To my mind, the Avanti’s history has two major parts: Under Studebaker and as an independent automaker. Of the Studebaker histories, Richard M. Langworth (1993) arguably offers the most detailed and analytically sophisticated narrative. The only Avanti-specific book I have read is John Hull’s Avanti: The Complete Story.
Hull is a long-time Avanti enthusiast who was an employee of the Avanti Motor Corporation from 1999 to 2001. This is the earlier of two books he has published about the marque. The other is called, Avanti: Studebaker and Beyond (Hull, 2011).
The Complete Story is an 8.5-by-11 paperback book that is dominated by photographs, many of them in color. Some readers might wish for more detailed narrative, but that wasn’t the intent of this book, which was published as part of Iconografix’s Photo Archive Series.
Hull has assembled an interesting mix of photographs, illustrations and promotional materials. Included are photos of early prototypes, the assembly line and Avanti lead designer Raymond Loewy.
Hull mostly focuses on Avanti’s life after Studebaker
Amazon commentator J. Boyle (2008) complained that the book had a dearth of new photographs and advertisements about the Studebaker era. Hull does seem more interested in the Avanti once its production was taken over by another firm.
The Complete Story offers a fairly high-level overview of the Avanti’s tumultuous life but includes some historical nuggets. For example, he suggests that the champion of the Avanti, Studebaker Corporation President Sherwood Egbert, “lost a staunch supporter” with the retirement of board member Clarence Francis (p. 17). Within six months Egbert would be replaced and automotive operations phased out.
Hull is sympathetic in his portrait of Avanti’s succession of owners but matter-of-factly sketches the reasons why this marque went through so many bankruptcies.
The founders of the Avanti Motor Corporation — South Bend Studebaker dealers Nate Altman and Leo Newman — are presented as the most business savvy. This is because they had the foresight to develop an additional revenue stream by also distributing Studebaker and Packard parts. In contrast, Hull notes that the Avanti Motor Corporation’s second owner, Stephen H. Blake, was too undercapitalized to undertake an ambitious effort to modernize the Avanti in the early-80s.
Book’s editing is a wee bit uneven
As is often the case with a small-scale publisher, the book’s editing could be tighter. Hull’s narrative can wander — a tendency made more frustrating by a fondness for lengthy paragraphs that mush together distinct topics.
The Complete Story has been most useful to me for a prosaic reason — to function as an easy-to-navigate reference book that covers the Avanti’s design evolution as well as its corporate history.
Avanti: The Complete Story
- Hull, John; 2008
- Iconografix, Hudson, WI
“Disaster struck Avanti in 1984. After four or five months of the company’s first use of the new Deltron paint system on new SMC body panels, serious paint failures began to appear. Dealers were reporting paint blistering and peeling on cars, especially over body filled areas. The paint feature problem affected almost 300 cars. As noted previously, Avanti Motor Corporation under Steve Blake was thinly capitalized. The paint failure was a blow that Avanti could not recover from.” (p. 52)
“One little known fact was that J. J. Cafaro had converted a restaurant and bar at one of the Cafaro Company hotel properties in Ohio into a Club Avanti. Upon entering the restaurant you immediately viewed an Avanti convertible as the centerpiece of the restaurant. It was full sized with complete interior and flashing digital gauges. All the club decor including napkins, matchbooks, etc., featured the Club Avanti logo with an outline of an Avanti automobile.” (pp. 81-82)
“It has been estimated that the Special Vehicle Operations Division of Avanti sold roughly 47 Lister replicas and six Porsche 904 replicas total. The (Dodge) Stepside conversion short bed was never a success in any appreciable volume. . . . It was also at this time that the idea of adding an extreme sport utility vehicle to the Avanti line was initiated. It became known as the Studebaker XUV. It was introduced at the 2003 Chicago Auto Show much to the chagrin of General Motors, which promptly sued Avanti Motor Corporation. GM claimed that the new Studebaker XUV was a Hummer knock-off. Avanti agreed to make cosmetic changes to the new XUV and General Motors dismissed their lawsuit. The amount of free advertising provided to Avanti by the lawsuit is immeasurable.” (p. 108)
OTHER REVIEWS:
RE:SOURCES
- Hull, John; 2011. Avanti: Studebaker and Beyond. Enthusiast Books.
- Langworth, Richard M.; 1979, 1993. Studebaker 1946-1966: The Classic Postwar Years. Motorbooks International, Osceola, WI.
This is an updated version of a mini-review originally posted August 1, 2015.
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