In the spring of 1961, Sherwood Egbert, the new president of Studebaker, hired
Raymond Loewy to revitalize the
Studebaker public image by designing a radical luxury sport coupe. Loewy agreed to take on the job, despite the rush schedule. He recruited a design team consisting of experienced designers and former Loewy employees,
John Ebstein and
Robert Andrews, as well as
Tom Kellogg, a young student from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The team gathered in
Palm Springs and sequestered themselves in a house leased solely for the purpose of developing the new car design. The Studebaker board approved the concept and the Avanti went into production a few months later. It was a Studebaker for less than two model years then continued as the
Avanti II until 1983. Later versions extended production into the 21st century. A 1963 Studebaker Avanti owned by American actor Dick Van Dyke was displayed in a midcentury design exhibit at the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
