1987 Avanti

1987 Studebaker Avanti Description

This 1987 Avanti has a number of upgrades, but it also needs some work. The original 305 Chevy engine was replaced with a 350 in 1998. The engine has less than 10,000 miles on it and runs perfectly. It has a “Comp High Energy” street cam, Holly Street Dominator intake manifold, Edelbrock 600 cfm carburetor and Accel distributor. The exhaust has high flow catalytic converters and Flowmaster mufflers. (Sounds very good!) The transmission is a B&M Transpak TH 700 with overdrive coupled to a limited slip differential. I have not worked with the shift kit module, but I believe it is fine. It has an Air-Ride Technolgies air spring suspension with height adjustments of 4” in front and 8” in the rear. The controls for the Air-Ride system are mounted under the dash. It will cruise beautifully all day long.

Here are the things that need work: In the dash, the ammeter, tach, gas gauge and speedometer do not work, but all the rest (temp, volt meter, vacuum, indicator lights, air-ride) do work. The lights, brakes, power windows and turn signals all work fine too. The A/C and heater are not working, as is the radio, cruise control and side mirror adjustments.

The paint shows reasonably well from a distance, but there are chips in front and several places where the paint is cracked. Important to note is that the fiberglass is not cracked, just the paint, as you can see in one of the pictures.

All 1987 Avantis are on a Chevy Monte Carlo frame, so there is no concern about hog troughs and Studebaker steering and king pins. This is the 25th vehicle off the assembly line out of a total run of 125. The car has two titles, both of which are good. When I bought it, the car had a Tennessee title that matched the VIN in the window, but the Colorado computer system did not recognize that VIN, and I had to get a Colorado assigned VIN and a title that goes with it. Colorado is notorious for incompetent, overly bureaucratic and onerous DMV rules, but that is another story. The buyer will get both titles, which are clear, and a bill of sale. The VIN above is not the correct VIN, because ebay would not let me list the correct one.