean interior, someone really cherished this car. The light blue finish isn’t aggressive, but it does have an understated elegance to it that works rather well, and you have to bear in mind that it was 1980, after all, so fashion was a bit different. The dramatic shape, however, remains the same, with the angular, grille-free front end, delicate chrome bumpers, and “Coke-bottle” sweep to the belt line, and you should prepare yourself for a lot of questions about what kind of car this is and where it comes from. Most folks will find it amazing but also a total mystery. Avanti IIs are easy to spot with their squared-off headlight bezels, a design choice that separates them from the originals with their round headlights, but that seems to be the only really significant change. Fit and finish are factory-grade, which is to say quite good, and while the paint is now 37 years old, it still looks pretty darned nice. The chrome details are excellent, and someone has thankfully removed the awkward auxiliary front bumper installed so that the 1963 design could meet 1980s crash standards (there are now fog lights mounted on the brackets, a clever disguise). The glass, including the unique wrap-around rear window, is excellent and all the lights and signals are fully operational. It’s finished with a single darker blue pinstripe that accentuates the fender lines and I would argue that it needs nothing else. The stunning design speaks for itself.

The interior shows you where the real money was spent. The original Avanti was aircraft-inspired, but the Avanti II was intended to compete with the Mercedes-Benz SL and Jaguar XJ12, so it was elevated to the next level with expensive materials and dramatic styling. The tan leather bucket seats are in excellent condition save for some wear on the passenger’s seat bolsters (we suspect that the chairs have been swapped left-to-right) and the light blue piping matches the paint almost exactly. Plush deep pile carpets are pure 1980s funky but that’s how they were built so I’d leave it alone since it’s in good shape, too. Beautiful door panels and a handsome padded dash are all wrapped in expensive materials that really do feel far more extravagant than your run-of-the-mill 1980s luxury car. The panels for the dash and console are real burled walnut and the steering wheel is real wood as well. The Avanti’s trademark aircraft switches, both overhead for the lighting and on the console for ventilation, are all intact and fully operational. You also get a full array of gauges, which includes the usual stuff plus a vacuum gauge, all from Stewart-Warner. Very racy. The shifter is a stylish chrome knob on the console and the only way you could get an Avanti II was loaded, so this car includes things like ice cold A/C, power windows, a power antenna, and a very rare sunroof overhead. Everything appears to be operational but the clock, and the original Blaupunkt AM/FM stereo has been augmented with a remote CD changer and a set of subwoofers hidden in the trunk. The back seat is almost entirely unmarked and good enough for children and there’s a good-sized trunk that’s upholstered to match the interior.

For power, this one uses a 350 cubic inch V8 from a 1980 Corvette, which was the most powerful American engine you could buy. We believe it’s the L48 180 horsepower version, but it’s difficult to know for certain because all the clues GM would include on a Corvette are not present in the Avanti. Nevertheless, it runs superbly and pulls the blue coupe around with real vigor. It starts easily and idles smoothly, indicative of its low-mileage status, and someone has kept it in a fine state of tune all its life because we’ve never had a C3 Corvette that runs as well as this Avanti. The hardware should look familiar, including the air cleaner, and service parts are widely available and easy to source. It’s reassuring to know that your exotic Avanti will never need unobtainable spare parts! It drives superbly, as you’d expect from a low-mileage car, and it just doesn’t seem to have any bad habits. It stays cool, the A/C blows cold, there’s a nice mellow burble from the 2-1-2 dual exhaust system, and the alternator keeps the battery topped up easily. It’s also quite clean, suggesting a car that has never seen inclement weather.

It's backed by the Corvette’s bulletproof TH400 3-speed automatic transmission, which means it should last practically forever. Crisp shifts but never harsh, and with 3.07 gears in a GM 10-bolt rear end, it’s a fantastic high-speed highway cruiser. The chassis is a little grimy and crusty, as you’d expect from a 37-year-old car, but since the floors are fiberglass, you have no worries about rot there and the frame is a heavy-duty unit that looks like it could hold up a railroad bridge. Even the exhaust system is still mostly original, including the factory GM catalytic converter, so it is emissions legal in most states. We suspect that the glasspack-style mufflers and tailpipes are replacements, but the car never sounds too aggressive, just a muted burble that’s entirely appropriate. Chrome wire wheels were standard equipment and they’re in good shape, and wear a fairly recent set of 215/70/15 whitewall radials.

Now that the original Avantis are seeing some serious gains in the market, can it be much longer before the Avanti IIs catch on? They’re reliable, fast, fun cars that look like nothing else on the road, and that’s a big part of owning a collector car. This one is very low maintenance, easy to live with, and if you’re a guy who likes to modify cars, this one seems ripe for a makeover to create something truly special (call us if you’d like some ideas). A heck of a lot of car for the money, no matter how you look at it. Call today!