1963 Studebaker Avanti

R1 Coupe

8 - Cyl.

Automatic

63R3514

Gasoline

My dream was to own my favorite all time car, a '63 Avanti. When my late husband was courting me, he purchased this one from a fellow member of the Studebaker Drivers Club. The man had driven this car when he was in college at Penn State and it was just a used car. Once he got married and had children, he put it away and at some point decided to restore it. He totally (and I mean totally) disassembled everything on the car. Being in Pennsylvania and fairly close to Westmoreland Studebaker, one of the best Studebaker restoration shops around, he took the body and frame to them. They completed the hog troughs on the frame to make sure it was perfect. It was painted with black frame paint. They perfected the body and sanded it and primered it so it was ready for paint. It was perfect. The doors are off the car. The interior is all there, but out of the car. The springs, rear end, all components are disassembled and boxed. The engine was broken down. Everything was laid out for us to inspect it when we went to look at the car. We paid $5500 for the entire project. Our dream was to have a loving project that we would work on together and know intimately every detail of an Avanti in the reassembly. The interior is the burnt orange color and we believe the exterior is to be gold. The previous owner didn't have it when it was the original color. We bought the car in 2001 and didn't bring it home until 2004. During the process of moving the body, we did put a small crack above the passenger side rear wheel well. This was due to not having enough people to lift it off the trailer here in Roanoke, VA. We have had the frame, all the boxes of parts, and the body in storage in a rented garage since then. My husband had terminal cancer, which is why it took so long to move the car and why we never got to our dream of assembling the car. He died in 2009 and I have just left it in the garage and continued to pay for its storage. It's time to move on with life and the car must be sold to someone else that has a dream of their own even if it's a loss in money. I do have a 259 complete engine and automatic transmission out of a Hawk that came out of a running car that can be included with the car. The original 289 block and parts are with the car, but we purchased this as a backup or immediate way to get a running gear in the car. This car needs to be moved by the end of March. I can deliver it to the York Studebaker Swap Meet in March for trailer rental and fuel costs if it makes it easier. I have the original photos that I took of the car and parts when we purchased it posted on webshots. http://rides.webshots.com/album/578576835nYRWlF They were taken with a camera and scanned back then. Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them. On Feb-27-11 at 12:53:27 PST, seller added the following information: I was just down at the rented garage looking things over. The automatic transmission is there. The block is there. The crank and engine parts are there. The springs to the car are there. The hard to find low profile chrome air cleaner is there. There is a box with a new dash in it that I didn't even remember. The original dash is in the car. All the interior is there. I didn't open every box, but looked closer at what was stacked under the car. I'm donating 1% of the sale of the car to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation since my late husband died of Multiple Myeloma. Thanks for all your questions. Beth