final credits - arnold "arry" altman
In 1961, the Studebaker Corporation conceived an exciting, quality American sports car as a last-ditch effort to save the failing company. The car to was to compete with the Maserati, the Morgan and the Jaguar.
The Avanti was a radically styled, powerful sports coupe that did not fulfill its intended purpose but it did become revered among automobile enthusiasts and design devotees as one of the world's most consummate sports cars.
The Avanti was ahead of its time -- its fibreglass body enclosed the first disc brakes and the first full steel roll bar in an American-built car. 4,700 Avantis were built in the 1963 and 1964 model years. Studebaker folded in December, 1963 and shut the Avanti down.
"Arry" Altman was operating an automobile dealership with his brother when they and a few other investors bought the Avanti name and Studebaker's leftover inventory of parts, production tooling and two plants in South Bend, Indiana. They also hired 20 Studebaker employees put out of work when the company shut down.
Using General Motors drivetrains and custom parts, the Altmans produced their first "Avanti II" in 1965. They were soon profitably building 200 hand-built cars annually, selling for more than $21,000 each -- cash only. Altman kept the Avanti in steady production from 1965 until he sold the company in 1982.
A number of other firms have kept the Avanti name-plate in production, but Altman claimed there would be none better built than the ones his team hand made at a thousand hours each. Approximately 7,300 Avantis remain on the road.
The industrial designer who led a team that created the Studebaker Avanti, John Ebstein, died in February, 2005.
"Arry" Altman died January 7th, 2006 at the age of 88 from lung cancer.