We have similar tastes - my first two acquisitions in the car hobby were '63 Studebaker Avanti's. Growing up in Baltimore, I encountered a '64 Avanti at the local drive-in restaurant/teen hangout, Ameche's. It was Avanti Red, R2 supercharged engine, 4-speed. I loved it and vowed that I would someday own one.
In 1989, I came across a project car. It had been sitting 9 years after suffering an electrical fire under the hood. Fire does nasty things to a fiberglass body. I was woefully naive about car restoration and thought I could get the car done for $5000. I started gathering parts, picked up an NOS hood and left fender at the former factory in South Bend, other assorted pieces.
After about a year I realized this was a long term project, and somehow persuaded the wife that it made sense to buy another Avanti to drive while I was working on the first. That was one of my better sales jobs ever.I bought another, almost identical to the first, except in driving condition. It became my wife's daily driver for 3 years.
Both cars had originally been Avanti Gold, R1 (un-supercharged) engine, automatic, factory a/c cars.The "burn job" was then in gray primer, the driver had been re-painted white.
The burn job never got done. About 9 years ago I decided that I would modify it into a street/strip car, as I had the done a stock restoration on the wife's car and didn't need two. I am normally a purist, but unfortunately the Avanti's are undervalued in the market, so I didn't see a financial downside to modifying one. I sold the engine & trans to another Studebaker guy and bought a recently rebuilt 454 Chevy engine to drop in. About that time the '65 2+2 became available, so I sold the burn job on Ebay to make space in the garage. I still have the BBC engine if anyone needs it.
The other Avanti is being prepped for sale. When I bought the '63 Cat race car this past spring I promised to sell one of my cars, so I will be Avanti-less for the first time in 25 years. I struggle with that, but, really, how many cars can one drive at a time? I will miss it - they are truly unique, fun cars, Always an attention getter and almost always one-of-a-kind in a crowd of collectible cars.
I do have a preference for the Studebaker's rather than the Avanti II's, but I wish you many miles of enjoyment with yours.