With the company on its last legs in 1961, new Studebaker president Sherwood H. Egbert called on Raymond Loewy (1893-1986) in desperation to design an innovative sports car. Loewy had worked with Studebaker since 1936, designing, with Virgil Exner (1909-1973) and Clair Hodgeman (1911-1992), the lightweight 1939 Champion, the highly successful 1947 postwar models (with Exner), and, with Robert E. Bourke (1916-1996), the acclaimed 1953 hard-top Starliner and Starlight coupes. Demanding (and getting) complete freedom of design, Loewy retreated to Palm Springs with designers Bob Andrews, Tom Kellogg, and John Epstein, working feverishly for 40 days to complete the design, which Loewy named the Avanti. The sleek fiberglass body was put onto a Lark frame, and demonstrated outstanding speed performance on the track. Upon introduction in 1962, the public was so excited that demand immediately exceeded production capacity and many sales were lost. In 1963, Studebaker folded, but Avanti tools and production line were purchased and salvaged by Nathan Altman and Leo Newman. who formed the Avanti Motor Corporation. In 1965, they produced 45 Avanti IIs privately in South Bend, selling them for $6500. Production was low, but by the time of Altman's death in 1976, had increased to 150 cars a year. The company was purchased in 1982 by Stephen Blake, who added a convertible to the line in 1985 but a paint-peeling problem forced the company into Chapter 11. It was sold in 1986 to Mike Kelley and John Cafaro, who moved production facilities to Youngstown, OH in 1987. In 1990, all but a handful of employees were laid off. Increasing governmental regulations were simply too much for such a small company, and in 1991, the Avanti quietly died after nearly 30 years on the scene.

In 1938, the Pennsylvania Railroad introduced the world's largest steam locomotive, the S-1 and distinctive round-ended observation cars for its Broadway Limited. They were designed by Raymond Loewy in collaboration with Paul Philippe Cret, head of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. The S-1, with its bullet-nose, projecting headlight and horizontal chrome strips extending the length of the engine, was an improved version of the K4S Loewy designed for PRR in 1936. The S-1, capable of 100 mph speed, was a feature attraction at the 1939 World's Fair. Only one S-1 was ever built, but like most of Loewy's work for PRR, served as an incredible PRR promotional piece, and not incidentally, identified Loewy forever with the streamlined train. Loewy also designed the T-1 steam locomotive in for PRR, a later version of the S-1 with a wedge-shaped nose. Fifty were built, but they were soon discarded as PRR switched to diesel locomotives. Raymond Loewy (1893-1986), probably the most widely known US industrial designer, was born in Paris. He studied engineering 1910-1914, served in the French army in World War I and arrived in US in 1919. He worked as a fashion illustrator for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and designed costumes for Florenz Ziegfeld. Opening his own office in 1929, his first product assignment was a duplicating machine for Gestetner, which was featured in a 1934 Fortune magazine article. Major clients included Pennsylvania Railroad, Coca-Cola, International Harvester, Studebaker, and NASA. He was on the cover of Time magazine in 1949. He wrote "Never Leave Well Enough Alone" in 1951, and "Industrial Design" in 1979. By 1960, he had a staff of 180. His US office filed for bankruptcy in 1977, closing US offices but keeping those in Europe. On the same day that PRR introduced the S-1, New York Central Railroad introduced 10 new streamliner J-3 steam engines and cars designed by Henry Dreyfuss for its Twentieth Century Limited New-York-Chicago run.

Probably the most widely known US industrial designer.