• Entered from the estate of the late Peter Macey • Studebaker’s Jet Age fibreglass four-seater Coupé • Offered in good, original, unrestored condition, in need of recommissioning • Imported in 1996 and British-registered Studebaker was established in the mid-1800s and was originally a coachbuilder, manufacturing waggons, buggies, carriages, and harnesses.

They entered the automotive business in 1902 initially with electric vehicles, sold under the Studebaker Automobile Company tradename, and over the next fifty years established a reputation for quality, durability and reliability.

The Avanti was developed at the direction of Studebaker president Sherwood Egbert in answer to Ford’s Thunderbird, and the design was allegedly doodled by Egbert on the back of an envelope during a plane flight, with Raymond Loewy commissioned to design a radical sports coupé.

The resulting Avanti comprised a shortened version of the Studebaker Lark Convertible chassis clothed in a futuristic looking fib...