The GM F platform was used, and a 5.7-liter V-8 was under the hood. Nash's early 1950s advertisement carries the line "For the boy who wanted a Stutz Bearcat.". Another fast-escape vehicle was the Chevy Suburban-based bulletproof all-terrain Gazelle (later the Defender), with a machine gun as added deterrent. Thereafter, the marque drifted somewhat and, having failed to meet Allen Ryans ambitious projections, was taken over by Bethlehem Steel magnate, Charles M Schwab. There have been a few attempts to revive the marque over the years, and there are rumors now that the name will be brought back for a new line of electric vehicles, one of which will almost certainly be called the Bearcat. Theywere among the fastest cars money could buy, supercars in every sense of the word, with power provided by an engine that almost won at Le Mans in 1932. Later in the cars life it was owned by Dr. Frederick Simeone, a major figure in American car collecting. [3], Other replicas have been built by individuals. This Stutz Bearcat II has only 1,369 miles on it, and has never been titled. Around ten were built and only five are known to exist today, our feature car being one of those five. The history of the Stutz Motor Company. and showed a Triumph driver, complete with raccoon coat, next to an early 1920s Bearcat, in a campus setting. Only one D'Italia was ever made, although others have done Blackhawk conversions as well (i.e. Its believed thatapproximately 20 examples of theStutz DV-32 Super Bearcat were built in the early 1930s. Send the writer a note: kristin.shaw@thedrive.com. The Stutz DV-32 Super Bearcat was given a short, low-slung chassis with a sporting body and an advanced double overhead cam inline-eight engine with four-valves per cylinder producing 156 hp and a hefty 300 ft lbs of torque. In 1911, the company produces car Indianapolis 500 with the slogan "the car that makes the day better."The following year , Harry changed the company name to Harry Stutz and starts production roadsters like the famous Stutz Bearcat.Stutz- E series there in 1914 Stutz was president and Allan A. Ryan vice-president.[1]. Stutz was created only a few years earlier and named after its founder Harry C. Stutz, who had previously worked at Marmon. Harry Stutz left Stutz Motor on July 1, 1919, and together with Henry Campbell established the H. C. S. Motor Car Company and Stutz Fire Apparatus Company. In comparison, today's Ferrari FF rides on a 117.7 inch . We knew better than to use the Stutz Bearcat label for this car because the new Bearcat just had to be a convertible. "John D'Agostino Black Hawk custom (Madle.org)", "The complete line of Stutz cars, December 1914", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stutz_Bearcat&oldid=1126752073, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 11 December 2022, at 01:43. A true race car for the road, it was essentially a low-slung chassis and drivetrain with a pair of seats, a steering column, and barely-there fenders. This 1923 Stutz Speedway Four Bearcat Roadster is the roaring embodiment of the roaring twenties - a very sporting car, with a huge 360 cubic inch four cylinderT-head engine with 4 valves per cylinder, designed and built by Stutz, and rated at 88 horsepower, a huge power reading for the time. The number of cars produced increased to 2,207 in 1917. (750ml). In 1940, Eli Lilly And Company purchased the Stutz factory buildings to establish its "Creative Packaging" division . 1912 Stutz racer- Gil Anderson Illinois Chicago Historical Society. The Stutz was marketed as the "World's Most Expensive Car" with a Royale limousine priced at $285,000 and a Blackhawk coup over US$115,000 in 1984[9]. The Car That Made Good In A Day However, Harry Stutz was an engineer foremost and a reluctant company director, so he left Stutz on July 1, 1919 and together with Henry Campbell established the H C S Motor Car Company and Stutz Fire Apparatus Company. This car is an extraordinary piece of American automotive history and is in such good condition that it still has the original fabric skin it was first fitted with back in 1932. As a part of the listing process, the number of cars produced and sold since 1912 was reported to potential investors: 1913, 759; 1914, 649; 1915, 1,079; 1916 (first six months) 874. Abarth. Common with racing and sports cars of the period, it featured minimal bodywork consisting of a "dog house" hood, open bucket seats, a tiny "monocle" windscreen in front of the driver, and a cylindrical fuel tank on a short rear deck. This post is part of our ongoing museum series, which was created to bring the stories from museums around the world to The Drive readers. The Stutz Bearcat was an American sports car of the pre- and post- World War I period. The later cars simply didn't have the raw extravagance of the earlier ones and the final Stutz, a GM