Not-vanti?

"Justin Hughes" (justinhughes54) 12/23/2015 at 11:13 • Filed to: None

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ElanaR just sent me these potato pics of “an ugly car” she saw. (I know, true love, right?)

It says Avanti on the front, but that side profile screams fourth generation Camaro to me. Is this some kind of a body kit?

Aaron M - MasoFiST > Justin Hughes 12/23/2015 at 11:20

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http://www.avantimotors.com/avantioverview…

A company bought the design rights from the Studebaker bankruptcy and was rebodying cars into Avantis as late as 2006. The F-body rebodies are the second most recent, the last set were based on Mustangs.

BringBackTheCommodore > Justin Hughes 12/23/2015 at 11:21

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Magic 8 ball says: You are correct.

http://www.dailyturismo.com/2013/07/20k-no…

CalzoneGolem > Justin Hughes 12/23/2015 at 11:21

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Wow, that is bad.

Justin Hughes > Aaron M - MasoFiST 12/23/2015 at 11:22

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Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Justin Hughes 12/23/2015 at 11:23

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No.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebake…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avanti_(c…

Autohaus Derp > BringBackTheCommodore 12/23/2015 at 11:23

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Ewwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ElanaR > Justin Hughes 12/23/2015 at 11:29

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Thanks for quoting me so directly :D The lines just don’t quite work for me..

WiscoProud > Justin Hughes 12/23/2015 at 11:35

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Dear god, kill it with fire

BringBackTheCommodore > Autohaus Derp 12/23/2015 at 11:49

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No accounting for taste, even if it tastes like vomit.

ranwhenparked > Aaron M - MasoFiST 12/23/2015 at 23:31

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Its not quite as cut and dry as that.

After Studebaker shut down production in the US, some Studebaker dealers bought the rights to the Avanti design and a small part of the South Bend plant and formed Avanti Motor Corporation to put it back in production, buying chassis and drivetrains from Studebaker.

When Studebaker closed their Canadian plant a few years later, Avanti Motor bought up the entire stockpile of chassis that was left there and switched over to GM drivetrains. When the NOS Studebaker chassises ran out in the 1980s, the company switched over to GM G and A-Body chassis, but still used a unique body shell. Avanti Motor changed hands several times in the ‘70s and ‘80s, eventually moving out of South Bend to a new plant in Ohio, then finally went out of business entirely in 1991.

The brand name was revived in the late ‘90s by one of the company’s former owners, this time by just bolting fiberglass body kits onto Camaros in a shed in Georgia. After GM dropped the F-body, they switched to customizing Mustangs, and eventually relocated to Cancun, Mexico, then shut down entirely again.

Aaron M - MasoFiST > ranwhenparked 12/24/2015 at 06:54

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Thanks for the additional detail. It’s a weird automotive story that I admittedly glossed over.

ranwhenparked > Aaron M - MasoFiST 12/24/2015 at 08:52

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I just hate how the clumsy hack jobs the company did later on kind of wrecked the name. I’m a fan of the Avanti, but I consider it to have died in 1986 - everything after that is basically a kit car.

Aaron M - MasoFiST > ranwhenparked 12/24/2015 at 09:40

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Indeed. I saw a real Avanti on the street a few years back...I have no idea what year it was, but it was old enough to resemble the original floorpan. What a striking car.

OBD1_kenobi > Justin Hughes 12/24/2015 at 10:58

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To be fair, it was probably not the ugliest thing in downtown Ayer at that moment...

Justin Hughes > OBD1_kenobi 12/24/2015 at 11:06

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Good eye! That’s exactly where it was!