[unimogjohn]

September 30, 2009.

Refresh, I hope. Thought I would start a thread of my latest project to be. I have just completed a total three year restoration of a 1923 McLaughlin Buick, Model 45, Export; and have an original 1928 Buick, model 29, Town Brougham. So decided that it was my wife's turn for her favorite car. She said Avanti. So have been looking for about 6 months and finally found a car in RI. I am in VA. So we reached a deal, and we are heading up to pick it up and trailer it home on October 1st. It will take us a couple of days to get it home, about 1,200 round trip.

Here is what I know about the car now. Two owner car, in same family for the past 37 years; has had a repaint from maroon to misty blue; seats were maroon now vinyl painted black; 44K original miles; no modifications done; auto with the Paxton Supercharger. Current owner is 73, and does not have any time to spend on the car and realized that he was never going to get it going.

Now for the issues. Not running due to dead battery, fuel leaks around carb, a leaking radiator, and little brakes. Not run in at least two years.

Have only seen pictures on Craig's list, and he does not have a digital camera; so we agreed that no money would change hands until we actually saw it, including a deposit. So we have a bit of final negotiations to due when we get there, but if the car is half of what he describes over the phone, then we have a deal and will load her up and take her home. If not, then it was a nice ride with the wife and our dog.

Will post pictures when we get back from the trip and will keep everyone updated.

It is my goal to get the car running and stopping; and to give it a good cleaning. Then we will figure out what needs and should be done to make us a good, presentable, reliable, original driver.

This will be my first 60s car since high school. Should be lots of fun.

John

[Gary Hearn]

John,

Good luck on your purchase. If your trip does not pan out, I have a late '64 R-2 that I would sell and the car is only a couple of hours south of you on Rt. 522.

Gary

[unimogjohn]

Gary, heading up in a few hours. If I have to walk away will give you a shout.

[Gary Hearn]

Good luck on your trip. If it doesn't work out, my car is 55 miles south of Culpeper.

[unimogjohn]

October 3rd. Made it home. 1,100 miles with a drive time of 23 hours in two days. We bought the 63 R2 Avanti. Not as good as I had hoped, but better than I feared. It is a 46 year old car, and still all original. So we dickered a bit on price, struck a deal, and the old girl is ours. Original owner is now 90 and second owner 77. Color is a dark green, repaint from Maroon/Red. Interior has been resprayed black from Maroon.

The good: Complete, no missing parts from what I can see from a visual inspection. No frame or rail rust except the rear cross brace. 44K showing on the odometer. No body damage, bumpers are all in great condition, except missing one rubber on the front bumper corner. Interior looks great, but driver's seat torn due to age, everything is there including two good visors.

The bad: Does not run due to leak in cooling system and fuel disconnected. Did run three years ago before fuel leak. Has not been out of the garage for at least ten years. Missing only the front parking light lenses, cut out clear plastic as replacements. Supercharger disconnected as has different carb, supercharger has disconnected for 30 years. Have original carb for supercharger. Brakes non functional. Will need a re-paint. Some trim and hood off the car as previous owner decided to make some repairs, and then lost interest. Tires are new, but age cracking, will need to be replaced. Brakes are a big unknown, but really not an issue in the short term.

My current plan is really a short term one, get her running under her own power and drive her off the trailer.

Things to do first:

Driver's side window is off the track and will not go up, so that has to be immediately addressed.

Trunk does not latch, maybe just a stuck cable. Will investigate.

Determine location of coolant and fuel leaks. Repair as needed.

Put in a new battery, turn the key, see if she will start.

Then on to brakes.

Well that is it for this first real report, I am sure that I will find many other things over the next few days. Will keep you all posted. My goal is get a great mechanical driver before we tackle the paint and interior. Actually, she looks great as a survivor, but I doubt that we will keep her in such a condition. She deserves to be all cleaned up and looking good.

[unimogjohn]

First day at home, got started around 10 AM, quit around 5 PM.

Got the driver's side window up, an arm is bent and is catching the bottom of the window channel mounting when you put the window all the way down, so going up it catches. The arm is really beefy so how it got bent escapes me. I will have to take out the mechanism anyway to replace seals, etc. At least I know what it is and the window is up. Until fixed we will just not put it all the way down.

