Re: Oddball Muscle Cars
 

Paul,

Original Avanti's were built with AMC motors but when the factory went under a Canadian group bought the mold and the rights to the name Avanti ll and powered them with Chevy motors.

JimR

Re: Oddball Muscle Cars
 

All of the original Avanti's I have seen had Studebaker motors. They were 304 cubic inches I believe but not the same as AMC.

Re: Oddball Muscle Cars
 

Back in the early '50's, a Kettering(OHV) V-8 engine design was on the drawing board, and three US manufacturers bought into that design. American Motors(Rambler),the flathead 6 stalwarts,Studebaker, just about the same thing, and Cadillac, which had outgrew its flathead V-8 power.Studebaker's engine was 259 cu.in,Rambler had a 327, and Cadillac had a 365,then a 390 inch version of that engine.There was a degree of parts interchangeability, and the Studebaker Hawk with a Cadillac powerplant was a common swap. That was available with a four barrel, a tri-power or dual four barrels.Definitely enough to wake up a Studebaker. Must have been a laugh with the early three speeds and rear ends. It was common to take a car like the early Avanti and Cadillac the thing and it would have looked original. After Studebaker quit building cars, the 300 horse 327 with the AFB was a very logical alternative to a big heavy block in an engine design that must have weighed 650 pounds if an ounce.

Re: Oddball Muscle Cars
 

Greg,
Charles Kettering worked for GM during the 1940's and designed the Cadillac engine that was originally produced in 331 cubic inch size and used in the 1949 models which was the first overhead valve engine used by Cadillac. This series of engines were made in 365, 390 and 429 sizes in later years. It was replaced in 1968 by a new design of 472 and 500 inch engines. I have not worked on any of these but have seen them in machine shops and they did not look like the motor I had in my Studebaker Silver Hawk.
thanks, Roland

Re: Oddball Muscle Cars
 

The 304 Stude was a bored out 289 Stude engine.They came with a Paxton charger.
Few were sold to the public.Itwas called the R-3.
Andy Granitelli did some R-5 304's rated at 500+ hp.Racing only applications.

Re: Oddball Muscle Cars
 

Didn't realize we head so many AVANTI' fans out there... Of course you all know Avanti' means (forward, in front) in the proper language Italian..
The only way the Avanti' car could be in front of anything,, is if you strapped it to the Space Shuttle.. My Italian ancestors called it the
original 'Chick magnet'..0 to 60 in 9 seconds..what does that compute to in the quarter??..
Paul,,,

Re: Oddball Muscle Cars
 

My brother and I had a friend in high school who had a '60 Studebaker Lark VIII with a 259V8 and a 3 speed stick. He rebuilt it and got a NOS Avanti cam ,hogged out the flange on the intake and put a Holley 500 cfm 2 barrel on it,and hot rodded around with it. It was painted orange and had American mags on it, and actually was a fun car. We found a 390 Cadillac intake with an AFB on it, and with a very little work, it replaced the two barrel. All three of these engines had an open valley with a stamped valley cover, the distributor in the rear, and more similarities than differences.Wonder whatever he did with that car?

Re: Oddball Muscle Cars
 

You're correct, that particular brain cell took the day off and probably won't ever come back...........Hell gettin' old.

JimR

Re: Oddball Muscle Cars
 

What an utterly epic and total picture of AMC engineering and styling, I LOVE Marlins......So ugly they are pretty

Re: Oddball Muscle Cars
 

I had thought that some of the Avantis came with Paxton blowers....don't recall if they were Avanti I or II, or maybe that was just another of my dreams, or altered memories....

Before the muscle cars, I had a thing for those huge Nash cars (before they became nash ramblers..) with a flat six and a bore of about 6 inches or so. They got raced a lot in the old days.
I also liked Kaisers, my dad had a Henry J, but not for performance, but for innovation. The Henry J was a fastback with a fold down rear seat, so you could lay a 4' X 8' sheet of plywood in, and close the hatch. The Kaiser Darin was really my all time favorite as the doors in the glass bodied dream car slid into the long front fenders.

Fortunately, later on, I came to my senses and got involved with Fords, Chevys, and Mopars.... Or maybe that was just because by the 60's the studebakers, and Nashs, and Kaisers all went by the wayside and I had no underdog to root for anymore.

David
The New Hemi Guy
________
Vaporizer Wiki