Built at the direction of Studebakers then president Sherwood Egbert, the Avanti Coupe was manufactured between June 1962 and December 1963. The Avanti would go on to gaining iconic status with enthusiasts and collectors and resulting, after the demise of Studebaker, in ongoing custom production by a succession of entrepreneurs. Designed by Raymond Loewy's team of Tom Kellogg, Bob Andrews and John Ebstein on a 40-day crash program, the Avanti featured a radical fiberglass body design mounted on a modified Studebaker Lark Daytona 109-inch convertible chassis with a modified 289 engine.
Only 4,643 Avantis (not including prototypes, some of which were assigned serial numbers at the end of the run) were produced. After the closure of Studebaker's factory on 20 December 1963, the Avanti model name, tooling and plant space were sold to two South Bend Studebaker dealers, Nate Altman and Leo Newman, who hand-built small numbers of cars. They introduced a slightly modified version of the car in 1965 under the brand name "Avanti II" which initially had a 327 ci. (5.4 L) Chevrolet Corvette engine. This evolved to the 350, the 400 and, finally the 305. All Avanti II's were built on leftover Studebaker chassis until 1987. The 1987-89 models were based on GM's "GM G platform (RWD)" that underpinned the Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
On October 1, 1982, real estate developer Stephen H. Blake bought the rights to the Avanti II. Blake's company declared bankruptcy in 1986, and the company was purchased by Michael Kelly, who relocated production to Youngstown, Ohio. The company claimed that a second-generation automobile was styled by Tom Kellog (Kellogg), one of the original Avanti design team, in the late 1990s. This car was based on GM's Camaro/Firebird platform . Tom Kellogg was tragically killed in a car accident in California on 14 August 2003. In October 2005 an internet report was published that "Avanti Motors" had announced a new relationship with Ford Motor Company and was planning a big comeback. These new Avantis, very similar in appearance to the Firebird-based cars designed by Kellogg, were to be based on the new-generation Ford Mustang and were available as both coup's and convertibles.
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