The Stutz Motor Car Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Indianapolis, Indiana that produced high-end sports and luxury cars. The company was founded in 1911 as the Ideal Motor Car Company before merging with the Stutz Auto Parts Company in 1913. Due to the pressures of the Great Depression, the Stutz company went defunct in 1938. The Stutz Motor Car Company produced roughly 39.000 automobiles in their Indianapolis factory during their existence.

The Stutz brand was revived in 1968 as Stutz Motor Car of America, with a focus on producing Neoclassic automobiles. The company is still in existence, but sales of factory-produced vehicles ceased in 1995.

bearcat

The Ideal Motor Car Company, organized in June 1911 by Harry C. Stutz with his friend, Henry F Campbell, began building Stutz cars in Indianapolis in 1911. They set this business up after a car built by Stutz in under five weeks and entered in the name of his Stutz Auto Parts Co. was placed 11th in the Indianapolis 500 earning it the slogan "the car that made good in a day". Ideal built what amounted to copies of the racecar with added fenders and lights and sold them with the model name Stutz Bearcat, Bear Cat being the name of the actual racecar.

The Stutz Bearcat was an American sports car of the pre– and post–World War I period.

Essentially, the Bearcat was a shorter, lighter version of the standard Stutz passenger car's chassis. It was originally powered by a 6.39 L, 60-horsepower straight-four engine produced by the Wisconsin Motor Manufacturing Company. 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. Production Bearcats differed from the factory "White Squadron" racers by having fenders, lights and a trunk. According to factory literature from 1913 the Bearcat "was designed to meet the needs of the customer desiring a car built along the lines of a racing car with a slightly higher gear ratio than our normal torpedo roadster, has met with great favor with motor car owners and meets the demand for a car of this class."

The Series S Bearcat of 1917 brought the first large change to the model. While it retained the 300 cm wheelbase, its body now featured an enclosed cockpit with step-over sides. It continued to be right-hand drive with external gearshift and brake levers. The main change was a new Stutz-designed 6.39 L 16-valve four-cylinder engine.

1917-1924

1931-1934

The Bearcat name was reintroduced in 1931. The depression had not been kind to Stutz, so the name was used as a way to boost sales. The new Bearcat had the DV-32 (32 valve) eight-cylinder engine and each car came with an affidavit saying the car had been tested at 160 km/h. It was a small coupe featuring dual side-mount spare tires and a rakish dip in the doors, similar to contemporary (and future) sports cars. The car lasted through 1933. The same year, the model range was enhanced by the DV-32 powered "Super Bearcat", which offered full weather protection and higher performance. Sitting on a 2900 mm wheelbase, it featured a lightweight fabric body built by Weymann. Stutz production ended in 1934.

aa

1926-1929

Designed by Frederic Moskovics, the Model AA Vertical Eight was introduced in 1926. Responsible for returning the Stutz brand back into the luxury-performance field, Schwab Capturing some of the essence of previous Stutz automobiles, the new AA was in a league of its own. Able to sit lower on its large wheels than competitive cars, the vehicle had a specified Timken worm-drive axle that was combing with a double-drop frame. The Vertical Eight featured hydraulic brakes and 'safety' glass that earned it the name 'Safety Stutz'. The sedan offered a mid-range model that was more affordable for typical family of the 1920's.

Fitted with the newly designed Vertical 8 engine, it was a single overhead cam straight eight that displaced 287 cubic inches. With the help of 'twin ignition' (two spark plugs per cylinder) the new mill delivered 92 horsepower. As luxury buyers heard good reports regarding the model AA's performance, along with its sleek looks, sales jumped to 5,000. Priced at over 3,000, in the beginning it had appeared that the investment would pay off. Schwab had invested much into the development of the V8, but unfortunately sales fell off drastically due to complaints about the Timken hydraulic brakes. The brakes were increasingly temperamental and unstable, though several modifications were made. In 1927 the model was improved by increasing the horsepower to 95 and the engine displacements to 298 cubic inches, but it was too late.

During the stock market crash of 1929, the shrinking demand for super-luxury vehicles had reached its end.

