7. Studebaker Avanti R2
In the early ’60s, Studebaker management invested in a luxury coupe to fight poor sales. They thought that a fancy upscale model would attract customers to Studebaker. So in 1962, the sleek, modern-looking Avanti was introduced. The innovative design, construction, and technology were fascinating. The car received praise from the motoring press. The base version wasn’t very powerful, but soon Studebaker introduced a supercharged R2 option that delivered 289 HP (via Hymanltd).

Many performance upgrades were included. The Avanti became a pretty fast machine. The R2 model even broke 28 world speed records achieving a top speed of 170 mph, a big deal in 1963. The R2 could sprint to 60 mph in 7.3 seconds. Unfortunately, Studebaker had problems with production. The Avanti also had limited availability, which affected its popularity. So, by 1964, the model was discontinued. Today, the Avanti R2 is widely recognized as one of the coolest ’60s cars and an early luxury muscle car. Over 4,600 examples of Studebaker Avanti were made during its short production run and only a handful of those were the incredible R2.