1964 Studebaker Avanti R1 – Zehr Insurance Brokers Ltd.

Owned by Susan, Grimsby – ON

It turns out that we are the third owners of this car. It was built in South Bend Indiana and was purchased new in Oakland California for a lady by her husband, a doctor, for her fiftieth birthday.

She owned and drove the car until she was 70 years old. Both she and her husband were members of the Avanti club in California. At the time of the sale of the Avanti, it was $5,985. A Corvette could be purchased for about $3,500.

In 1964 there were just over 700 Avantis made before Studebaker ceased production in South Bend. We purchased the Avanti in the Fall of 2001 right after 911. It required a flight to Thousand Oaks Ca. It came home in Oct. of 2001.

The car was in original condition and had not been tampered with. All of the chrome, the windows, seats, carpets etc. were in original condition The body was stripped to bare Fiberglas and then painted the original colour Avanti red. This colour was discontinued shortly after our car was built and a burgundy colour was substituted as the Avanti Red was hard to get correct.

All of the chrome was either replaced or re-chromed. All of the carpet was replaced, and installed the way it came from the factory. The headliner was replaced. However, the seats and the door panels are original to the car which incidentally has low mileage.

Everything in the engine compartment was refurbished and/or rechromed. It has a Studebaker 289 cu. in. engine and is carburated. Studebaker did make an R2 which was supercharged and an R3 with a blower.

The car presents in original condition as it would have come from the factory.

In June of 2002, we trailered the Avanti to South Bend for the International Meet. We came home with a first with the Avanti. This proved to be the first of many trophies that the car has won.

The Avanti is a fun car to drive and has proven quite reliable. It is always quite the attraction at local cruise nights.