Studebaker Avanti "Bonneville Record Breaker"

Fantastic sound! Really cool video

The R5 Avanti was not an R4 engine. It was a modification of the R3 engine using a Bendix-Novi fuel injection unit feeding dual Paxton blowers into a custom build intake manifold built by the Granatelli's.

The car if the "DUE CENTO", not Due Centro. This error was published in one of the automobile magazines and has caused alot of confusion within the ranks.

The film is a wonderful promotional film, however the car shown in most of the film is a production car used to create a reinactment of the Bonneville accomplishments. Notice that it did not have a rollbar installed. It is shown at the end of the film where the cars are parked and Andy is filmed beside the car. Also, the "wonderful" shot at the end of the film, which is a bit hazy, is the REAL DEAL!

Not sure I agree here, all Avantis had roll bars. If you look at the interior of an Avanti, it has a roll bar built into the roof and covered with padding. I own one so I know this is true. The whole point about this promotion was that the car was indeed "stock", unmodified, un changed. That's point of the record. This class recored is for cars that are driven off the show room floor.

The rollbar in an Avanti is more of a safety hoop than it is a rollbar and is not sanctioned as a rollbar in any competition events. The car did indeed qualify as a Stock car, however it was modified as it had the Prototype R3 engine (299 cubic inches) in it when it set 29 records. If you look closely at the film you will see the rollbar in the real car, actually it is a full rollcage. I have owned the Due Cento since 1968 and am therefore familiar with which shots are the real deal.

The R4 powered Avanti they called "Duo Centro" managed around 196mph. :)

Well, technically, yes. The only reason it didn't break the 200 mph mark is because it couldn't gain enough traction, not because of engine limitations.

Excellent video! Thanks for posting it. :-) Having riddin in a R3 and a R4 Avanti a few times, they really are amazing cars! They are capable of things that a R1 or R2 just cannot do! Something isn't right, if the window really was down at those record-breaking speeds, the back glass would've popped out. :-) And as far as the car being 'factory stock', well, not ALL the Avanti's had a Granatelli "massaged" R3 under the hood... ;-) MB

I use to live in Switzerland and belonged to the Swiss Avanti Owners Association. We made a trip once as a group back in 1998 with our Avantis down to Italy. I don't recall the mans name but he did own an Avanti and lived in Italy. I did get to see one of them. I might even have pictures of it somewhere :O)