To meet Studebaker’s deadline, Loewy and his design team set up shop in a rented bungalow in Palm Springs, California, not far from one of Loewy’s homes. The team consisted of John Ebstein, a longtime Loewy lieutenant who served as the Avanti’s project coordinator, Bob Andrews another Loewy veteran whose resume included work on the 1948 “Step-Down” Hudson and Tom Kellogg, a recent graduate of southern California’s Art Center College of Design.

Loewy sketched out the Avanti’s basic design concepts: No radiator grille, as he felt it dated a car’s design, a coke-bottle silhouette and a fastback-like tail. Some themes were borrowed from previous Loewy design exercises performed on a BMW 507, a Lancia, and ’59 Cadillac Eldorado.

Kellogg sketched design ideas and Bob Andrews translated those ideas into clay. Ebstein helmed the studio between Loewy’s daily visits. Twelve-hour days were common. As weeks progressed, Loewy began meeting with Studebaker personnel in South Bend with models and sketches for initial feedback. Five weeks after they began, Loewy and his crew completed an eighth scale model and shipped it to South Bend. It was now up to Studebaker’s designers and engineers to turn this loaf-of-bread sized model into a functioning production autumnal.

About this Series

Studebaker’s Last Dance: The Avanti was on display at the Museum in 2012.  This series of articles comes for the displays from that exhibition.

About the Story

If you want the complete story, get your own copy of Studebaker’s Last Dance: The Avanti now!

The post Palm Springs: Designing the Avanti appeared first on The Studebaker National Museum.

Studebaker’s new president was 43 year-old Sherwood Harry Egbert, formerly of the McCulloch Corporation, Unlike his predecessors, Egbert was new to Studebaker and to the automobile industry. Once in office, he wasted little time familiarizing himself with his new surroundings. Despite Studebaker’s sales woes, he was impressed with its products and saw potential despite the company’s tattered image. Among Egbert’s first words at his initial Studebaker press conference was the statement, “we’re in this business to stay.”

Egbert felt the Studebaker needed a radical new product and needed it fast. In March of 1961, Egbert commissioned Raymond Loewy, the architect behind Studebaker’s most dynamic automobiles, to design a new Studebaker sports car. Loewy accepted the assignment and agreed to deliver an eighth-scale model to Studebaker in six weeks. The car was slated to debut the following spring.

By industry standards, it was an impossible task. New cars take 3 to 5 years and cost many millions of dollars. Studebaker had 14 months and a miniscule budget. Yet, as it had many times over its 100-year history, Studebaker overcame seemingly insurmountable odds, and the Avanti debuted April 25, 1962. This is the story behind Studebaker’s Last Dance: The Avanti.

About this Series

Studebaker’s Last Dance: The Avanti was on display at the Museum in 2012.  This series of articles comes for the displays from that exhibition.

The post Studebaker’s Last Dance: The Avanti appeared first on The Studebaker National Museum.