WIXOM, Mich. - Demand comes from out of state and overseas for the sleek product that was once supposed to save Studebaker. People still want Avanti cars and parts, and Dan Booth has both at his Nostalgic Motor Cars in Wixom. But he's not in the business of trying to revive a market for the unique vehicle. Not anymore at least. "I don't need any more business," Booth said on a hot day in June. "This is a hobby shop. I'm almost 73." Booth said he just likes to work on the Avanti cars, and he has a few dozen of them in various states of disrepair on his lot, and a warehouse full of hundreds of parts and accessories.

"I'm addicted to cars, and I have a lot of cars," he said.

Dan Booth sells Avanti cars and parts from his Nostalgic Motor Cars business in Wixom, Mich.

The Avanti was first built as a luxury sport coupe for Studebaker, a kind of last-ditch effort to revive the struggling South Bend, Indiana-based automaker in the early 1960s. It was designed by a team led by Raymond Loewy, famous for his work on a variety of mid-20th century locomotives, planes, Studebaker and Lincoln cars, Electrolux appliances and a redesign of the Coca Cola bottle in 1955.

The Studebaker Avanti was designed with a fiberglass body and a built-in roll bar. Its aerodynamic styling and factory V-8 engine helped make it an incredibly fast car for its time, hitting a top speed of nearly 200 miles per hour.

The car was a two-door, but with four bucket seats, and it had advanced safety features with a padded interior and caliper disc brakes.

"The rakish 1963-64 Studebaker Avanti was among the most daring 1960s American cars, a modern masterpiece with totally unique American styling that even top exotic Italian auto stylists wouldn't attempt to do," former Chicago Sun-Times automotive editor and columnist Dan Jedlicka wrote of the car.

Dan Booth sells Avanti cars and parts from his Nostalgic Motor Cars business in Wixom, Mich.

Despite the ambition surrounding the forward-thinking Studebaker Avanti, the car's rushed production schedule did little to turn around the fortune of the failing, 100-year-old car company.   But when Studebaker shut down, Avanti cars would live on as Avanti Motor Corporation, when two Indiana dealers bought the rights, tooling and plant for the cars. That set in motion a series of independent ownerships that would keep meager production of Avanti cars alive into the 2000s.

They used leftover Studebaker parts, but were outfitted with Ford and Chevy chassis and engines.

Booth became a servicer and dealer for Avanti in the early 70s, and was a new car dealer for the small car company by the end of the decade.

"It was one of the best-kept secrets because nobody knew about it. They didn't advertise," he said.

He's since gathered hundreds of parts, signs and accessories like serving trays, which incidentally are for sale for $75.

Dan Booth sells Avanti cars and parts from his Nostalgic Motor Cars business in Wixom, Mich.

Studebaker built 4,647 Avanti cars, and Booth said there were about 3,000 post-Studebaker Avantis built. Today, Avanti cars in good to excellent condition typically sell in the $13,000-$30,000 range.

Booth is about to ship a 1963 Avanti to Florida, where the new owner has bought the car sight-unseen.

"He's saw pictures of it, but he saw pictures of it in bare fiberglass," Booth said.

It's since been painted in its original gold color scheme.

Another Avanti is headed to Indiana. One is destined for Australia. And a third is being restored for a customer in Arizona.

The Arizona-bound Avanti is getting new paint, new interior, new weather seals and chrome bumpers.

"He wanted air conditioning added to it, and that's what's held it up, because I've got to do it between phone calls," Booth said.

Booth said he fields calls from all over the country from potential Avanti owners who are not necessarily looking for parts, but rather just trying to gain intelligence on a purchase they're eyeing. His advice is to buy a restored one in the $20,000-$25,000 range, rather than spending $8,000 or so on a beat-up Avanti that will likely cost more to fix than it's worth.

And Avanti enthusiasts can come to Booth for parts, but he'd rather not be the one to install them.

He has his own hobby keeping him busy.

"I work all by myself, and I just can't keep up," he said.

Further reading on the history of Avanti cars:

David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.

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