| In the spring of 1961, Sherwood
Egbert, the new president of Studebaker, hired Raymond
Loewy to revitalize Studebaker’s
public image to attract younger buyers. Loewy agreed to take on the job, despite the short schedule allowed
to produce a finished design and scale model. Loewy recruited a design team consisting of experienced designers
and former Loewy employees, John
Ebstein and Robert Andrews, as well as a young student from
Art Center named Tom Kellogg. The
team gathered in Palm Springs and sequestered themselves in a house leased solely for the
purpose of developing the new car design. Each team member had
a role: Andrews and Kellogg handled
the sketching, Ebstein oversaw the
project, and Loewy served as the creative
director, offering input on the design. His main direction included:
Minimize chrome, avoid decorative moldings, accent the wedge-shaped
silhouette, stress long, down-slanted hood, abbreviate the rear
and tuck it under, above all, think aerodynamics. His objectives
also included: Place instrument panel overhead, above windshield
as in aircraft, install aircraft-type knobs and levers on the
console, pinch the waistline, as Le Mans-type racing cars, design
hoods with an off-center panel, accent spacecraft “reentry
curve” wheel openings, and simple disc wheels. The team
met their tight deadline, and together flew to South Bend to
prepare a full-scale clay mock-up. |
The late Robert Andrews, Monroe
native, was one of the four members of the Avanti design
team.
Robert Andrews' signed Avanti drawing. |
