On March 22, 1961, industrial designer
Raymond Loewy made this sketch of a futuristic sports car at the request of Sherwood Egbert, the recently appointed president of the ailing Studebaker Corporation. Egbert charged Loewy to design a new car bold enough to capture the popular imagination and boost the company's sagging fortunes. Loewy and his team of designers produced a prototype in record time, and the Avanti debuted in the spring of 1962 to rave reviews. A series of production problems stalled distribution of the popular model, however, and the Studebaker Corporation discontinued its production in October 1963. In 1965, Nathan Altman and Leo Newman formed the Avanti Motor Corporation and began producing the car in the former Studebaker plant in South Bend, Indiana. Over the course of his career, Raymond Loewy helped establish the profession of industrial design. He became well known, in the 1930s and 1940s, for his distinctive design of a wide array of household products. Raymond Loewy Associates, organized in 1945 with five partners, became the largest industrial design firm in the world.
- Architecture and Interior Design for 20th Century America, 1935-1955 includes a large selection of photographs pertaining to Loewy's career; to find them, search the collection on Loewy or Loewy AND automobile.
- To find more information about the history of technology and invention, go to Gallery C of the Reason section of the American Treasures of the Library of Congress and scroll down.
- Search on the terms automobile or car in the collection Prosperity and Thrift, 1921-1929 for information on America's favorite mode of transportation in the decade before Raymond Loewy came into his own as a designer. For example, see High School Girls Learn the Art of Automobile Mechanics in 1927, or read selections from the 1924 Popular Mechanics Automobile Tourist's Handbook.
- Explore the exhibit The Work of Charles Eames and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention. At the end of World War II the Eameses joined a larger movement of architects and builders aiming to design for the masses.