F-Body-based carbon-fibre Bearcat, was made in 1992. Car customizer George Barris made two much more accurate replicas for the 1971 television series Bearcats!. The first model was completed in December 1969. cargallery From shop cargallery. A high performance roadster built by the Stutz Motor Company of Indianapolis , Indiana formerly the Ideal Motor Car Companythe Bearcat was designed to appeal to the wealthy client with a "need for speed.". Engines were V8s, originally 400 or 460 cubic inches (6.6 or 7.5L), but by 1984 the Victoria, Blackhawk, and Bearcat came with a 160hp (119kW; 162PS), 350.0-cubic-inch (5.7L) engine while the Royale had a 424.8-cubic-inch (7.0L) Oldsmobile engine rated at 180hp (134kW; 182PS). The depression had not been kind to Stutz, so the name was used as a way to boost sales. The Bearcat continued the tradition of lightweight construction, a potent engine, and superior performance. Free with trial. Keen to expand the company, Harry Stutz allowed Wall Street financier Allen Ryan to float the Stutz Motor Car Company of America Inc on the New York Stock Exchange in 1916. Episode - "The Trouble with Trillions" The Stutz Bearcat was a series of sports cars that were introduced in 1911. Ross Chastain Will Not Ride the Wall Again . If your only knowledge of adventure novelist Clive Cussler is that you saw the 2005 screenplay adaptation of Sahara in 2005, you started off on the wrong foot. The company, however, failed and closed in 1937. Safety measures included wire-reinforced `shatterproof glass and four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes. Eugene Van Rensselaer Thayer Jr. (18811937), Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, List of automobiles manufactured in the United States, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stutz_Motor_Company&oldid=1126752088, Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States, Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Indiana, Manufacturing companies based in Indianapolis, Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1911, Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1935, Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1971, Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1992, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from July 2015, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from July 2016, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. The Bearcat was a creation inspired by an Indy sports car racer built by the Stutz Motor Company in 1911. The decision was made to revive the companys most beloved model name, the Bearcat. 1932 Stutz Vertical Eight SV-16 roadster body by Derham. Elvis Presley bought the first Blackhawk in 1971, and later purchased three more. By the end of 1919, price for a Bearcat had risen to $3,250 (equivalent to $50,796 in 2021,[1] the same as the roadster and slightly less than the touring coupe). The Bearcat is the convertible version of the Stutz Blackhawk. From Jim Gibson & Allan Whiting directly to your inbox. According to Elvis estate Graceland, the superstars favorite car and the last automobile he drove in public was his 1973 Stutz Blackhawk III. Stutz's most famous product, the legendary Bearcat was one of the first true sports cars, being stripped of all but the bare essentials and offering little in the way of weather protection or comfort. Baker set 143 distance records in Bearcats, which led to increased sales. 1918 Stutz Series S Close-Coupled Touring. The Super Bearcat had a tight convertible top, roll-up windows and an advanced integral luggage trunk. A smaller Wisconsin six-cylinder engine was also available. Unopened bottle in original box. 1920' Stutz Bearcat. The Bearcat switched with the Blackhawk to the GM B platform in 1980, with the exterior continuing the Blackhawk's exposed trunk-mounted spare tire and freestanding headlamps. Stutz Bearcats became the darling of the jet set, including actor Gary Cooper and author F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is thought about a dozen were completed. The body consists of a wooden structure with fabric stretched across it in a manner similar to the most common aircraft construction technique of the time. The new Bearcat used the GM A platform shared with the Blackhawk, and was essentially a Targa top coupe. YouTuber Wrecks New GMC Hummer EV After Nine Miles. The 1915-1922 Stutz Bearcat is one of the most treasured classic cars of all time. The name lasted from 1914 through 1934. 