Tag Archives: Raymond

Aerodramatically Different – Avanti by Studebaker

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Thirty seven days after becoming President of Studebaker Sherwood Egbert stepped of a flight from Chicago with some doodles, drawn in flight, for a vehicle that was to be marketed as America’s most advanced automobile and handed them to Raymond Lowery and his team and sent them to Palm Springs for 40 days where they were to turn the doodles into a design featuring a fiberglass body mounted on a 109″ Studebaker Lark Convertible chassis.

The finalised design was launched in New York on the 28th of April 1962 and one would be sent to the Indy 500 the following month to act as Honorary Pace Car alongside a fleet of Studebaker Sky Lark Convertible Official Pace Cars.

Studebaker Avanti, Indianapolis

According to the period Avanti promotional film linked here, the “Aerodramatically Different” automobile feature a Jet Thrust V8 engine, available with a Paxton supercharger, coupled to a Power Shift automatic transmission that put ‘traction at the point of action’ and for the first time on an American production model front disc brakes to bring this symbol of elegance to a safe rest.

The Avanti was in fact powered by an uprated 240 hp 4.7 litre / 289 cui Hawk V8, production of the elegant fiberglass body was outsourced to Molded Fibreglass Body Co who had been responsible for manufacturing the first Chevrolet Corvette bodies in 1953.

Studebaker Avanti, Indianapolis

Sherwood Egbert hoped to manufacture and sell 20,000 Avanti’s in the first year however despite plenty of interest in the new car Molded Fibreglass Body Co had problems manufacturing the bodies and only 1,200 Avanti’s were built causing orders to be cancelled.

Studebaker closed down completely in December 1963 with around 1,600 Avanti’s sold and 2500 in the dealer supply chain. The story of the Avanti did not end there. A succession of entrepreneurs managed to build further models up until 2006, using initially the original stock of parts, then switching to first GM and then Ford floor pans and running gear. For a while a short while 4 door model was in production but the very last, built in Mexico, was a one off powered by a Roush Racing V6.

Ed Arnaudin’s photo’s show the Avanti being driven around Indy on race day, top, and during one of the qualifying days bottom, this car was part of race winner Roger Wards prize package making him the first person to become a private owner of an Avanti.

My thanks to Ed’s son Steve for scanning and sending his Dad’s photo’s.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Aerodramatically Different’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Awaiting TLC #2 – Rover 75 P4

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The Rover P4 range of vehicles was introduced in 1949 to replace the interim out dated P3 vehicles which had been rushed into production in 1948 as the Rover company sort to rebuild itself as a vehicle manufacturer having spent the years during World War 2 manufacturing aircraft.

Rover P4 75, Atwell Wilson MM

Drawing inspiration from the 3rd generation Raymond Loewy designed Studebaker Champion launched in 1946, at the request of the Wilkes brothers who owned Rover, Gordon Bashford was responsible for what was known in the factory as the P4. The original P4’s came fitted with a central spot lamp mounted in the grill, but this feature was dropped early in production which eased the difficulties keeping the engine cool.

Rover P4 75, Atwell Wilson MM

The P4 was continually being upgraded and from 1954 a distinct MkII version was available that was then restyled again into the form shown in these photo’s in 1957, a Mk 2.2 if you will.

Rover P4 75, Atwell Wilson MM

Because of material shortages immediately after WW2 these vehicles incorporated a high percentage of aluminium content and were to be seen in competitions of the day including the 1955 Mille Miglia in which Lando Barsotti brought his #347 Rover 75 P4 home in 271st place. The 75 seen here was powered by a 2.2 litre /136 cui 6 cylinder motor featuring the same overhead inlet valves and side exhaust valve design as had been a feature of the earlier P3.

Rover P4 75, Atwell Wilson MM

The final MK II P4’s were produced in 1959 with 9,974 Mk II’s produced over it’s five year production run.

I spotted this particular vehicle at the back of the Atwell – Wilson Motor Museum. I am not sure what they planned to do with it, good working examples of the type tend not to fetch more than £ 2000 so the cost of restoration would appear to be a little prohibitive.

Thanks for joining me on this Awaiting TLC edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Last of the line – ERA R14B

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English Racing Automobiles was founded by driver Raymond Mays, designer Peter Berthon and financier Humphrey Cook in 1933 to manufacture racing cars capable of upholding British prestige in Continental European races.

Without the financial or engineering resources made available to Mercedes Benz and Auto Union in top flight Grand Prix races, ERA focused their efforts one step down, in the GP2 or Indy Lights of its day known as voiturette racing for vehicles with supercharged motors from 1.1 litres / 67 cui to 2 litres / 122 cui.

The ERA engines came in three sizes and were based on a 6 cylinder Riley production block with a stronger crankshaft and entirely new aluminium cylinder head.

Chassis design was by Reid Railton and the body work was by George and Jack Cray to a design by a Mr Piercy who like Railton had been responsible for the design of Malcom Campbells land speed record breaking vehicle ‘Bluebird‘.

ERA R14B seen here is the 14th and final original ‘sit up and beg’ originally a pale blue vehicle built in 1938 with a 1.5 litre /91 cui Zoller supercharged engine for Johnnie Wakefield who won the 200 mile race at Brooklands and finished third in the 1938 Bern GP.

Bob Gerard acquired the car after WW2 and scored third and second place finishes at the British Grand Prix of 1948 and 1949, he continued to race the car successfully until 1956.

Current owner Donald Day purchased ERA R14B in 1958 and has raced it with a 2 litre / 122 cui motor in place of it’s original 1.5 litre 91 cui unit. In 1990 14B appeared for the first time in British Racing Green.

This same vehicle was driven to victory in the pre 1959 Historic Grand Prix at Monaco by Julian Bronson in 2002.

All photo’s bar the penultimate one from the September VSCC meet at Loton Park, the penultimate one was taken at the August VSCC meet at Prescott.

Thanks to David Hodgkinson for back ground information on ERA 14B.

Hope you have enjoyed todays British Racing Green edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, and will join me tomorrow for a look at a high flying special. Don’t forget to come back now !

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