Sherwood Harry Egbert, president of Studebaker-Packard, barreled down the test track at the company's South Bend plant one day last week in a sleek sports coupe, the likes of which no U.S. motorist has ever seen. Still shrouded in deep corporate secrecy, the new car was nonetheless already the talk of Detroit. Christened Avanti (Italian for "Forward"), it is finless, aerodynamically clean, and fast; it may well prove the most talked-of car turned out by any U.S. automaker since Ford Motor Co. introduced its first Thunderbird.
The Avanti is harddriving, flamboyant Sherwood...