“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” It’s a The Lord of the Rings, but it’s just a reminder of the beautiful surprises out there for us.
As I get older, I am starting to embrace the joys of unplanned trips more and more. The other week, plans with family fell through to go to UAW Black Lake, so of all places, I decided to go to South Bend, IN. I booked what seemed to be a well-reviewed and affordable bed and breakfast, and it turned out to be, for me, practically perfect in every way. But not in the way I expected.
The Lore Of Studebaker
From February 2022 to June 2023, I worked for a TV station in Mishakwa, IN, right next door to the more famous city of South Bend. While there, I learned of the area’s continuing passion for Studebaker but never got around to seeing the Studebaker National Museum. With a free weekend, exactly a year removed since I moved back to Michigan, it seemed a good time to catch up with old friends and play tourist.
Doing what any millennial does, I pulled up Google Maps to see what was available and found “The Avanti House.” It was well-reviewed and rates started at $47 a night. No need to look a gift project car in the mouth, I quickly booked my stay and thought nothing of it. The next day, I went down to the charming city of Niles, just north of the Indiana-Michigan border, and enjoyed a nice cocktail, followed by a nice hang with friends and neighbors at my old apartment complex. Once the night was over, it was time to go to the inn, and that’s when some wonderful chaos broke out.
Avanti House I…and II?
The address on Google Maps brought me to the west side of South Bend, right across from the Studebaker National Museum. My jaw dropped. It never occurred to me that my accommodations could be next to my destination. There was also a sign that read “Guest House and Museum.” Walking up to the front door, a sign taped to it said it was a “museum/guesthouse with the Studebaker Avanti theme where the 10 rooms are decorated in Avatni memorabilia and collectibles.” Oh shit! If ever I was going to book a room, this would be the perfect place.
Upon walking inside the enclosed porch, I was greeted by a set of display cases and another illuminated Avanti sign. Inside the actual house, it became a collector’s paradise, with unique prints, posters, and cutouts of Avanti history covering almost every inch of the walls. This distracted me for a while, as I tried to quietly tiptoe through the house while being enthralled by the decor around me.
Eventually, it was time to find my room. I had booked #20, the loft on the third floor. But on the second floor, there was not a second set of stairs. Scouring the house top-to-bottom, I started to feel like I was losing my mind. How does one get to the third floor? I even walked outside and visually confirmed there was a loft structure. It then dawned on me to check the booking email to see if I was at the right address. I was not. Google Maps brought me to Thomas Street and my booking was on Chapin Street. Sheepishly I got back in the car and went a block north and found… Avanti House II.
The stylistic flourishes continued with the second address. Turns out, in addition to being a guest house, it was also the main residence of the Avanti Houses’ owner, Don Linder.
Second time’s the charm and I was quickly able to find my room, the Youngstown Suite, named the second location to see Avanti production, from 1988-1991. After a quick tour of the bedroom and its embroidered Avanti Museum Group towels, it was lights out.
Meet The World’s Biggest Avanti Superfan
The following morning, I had the chance to meet my host, Don. He said he was originally from St. Louis, MO. After high school, he told me, he had signed up for the Air National Guard. He saw deployments to France, Tripoli, and Libya and worked as a technician and on the loading crew. From there, Don worked as a tool and die maker for Alco Valve, which made refrigeration valves that appeared in Chrysler products in the 50s and 60s. This was followed by what appears to have been a successful career in real estate.
As for his love for the Studebaker Avanti, he said it came from a core memory formed in 1963. The then 23-year-old went to an air show in Alton, Illinois.
“They’re in-between acts and these two Avantis just put on a show,” said Don. “I found out later they were hired professional drivers and boy, they showed it. They were putting those Avantis through the stress test. I just melted when I saw the design and then the performance. The hot rod aspect of it really rang my bell. I didn’t get one for 21 years but now I have four of them.”
Those cars would have been something to see in their heyday, as Studebaker billed the Avanti as “the world’s fastest production car.”
From June of 1962 to December of 1963, Studebaker cranked out 4,647 units before the company shut down production in the US.
Thirty years later, Don made his first trip to South Bend and was inspired to start an Avanti car club back in St. Louis. Then while back for the 2012 Studebaker swap meet, he spotted what would become Avanti House I.
