To meet Studebaker’s deadline, Loewy and his design team set up shop in a rented bungalow in Palm Springs, California, not far from one of Loewy’s homes. The team consisted of John Ebstein, a longtime Loewy lieutenant who served as the Avanti’s project coordinator, Bob Andrews another Loewy veteran whose...

Sales were slow at Studebaker in early 1961. This was not an unfamiliar position as Studebaker had lost money each of the previous eight years except for one (1959). In an effort to right the ship, Studebaker’s board of directors brought in a new president on February 1, 1961, and...