4-Doors of Mystery: 1990 Avanti Touring Sedan
The word Avanti means different things to different people. To Italians, Avanti means “go ahead” or “forward”. To the average American, Avanti means “what?” But to car guys, Avanti means “a strange blend of Studebaker, Ford, Chevrolet, and WTF”. Today’s Avanti is the strangest flavor of Avanti, the 4-door sedan Avanti of which only 90 were built. Find this 1990 Avanti Touring Sedan offered for $12,500 in Torrance, CA via tourbook avanface.
From the seller:
1990 Avanti touring 4 door
$12,500
Listed 5 days ago5 days ago in Torrance, CA
About this vehicle
Driven 41,914 miles
Automatic transmission
Exterior color: Silver · Interior color: Grey
Fuel type: Gasoline
2 owners
This vehicle is paid off
Seller’s description
Rare 1990 Avanti four door touring sedan.
07 of 90 built and covered only 41k miles, propelled by the powerful Chevrolet 5.0 liter V8 engine 305 Ci with 200 4R auto transmission, runs and drives great, clean interior with some faded exterior paint.
Ultra Rare, One of only 90 Produced.
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This is another vehicle that pictures don’t fully capture. I saw one at a car show decades ago and spent way too long going through what I was actually seeing. A neighbor had a coupe project car so I was somewhat familiar with the basic structure of that car, this was oddly different. Same general parts just different. I remember thinking the back seats looked amazingly comfortable.
By this era Avantis were IMO more like Avanti tributes, built on GM frames with GM powertrains and running gear, sharing little but the general body shape (and even less of that for these short-lived 4-doors) with the original Studebaker Avantis or the continuation Avanti II production which followed those.
The Avanti II at least still used NOS Studebaker Lark convertible frames (until that supply finally ran out around ’84) and the original Avanti interiors and body moldings (with minor front-end alterations to fit a variety of SBC engines over the ensuing years).