“I had all this Avanti memorabilia. And I kind of felt ashamed of not sharing it with people. I went to the Studebaker Museum after The South Bend Studebaker Drivers Club swap meet and… I had a little time to spare. I looked across the street and there was a house for sale, by owner. Bought it for $16,750 and it had 31 broken pads of glass. The roof was caving in in two and a half places. And so, I had quite a bit of work to do.”
The second house came along in 2018 and took a little over a year to get into good condition and regulatory approval from the city.
Rare Cars With Pony Parts
Currently in Don’s possession is a 1990 four-door Avanti (one of 90) and three S197 Mustang-based Avantis: two V8s, red and yellow, and his South Bend daily driver, a white V6. But hold on, if Studebaker shut down its U.S. production in 1963, how are all of Don’s cars from after? Well, the Avanti rights changed hands numerous times over the years, up until its final death in 2006.
Local Studebakers dealers the Altman brothers, Arnold and Nate, and Leo Newman bought the rights to the name and leftover parts in warehouses scattered around South Bend. Per Don, Altman-Newman also leased the buildings for the city and continued the operation under the name “Avanti Motor Corporation.” Nate Altman then passed away in 1976 and five years later, the company was sold to Stephen Blake, a “real estate man out of Washington, D.C.”
Don says this is where quality control issues really started to pop up. Under Newman-Altman, the fiberglass bodies were supposedly left to cure outside for three months. Blake switched to a different paint that supposedly could be immediately applied to the fiberglass to increase turnaround time and production capacity. Lo and behold there were problems and it led to mass recalls. Between this and Blake’s high expenditures in racing, the company went into bankruptcy in 1986.
It was then bought by resort tycoon Michael Kelly for “pennies on the dollar.” Don says Kelly spent a million dollars to try and fix the roof of the South Bend Avanti factory and it still leaked. The Avanti Motor Corporation was quickly sold to shopping center developer John Cafaro in 1987, who moved production to an old steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio. That plant closed in 1991. Eight years later, Kelly reacquired the company and moved production to Georgia, followed by another move in 2005-2006 to his holdings in Mexico. During that time, Avantis were still produced with its legacy fiberglass look, but the underpinnings and much of the interior came from the Ford Mustang.
This also marked the beginning of the end for Avanti. Category 5 Hurricane Wilma hit the Yucatan Penisula hard in October 2005 and caused more than $25 billion in damage overall. Kelly’s Cancun resorts were underinsured, per Don, causing heavy financial setbacks. Kelly was then arrested for “operating what the Justice Department alleged was a $400 million real estate Ponzi scheme,” Autoweek reported in 2007. Kelly died from cancer in 2013. Don, my host, later acquired the three Ford-based Avanti’s from Kelly’s estate.
There Should Be More Car Museum Bed And Breakfasts
Well, Don says his place isn’t a bed and breakfast because “when the owner’s a bad cook, you call it a guest house.” I’ll disagree as there were complementary snack bars in the room and I had those for breakfast. If you need more, guests have access to the kitchen, and if you get the loft, there’s a little kitchenette. Everything was very clean and Don and his housekeeper were very friendly.
Every room at the Avanti House I and II has a different theme, based either on the location of Avanti production, different Studebakers models, and notable figures in the automaker’s history. It’s like if your gearhead grandfather got really into redecorating his historic house and always had friends dropping by for the night.
Its location is also perfect if you’re going to South Bend for an automotive history tour, as it’s literally next door to the museum. It took only a couple of minutes to go from the front door of Avanti House II to get to the museum’s entrance. It’s an even shorter walk if you’re at Avanti House I.
Oh and did I mention the chocolate? In addition to running the guest house/ad-hoc museum, Don’s become a bit of a chocolatier.
That second chocolate is poured into a mold for a ’57 Chevy, but it’s close enough to a Studebaker-Packard Hawk. I won’t tell if you won’t.
After a year away, I need to start going back more often to catch up with them on a regular basis, maybe even catch the annual Studebaker swap meet. I now know where I’m staying, where it’s like you’ve died and gone to Avanti heaven.
What It Was Like Staying At A Car-Themed Hotel With An Epic Museum You Can Visit At 3AM
What It Was Like Staying At A Car-Themed Hotel With An Epic Museum You Can Visit At 3AM
What It Was Like Staying At A Car-Themed Hotel With An Epic Museum You Can Visit At 3AM
NICE! I think you’re becoming the Charles Kuralt of Autopian.