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(The article below appeared in the summer 1996 issue of Avanti Magazine (issue #96). The photos in the article are of the first AVX prototype. Tom Kellogg made a number of styling changes since these photos were taken, and the production cars are significantly different.) Millersville, PA. To most people, the phrase "What might have been" is wishful thinking. To Avanti enthusiast Jim Bunting, it's a challenge. Not satisfied to be merely a fan and collector, Jim has taken his approach to the hobby in a very unique direction. To put it simply, he's creating an alternate history for the Avanti. His first effort at rewriting the history books resulted in a fully developed design for a two&endash;seat 1963 Avanti. The styling for this short&endash;but&endash;sweet sports car was commissioned by Jim from none other than Tom Kellogg, one of the original members of Raymond Loewy's Avanti design team. A full report on this design exercise was featured in issue 85 of Avanti Magazine, and at this writing, construction of the actual car is well underway. But Jim and Tom didn't stop there. Instead, they began speculating what might have happened had Studebaker survived. What if the Studebaker Avanti had enjoyed a normal, long&endash;term development life? What if it had remained in production from 1963 to today? What would a completely contemporary 1996 Avanti look like? Thus, the AVX project was born.
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