1988 Stutz Bearcat II -Source144 . His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. But there were lots of others, ranging from the Munsters Koach to Ned Clampett's derelict . The car would be completely new of course and not share any parts with its predecessor, in order to ensure that it was technologically advanced enough to be a true competitor. Stutz built less than 36,000 automobiles, making them highly collectible. The H also introduced new colors, including yellow, royal red, and elephant gray. Just 12 or 13 Bearcat IIs were produced between 1987 and 1995. Notable owners included the Sultan of Brunei, who owned two. The original GM 350-cubic-inch V-8 is under the hood. Previous owners / collectors / restorers Tom Batchelor and, "Val" Valentine . Automotive engineer Frederick E. Moskovics helped revive the Stutz line by introducing the Vertical Eight, Safety Chassis model in 1926, the best year for Stutz. To find new investment capital for expansion Stutz Motor Car Company (of Indiana) was sold in 1916 to Stutz Motor Car Company of America under an agreement with a consortium to list the specially organized holding company's stock on the New York Stock Exchange. customizer John D'Agostino). As one of the earliest true sports cars, the 1912-1916 Stutz Bearcat models have the highest value. The 1912 Stutz Bearcat on display in the Art and the Automobile exhibit, was the forerunner of the modern sports car. This was during the so-called "cylinders race" of the early 1930s when makers of some expensive cars were rushing to produce multi-cylinder engines. The engine was based on the original Stutz Vertical Eight from 1926 and was a 322-cubic inch powerplant that included dual overhead camshafts and angled valves above the hemispherical combustion chambers. He then organized the Stutz Motor Car Company in May 1913 through the merger of the Stutz Auto Parts and Ideal Motor Car companies. The BMW i8 Roadster two-seater with full electric convertible top that opens in under 16 seconds. The Stutz straight-eight, 4.7-litre engine had a nine-bearing crankshaft, single, chain-driven, overhead-camshaft and dual-ignition. Warren Liu became its main shareholder and took over ownership of Stutz Motor Cars in 1982. More Photo @ Stutz Bearcat Series K D-H Photo Album. Stutz Motor filed for bankruptcy in April 1937, though its assets exceeded its liabilities. Stutz Factory. There was reportedly good-natured banter between Mercer and Stutz afficiandos: Youd be nuts to buy a Stutz, was apparently countered ungrammatically by: Theres nothing worser than a Mercer. The Bearcat II was based on the Pontiac Firebird chassis with 5.7-liter (350in3) V8 multi-port fuel-injected Corvette engine and had a lightweight, dent- and corrosion-proof body made of what Stutz called Diamond Fiber Comp., a kind of carbon-fiber composite. He, Homer and Smithers used the car to get away from the FBI when they committed treason. Sitting some five to eight inches closer to the ground than the class average endowed the `Vertical Eight with superior handling and roadholding capabilities. If you really wanted to go nuts, a six-cylinder version was available. Lets get straight right away that the Stutz Bearcat IIlike the one currently offered on eBay has absolutely nothing in common with the original, which debuted in 1912. Stutz is a name that is synonymous with Bentley and Bugatti; they raced against each other. Coasting on the success of Americas first sports car, the Bearcat, Stutz kept cranking out cars but it was the beginning of the end for this groundbreaking automaker. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges. The new owners brought in Frederick Ewan Moskowics, formerly of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, Marmon, and Franklin, in 1923. On August 16, 1977, a passerby nabbed a . Free with trial. To prove the worth of his integrated gearbox and final drive, he and Henry built the first Stutz in five weeks, in 1911 and entered it in the first Indianapolis 500. Behind the Laughter . Wearing a set of Goodrich Silvertown whitewall tires - distinguished by the double diamonds on the sidewall - the shortened chassis of the 1932 Stutz Super Bearcat is clearly apparent. A product of the Indianapolis Bicentennial effort (202021), the digital Encyclopedia of Indianapolis integrates and accesses the explosion and fragmentation of knowledge created both as born-digital information and as a large new digital archive. Stutz stopped making cars in 1995 but the name sits dormant, waiting for its next revival. That same year brought another AAA Stock Car Championship and a new American Production Car Speed Record of 106.53mph, but was marred by Frank Lockharts death aboard a Stutz-powered Land Speed Record car. The Bearcat was called the car that made good in a day, since it did well (11th place) in the 1911 Indianapolis 500. The Bearcat helped put Stutz on the map as a manufacturer of fine automobiles and even today over 110 years after the car was first introduced its remembered as an icon of its age. By 1927 a Stutz had set the world 24 hour speed record for a car managing a 68 miles per hour average. 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