History

The Avanti, which means "Forward" in Italian, was definitely ahead of its' time. It is the first mass produced American touring car, 4-5 passengers, with a fiberglass body as well as the first mass produced American automobile with disc brakes.

The Avanti, in addition to being the first American mass produced 4-5 passenger touring car, also had numerous safety features such as a padded dash, seat belts front and rear plus a built-in roll bar. The body was provided by Molded Fiber Glass Body Company, which also produced the Corvette bodies for General Motors.

In order to provide plenty of muscle, Studebaker purchased Paxton Products, which produced the popular Paxton centrifugal superchargers. That purchase also included bringing in Andy Granatelli to help with the overall performance package. He eventually set 20 performance records with the Avanti.

Fewer than 4700 were produced. Of these, less than 500 were supercharged with a 4-speed transmission. This particular unit is a numbers-matching example of the unique automobile.