A regular at the Saturday morning Donut Derelicts car show in Huntington Beach, CA. is this rare 1964 Studebaker Cruiser that came with a USA factory installed Avanti R-1 Engine. Only 38 cars in this configuration were ever built and only 4 of those were green, and this one of them. With the Avanti motor comes a 160MPH speedometer. The owner has a long history with Studebaker. His father owned a Studebaker dealership for many years.
Yeah, but it's ugly in a good way. (Even I don't know exactly what that means but I know it when I see it!)
Years ago I got my clock cleaned by an Avanti powered Lark 2 door post sedan. It had a supercharger too. It was mud spattered, missing a couple of hubcaps, had a flattened left 1/4 panel. It looked rougher that 3 nights in jail. I thought I was hot stuff in my '57 Bel Air until he showed me the way down the turnpike.
I wonder if it was owned by Ken Frederick's father? Ken had the Iced T among other cars but his old man was the sleeper nut.When I first met him at the age of 15 he had a 50 Stude coupe with a 53 Cadillac engine.He had a bunch of Studebakers afterward;most of them Cadillac powered but he would try just about anything. He even owned a VW trike built by Ed Roth. His last car was a 50 Stude 2 door with 38,000 original miles and powered by a turbocharged SBC.When people asked him about it he would say that it got him to the Social Security office really fast!
Learned to drivve on a 53 Commander, three-on-the-tree. Dad loved the 53's, had four while I was in HS...58 Golden Hawk was the last Stude we had....now that was pretty quick!! Bob
Love that Cruiser. Studebakers are a blast! Someday I'll have another, and this time with a 259 or 289, preferably 3sp.OD.
The Jalopy Journal
