1963 Studebaker Avanti R2

Supercharged, 4 speed, Twin Traction

Mild Custom, Recent Restoration 94,000 miles. Serial 63R3229

Be sure and follow the more pictures link at page bottom for more, larger pictures !

As some of you may know, I find nice Studebakers around the country, fix them up and find new homes for
 them on Ebay.   In this case, I brought this mild Avanti custom in from California to Maryland with the
 intention of returning it to correct factory appearance. After getting the car here and seeing and driving 
it, I realized that I liked it as is, and perhaps the new owner might also. To return it to a more stock
 appearance, you'd need to paint the roof body color, add stock wheels/hub caps and tires, vinyl dye the 
red seat inserts black, install a stock battery and replace the R3 pressure box/modern carb. with the 
correct carb and air horn.  I figured the sale of the pressure box, custom wheels and tires would more 
then pay for the parts and work if you decided to do it.

Here's the history of the car as well as I could reconstruct from receipts and conversations with the 
previous owner:

 He bought the car from a major Studebaker vendor  in 1997 that had owned it for 12 years. The car 
was mechanically sound when he bought it, the engine was replaced with a rebuilt Avanti engine and now
 has perhaps 20,000-30,000 miles on the rebuild. As strong as the car accelerates, I assume there may
 be more work done then just the bigger carb. and R3 pressure box, but can't prove it. I've owned more 
then a few supercharged Studebakers, but none have pulled as strong as this one.

The fellow I bought it from gutted and redid the entire interior, removed the front and rear glass and
 had the car painted "Performance Red" in 2006. It appears most of the chrome was redone, he replaced 
the weather striping, and moved the battery to the trunk. 

The body shop receipt shows some minor fiberglass repair to the front end and fender. (Less then a
 $1000 worth of repair from a minor hit in the fiberglass ) There is a small stress crack at the
 typical location at the top of the fender seam, and a nick or two, but the paint still looks new 
elsewhere. (See more pictures link)

It's the kind of car that's 90% perfect, much better then a driver, but not quite a top show car
 car although it's won a few trophies.

When the car came to me, I reinstalled the factory tachometer, and supercharged emblems, fixed some
 minor wiring issues and did some paint buffing, detailing, tuning and a bumper to bumper check. I've
 put a few 100 miles on the car checking it out and it's been trouble free.

 Here's just some of the work done in the last few years:
New paint (two tone) 	Rebuilt engine/supercharger/more 	New Chrome Supercharger Hose/clamps 	
Custom Trunk Carpet 	New headlamp covers
New chrome/emblems 	New Trunk mounted battery 	New Hurst Shifter/Clutch 	Aluminum Valve
 Covers 	New Power antenna
New weather stripping/glass weather seals 	New, Modern electric choke carb 	Chrome master 
cylinder and Power steering covers 	New, correct mirrors 	New spark plugs/wires
5 New Mag Wheels 	5 New Tiger Paw tires/ RWL 	Custom dash pad cover 	Custom Avanti floor mats 
	New bumper pads
New Interior-carpets, seats, headliner 	New California car cover 	New tachometer sender 	
New cooling hoses 	Much, much, more

The dash pad has some cracks under the cover, and I suspect the steering wheel does too. The vintage 
8 track in the dash is not working, 

other then that, the interior is very nice. All the lights and gages work, horn works when it's in 
the mood, wipers, heater work.

Very nice under here too. Engine does not smoke, starts right up, has great oil pressure and pulls 
like a freight train. The cooling system was checked and flushed, all

fluids are fresh.   Steering and suspension is tight, and the brake system is also rebuilt. As you
 would suspect for a car that has not seen salt, the frame and hog troughs 

are rust free. Even the rear cross member under the trunk is solid, very unusual since it's made out 
of exhaust pipe style steel. 

This is not a trailer queen, maybe not even a good base to build one, but if driving a great looking,
 fast Avanti is more important then collecting plastic trophies, 

this could be  the car for you. It looks great inside and out, really needs next to nothing other then 
to be driven. The supercharged 4 speed version of the Avanti's are by far the 

most collectable. My reserve is much closer to the $14,000 "low' book then the $26,000's for even a 
average R2, 4 speed car and I feel this car is above average. I'd call it a 10 footer, 

you really need to get closer to pick on the car. 

 You could not even pay for just the interior, paint and engine work on another Avanti for my reserve price.

5 new mag wheels and tires, recent custom paint and interior. There is a trunk mounted battery. 
Serial number 63R 3229. He has the little aluminum wedges in the front springs 
to raise the front to clear the 7 inch wheels, not sure about the rear yet. The
 carpet is wet because he did not install the new weather striping and I pressure
 washed the car. It turns out the front battery is a dummy, not hooked up, weird.
 It was owned by Studebaker Parts & Service in Long Beach about 12 years ago.


JDP/Maryland   May 2008