Ex-Raymond Loewy Studebaker Avanti to be offered at Bonhams’ Monaco sale

The great American designer, Raymond Loewy, the man behind the design of the Coke bottle and the Greyhound bus, also penned Studebaker’s unusual Avanti. Bonhams will offer a very special Avanti at its forthcoming 11 May Monaco auction – a 1972 Avanti II Coupé once owned by Loewy himself.

Loewy bought the car direct from the Avanti Motor Corporation, Indiana, in 1972. Studebaker itself had stopped making the car in 1963, but such was its persistent popularity that limited production was maintained in Indiana up to 1991.

The car was then sent via New York to Loewy’s home in Paris: one of the very few Avantis to come to France. Loewy later retired to Monaco, where he died in 1986.

The ex-Loewy Avanti II forms part of a small private collection of cars offered in the sale. It has had three owners from new and is estimated at 35,000 – 50,000 euros.

Photos: Bonhams