Oh, the original color is not maroon like the seller said. It is Avanti Red with red interior. The seats were upgraded as they have the perforations in the center panels.

The serial number is 63R2502. It was therefore built in January of 63, one of 592 that month. The total run for the car by Studebaker was 4647, so ours was the 1,501 built the total production run.

Opened the hood, thought that the hinge was just disconnected, NOT. They cut out the entire mechanism, why I have no idea. So have some fiberglass work to do to make a new mounting point. At least I have the hinge. We have removed the entire hood until I get it fixed. That is OK as it makes the engine access easier for now

The engine bay is crap, hoses to no where, disconnected wires, old rubber, nasty carb with manual choke (not standard). Oh well, I expected it. Going to drain the old fuel out, looks like orange pee, and put in some new fuel before we try to start it. It has what looks to be a new battery, but dead. Have it on the charger to see what happens. It is a long 12 volt. Supercharger turns, but rough, but really do not know how good it is at this point. The special sealed supercharger carb will go to a specialist rebuilder. For now I will run with the carb now on it now until we can get it ready for the supercharger. The rear end is posi-traction.

Rear brace under the tire well is about half eaten away from rust, will have to be replaced at some point. The leaf springs are flat, I think that they should have a concave curve, they may need to be replaced. Will have to do more research.

Got the trunk latch working. A good cleaning and a little new great was all it took.

Filled the radiator with water, thought it would leak like a fire hose. Nothing, holds water fine for now.

Reconnected the fuel lines with new hose and filter. Will put in 5 gallons of fresh gas tomorrow, and then will see if it will START.

Should be an interesting day.

If anyone wants a pic of something in particular, just email me at unimogjohn@aol.com

[unimogjohn]

OK, it is the second work day, still excited, ready to go. Planned on trying to start it today.

Here is the recap of today's activities. Started at 10 AM, quit at 5 PM.

Progress: Ordered all new drive belts to include the supercharger; ordered the molded hoses for upper and lower radiator/engine.

Changed oil and filter. The old oil was a black as night.

Flushed the lines of old fuel, and made sure that good clean fuel was getting to the carb through a new filter. Lots of crap came out, but it is now clean.

Installed the battery as it showed that it was charged. Lights work, interior lights work, brake lights OK, turn signals, NOT. Radio, NOT. Horn NOT.

The bad and the ugly: battery immediately went to a discharge, so jumped the car with van battery. Nothing when the ignition key is turned, bad ignition, you have to push on the key to get it to make contact, slowly the engine started to turn. it coughed once. that was it. Fuel pouring into the carb, no way would it start.

So I opened up the carb, worse I have never seen, total crapola. To make matters worse they jammed the second set of butterflies and bent the rod so they would never open. trying to make a two barrel carb during the fuel shortage of the 70s I guess. So the carb is really junk, I do not think that it is worth even trying to get it clean and working as it is just mechanically broken.

Going to order a new special battery, rectangle and long. Have not decided what to do about the carb yet. Will sleep on it and make a decision tomorrow.

Here are pics of the carb.

[keiser31]

I have seen a LOT of carbs dirtier than that one. Some of the ones I have restored were actually corroded. That one you have looks like an easy fix. I LOVE that car.....you scored!!

[unimogjohn]

Taking the day off today to do farm and chores. Have contacted an Avanti carb and supercharger re-builder so will see what he says about my sealed carb. Will order a correct size Interstate Battery from my local shop today too. I do have an offer for a "loaner" carb until mine is rebuilt. Will make that decision is a couple of days. Still lots of cleaning to do inside the car, has not been touched in many years.

On an interesting note, just received a comment on the Stude forum that he remembers the car in RI in 1977. He gave me the name of the owner at that time. Small word indeed.

Heading to Hershey on Wednesday, hope to find some parts for all my cars. Always an adventure. Only one day this year, next year it will be the usual three. Should be some Avanti parts to find.

[Gary Hearn]

John,

Do not attempt to run the engine with the supercharger on it without going through it. At a minimum, it needs cleaning and new oil, it is probably much worse off. Good cores are going in the $500 range, so it is a valuable piece.

I would also check with NAPA, a local farm dealership (perhaps Tractor Supply) or the ones on Rt. 29 for a battery. While my '64 takes a regular battery, the early cars take ones that looked like what my IH 806 used.

Good luck!

Gary