While visiting my very good pal Randy Panno, proprietor of R&J Auto in scenic Escondido, California, I came across something you don’t see every day - A dragged-out ‘63 Avanti.

The original Avanti, built for just two model years by Studebaker, was available with powerplants ranging from 240 horsepower for the “base” engine all the way up to the Paxton-supercharged R-2 that was rated at 289, all based on the same 232 cubic inch V-8. The customer car in Randy’s shop still has the factory 232, but with a somewhat stouter Novi head unit pushing boost.

Though the air-to-water intercooler is also distinctly non-original, the Avanti still utilizes blow-through carbureted induction, and Randy’s upgraded the fuel system with modern components to keep up with the greater demands placed by the Novi.

Inside, a ratchet-shifted automatic replaces the original 4-speed manual transmission, abandoned after a clutch explosion nearly made the car a writeoff (and made Randy and the car’s owner firm believers in ballistic SFI transmission blankets). As a happy coincidence, the car got a tenth quicker in the eighth with the slushbox added. A custom 6-point rollbar makes the car track-legal, but the rest of the interior is largely as-delivered in ‘63.

The trunk houses the relocated battery, intercooler tank, and high-volume circulating pump. The original fuel tank still serves - since the blown Avanti came with a return-style regulator from the factory, all it took was a plumbing upgrade.

Underneath, there’s been a lot of work done as well. Fabricated box sections up front carry the door bars in to the frame members, and the downtubes plug directly into the rear leaf spring perches. After tearing out a rearend at the track, no effort was spared to reinforce the chassis to endure stresses never envisioned by Studebaker’s engineers. The same clutch explosion that tried to tear the car in half also took out Randy’s hand-fabricated mandrel bent custom exhaust, which was replaced as well.

The end result of hundreds of hours of work and a wheelbarrow full of money is one of the rarest drag cars you’ll ever see, running 7.50’s in the 1/8th mile. I may have the owner convinced to give PSCA Open Comp a shot, and running the numbers indicates the car should be good for bottom 11’s in the quarter. Should be fun to watch…