This idea popped into my head as I was re-reading the Fugly Avanti thread.
Suppose you found an Avanti with minor front end damage (I have not), or one that was already customized in some way. In light of the fact that the designer Raymond Loewy was known for redesigning his own personal cars, including an E-Type, if you were going to add some kind of grill, what would you choose?
Let's leave the '63-'64 cars out of this and start with the early Avanti II.
Go!
It wouldn’t be an Avanti with a grill...
SVreX said:It wouldn’t be an Avanti with a grill...
But maybe that's okay. Some would argue that it's not an Avanti without round headlight rings.
It's the roofline that I have the most issue with, I like the lack of grille. But if I were to add a grille, I would make it a slightly bowed-out rectangle, to emulate the shape of the headlight buckets. Same height as the headlights and with the peak of the hood formed into it. Wouldn't be full-width, but leave a slight gap on either side of the headlight buckets that would be body-colored. Grille material would be a stainless-steel diamond-mesh, with a thin stainless-steel surround. Maybe float the Studebaker S in the center, or perhaps the Avanti script in the lower driver's side corner.
Just put Telsa Badges on it, a CRT monitor from a Retatta or something like that and see how many of the General population would believe it was the orginal prototype blah blah blah.....
I'm thinking a chopped down version of the Lincoln Zephyr grill might ease the harsh transition from the square headlight surrounds to the center peak.
I'm definitely thinking something Lincoln might work here.
Maybe a narrowed version of the Studebaker Commander grill.
I am just here waiting for a photoshop of an Avanti with the Lexus predator grille 
A little googling brings up some weird stuff but I cant really say it is good. Probably not the Lincoln you were thinking...
Just lose the diagonal.
Woody said:Maybe a narrowed version of the Studebaker Commander grill.
Oh yeah, this will fix it right up... 
Of course, there's always this option...
Avanti always gave me the same creepy feeling as a person with no mouth
ronholm said:Just put Telsa Badges on it, a CRT monitor from a Retatta or something like that and see how many of the General population would believe it was the orginal prototype blah blah blah.....
Interestingly, in the movie Gattaca, they had a number of cars that appeared to be electric Avantis. Apparently it was an alternate future where Studebaker never went out of business.
Probably just a hole big enough to mount a turbo, like this, except 2 of them mounted an equal distance from the headlights.
I imagine you could get away with two Karman Ghiaesque grills.. but I like the smooth nose of the Avanti
If I had an Avanti II with some front end damage and I wanted to rebuild it, I would conver it to a round lamp ur-Avanti setup. I would probably go looking for headlamps that have completely flat glass if available. No sunken trim rings, just normal bodywork with maybe a small gap around the lamp. I'm sure it'd be easy... (joking)
I also don't love the Avanti's tacked-on amber turn signals on the leading edge of the fenders. Smooth those out entirely and put them in the bumper or something like late Super Beetles in Mexico had. The front bumper on these cars seems kind of oddly square for what is a quite curvy looking car. Wondering if bumpers from an early Corvette could be sunk into the front end and just clean things up that way.
These cars seem to have a kind of oddly raked stance. Lowering the rear a couple of inches should go a long way to fixing that issue. Exhaust pipe setup like 60's Ferrari's with four chrome tips out the back might be nice.
I've seen a number of photos of the Avanti II's that had Rostyles wheels. I wonder about 2003ish Mustang Mach 1 replicas or something similar.
My 2 cents.
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
I agree with you on the bumper. I think if you trimmed it so it just went between the forward jutting fenders, it would look more the part.
Driven5 said:Woody said:Maybe a narrowed version of the Studebaker Commander grill.
Oh yeah, this will fix it right up...
+1 more cars need mustaches like that one.
In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :
Just realized that Raymond Loewy styled the front of those cars after his own mustache
BMW Kidneys
It already has a grille, it's right there under the bumper.
Be careful what you ask for.....
Are you replacing the horizontal slats below or are you modifying the whole front end?
You'll need to log in to post.
