It took a long time for Raymond Loewy's amazing design to finally die. To my eye, it was all excellent except the strange front, which looked like a cheap ad on. He must have been sloppy drunk when he put the front bumper and headlights on.
I actually test drove one of these new, back in the late 80's, and it was a fine machine. I especially liked the long hood that you looked over. At the time, in many cars of the era you couldn't even see the hood from the driver's seat, and it was somehow a pleasure to see all that acreage out in front.
Studebaker Avanti held the land speed record. I believe it was Andy Granatelli that drove it.
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I had two Larks myself. Being over six feet tall, the Larks had more legroom than any other car I have driven since.
Years and years ago I bought a 60 Lark for 50 bucks that I started fixing up - then I had kids. Best laid plans, and all that.
DeleteWe had Paula Murphys' '64 Avanti in our Sacramento museum awhile back. She'd driven it to a class record of 161.23 MPH. The Avanti name is still privately owned and now and then there are rumors of it going back into production. It's a timeless beauty now over 50 years later.
ReplyDeleteThat would have been an interesting machine indeed.
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