Packard, Studebaker, and the Avanti

[W. Gray]

The 1962 Avanti


1962 Avanti


2007 Avanti


The smaller Packard Motor Car company purchased the Studebaker Corporation in 1954 to become the Studebaker-Packard Company. Packard wanted to benefit from Studebaker's larger dealer network and Studebaker hoped to benefit from Packard's rather large cash position.

The combined company would have surpassed Chrysler as the third largest automobile maker but never did, having suffered from many problems. Sales of both cars plummeted soon after merger. The 1957 and 1958 Packard's and Studebaker's looked exactly alike with the only difference being the nameplate.

The Packard line ceased production after 1958.

By 1962 the Studebaker company was in dire trouble but a new CEO employed Raymond Loewy to produce a new stylish car. The Studebaker Avanti (Italian for "forward") was a last ditch effort to save the struggling company.

The new car had a fiberglass body and was crash developed in only forty days.

The effort did not help. Studebaker went under in December 1963.

The Avanti, though, lived on under new companies and sales continued on to 2007.