Our friends over at the drag racing and vintage car-obsessed YouTube channel Cars and Zebras recently posted a video of a 1970 Buick Skylark lining up at the start lights alongside a very rare and seldom-seen piece of American automotive history: a 1963 Studebaker Avanti R2.
The Studebaker Avanti R2 was a high-performance version of the luxury coupe that featured a Paxton supercharged version of the standard 289 cubic-inch V8 engine. While this setup produced a very respectable (and likely underrated) 289 horsepower and 303 pound-feet of torque, it wasn’t very popular among buyers – namely because the supercharger’s presence meant there was no room under the hood for air conditioning. As a result, the South Bend, Indiana-based automaker only ended up selling 1,552 examples of the performance-focused Avanti R2 for the 1963 model year, making this one of the rarer vehicles featured on Cars and Zebras’ channel.
Lining up alongside the unique supercharged two-door for this heads-up, pure stock drag race is a 1970 Buick Skylark. This mean-looking white over black Skylark came from the factory with the high-performance, high compression GM 350 V8 that powered the Buick GS 350, which doled out a factory-rated 315 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque. This car also came equipped with the optional three-speed automatic transmission and 3.70 rear gearing. According to Cars and Zebras, this car tips the scales at 3,724 pounds with the driver included, which is slightly more than the Avanti’s race weight of 3,610 pounds.
Everyone is a winner in this drag race, in our opinion. Both of these owners (especially the Avanti R2 owner) are out enjoying their rather rare and valuable muscle cars how they were meant to be enjoyed, and we viewers get the pleasure of seeing two seldom-seen muscle cars go head-to-head. Check out the video embedded below.
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Comments
Two beautiful cars. I don’t think the lack of A/C had much to do with the sales of the R2 Avanti. The Buick is obviously set up for the drags, not the Avanti.
My brother had one of those R2-289s in his garage..Sadly when the crack heads cleaned it out the super charger vanished. You would have easier time buying a honest politician than that item.
Wow watch the video at the end. That R2 sounds amazing
I had a 68 Buick GS350 4 speed stock it ran with my neighbors 383 road runner👍👍. Torque wins races wit h Hp. 👍👍
I never thought a 350 Skylark could break into the 13’s! Very impressive!