The Studebaker Avanti is a personal, luxury sports coupe and was marketed as a “America’s only four-passenger, high-performance personal car. It was developed at the direction of Sherwood Egbert, then President of Studebaker. The design theme of the Studebaker started out as a “doodle” penned on a flight from Chicago after being appointed president after only 37 days. The Avanti was designed as a Fiberglass body mounted to the frame of a modified Studebaker Lark Daytona; the Daytona featured a 109-inch wheelbase, convertible chassis powered by a 289-cid “Hawk” engine. An unusual feature in 1963 was the use of British Dunlop designed front disc-brakes made under license to Bendix Corporation. The front end design of the Avanti was known as a “Bottom Breather”. Instead of air entering through a front grill, it was redirected under the front of the vehicle then through the radiator.