The birth of Avanti is a short happy story. Sherwood Egbert, president of Studebaker, phoned Raymond Loewy in Palm Springs early in March 1961 to ask if he would design a sports car. Loewy agreed and flew to South Bend. On March 6, with Gene Hardig present, Loewy got the assignment: The car had to be built on an existing chassis, and Hardig gave him a full-size blueprint to take back to California. Although Egbert promoted the sports-car idea for a specific market, he had never actually had a specific concept in mind, and he never showed any conceptual sketches to Hardig or Loewy.

On March 9, and for the next few days, Loewy began work in his studio on sketches for the car he envisioned. He provided side elevations, front and rear views, as well as a horizontal projection, and mounted the group on 36x18-inch cardboard panels. Then he rented a two-room building in the desert where the designers he had selected as colleagues could work and sleep. Rented drafting tables were installed and the wood and clay purchased.

On March 19, conceptual panels were taped to walls and Loewy explained Studebaker's mandate and his design notion. Loewy emphasized: minimize chrome; avoid decorative moldings; accent wedge-shape; stress long, down-slanted hood; abbreviate rear and tuck under; place instrument panel overhead, above windshield as in aircraft; install aircraft-type levers on the console; pinch waistline, as le Mans-type racing cars; design hoods with off-center panel; accent spacecraft "reentry curve" wheel openings; simple disc wheels; above all, think aerodynamics.

Seven days later, a 1/4 size clay model and perspective renderings were ready, and Loewy flew to South Bend to show them to Egbert. He and Gene Hardig gave their approval, and Loewy flew back to Palm Springs to complete work on the detailing. Piloting his own small aircraft on April 2, Egbert arrived in Palm Springs, liked what he saw, stayed only an hour, and flew back to South Bend. Two days later Loewy flew to South Bend where work began on a full-size clay mock-up—an amazing fifteen days from the project's inception. Loewy supervised its development, modeling some areas himself. On April 27, they presented the clay mock-up to the Studebaker board—it recieved a standing ovation and was enthusiastically accepted. Loewy Website