1920

bb

For 1928, the AA became the BB with a number of improvements to the engine and chassis. Now displacing 4.9L, the “Challenger” Vertical Eight was offered with three different compression ratios, ranging from 5:1 to 6:1. Power was up to a reported 145 horsepower – at a time when Packard’s eight made 106 hp and Cadillac’s V8 barely 90 hp. The chassis was the same double-drop type, with Delco-Remy Lovejoy shock absorbers and improved steering. The previous Timken Hydrostatic braking was replaced with a powerful Lockheed hydraulic system, giving the BB impressive braking ability which came in handy on track, with a Stutz BB Blackhawk scoring an impressive 2^nd overall at LeMans behind the Works Bentley 4 ½.

A number of bodies were available on the 131” wheelbase BB chassis, ranging from formal sedans to the sporty Blackhawk, which could be had in four-seat or two-seat configuration. Lightweight and powerful, the Millspaugh & Irish built two-seat boattail BB Blackhawk was known as one of the fastest, best driving cars of the era, with powerful brakes, exquisite steering and that smooth Challenger Vertical Eight engine.

dv 32

Stutz introduced the DV-32 at the 1931 New York Auto Show but even though it was among the most sophisticated machines on the road, very few were sold. Due to the Depression, the market for this high performance luxury cars had all but dried up and Stutz, like many of its rivals faced an inevitable demise. A 'Super Bearcat' two-seater convertible on an even shorter chassis was added to the line-up but did little to change Stutz' fortune. Even though Stutz survived and offered the DV-32 until will into 1936, the last examples had already rolled off the line in 1934.

The existing  SV-8 block, which by this time had grown in size to just under 5.3 litre  was fitted with a brand new head. It featured twin overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder and hemispherical combustion chambers. The camshafts were driven by the crankshaft through a chain mounted at the front of the straight eight. Highlighting the highly sophisticated valve-train, the new engine was dubbed the DV-32. The 32-valve, 'eight' produced 156 bhp; considerably more than the V12s of rivals Packard and Cadillac.

Historians do not agree about the exact number of DV-32s that were built between 1931 and 1934 with figures ranging from as little as 105 and as many as 206.

white squadron

Following the Indy performance, Stutz cars campaigned with good results at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia and the Santa Monica road course in California. The year 1912 brought the first win, at Bakersfield, which was followed by two more at San Jose. Earl Cooper took 4th at Santa Monica, presaging a racing career that would extend to 1928 and make his name almost synonymous with Stutz. He won seven of eight major races in 1913, and with Gil Anderson and Howdy Wilcox, he made up the driving contingent of the famed White Squadron racing team from 1915 to 1917.

The White Squadron was comprised of a fleet of specially designed overhead-camshaft, four-valve-per cylinder racing cars that were painted in dazzling white. The design of the White Squadron Stutz engine borrowed heavily from the 1914 Mercedes grand prix car. The drivers and mechanics were similarly attired in white coveralls. The team, handicapped somewhat by Harry Stutz’s insistence on using standard passenger car gearing, nonetheless rolled up an enviable record, with awards for consistency and setting several long-distance records.

Earl Cooper's Number 8 raced successfully for several years before being sold to a collector. During the 1930s, Cooper repurchased the car and restored it. Cooper donated the Stutz to the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History in 1938.

Stutz Motor filed for bankruptcy in April 1937, though its assets exceeded its liabilities. Creditors were unable to agree on a plan for revival and in April 1939, the bankruptcy court ordered its liquidation.

the revival

In August 1968, New York banker James O'Donnell raised funds and incorporated Stutz Motor Car of America. A prototype of Virgil Exner's Stutz Blackhawk was produced by Ghia, and the car debuted in 1970. All these cars used General Motors running gear, featuring perimeter-type chassis frames, automatic transmission, power steering and power brakes with discs at the front. Features included electric windows, air conditioning, central locking, electric seats, and leather upholstery. The sedans typically included a console for beverages in the rear seat. Engines were V8s, originally 6.6 or 7.5 L, but by 1984 the Victoria, Blackhawk, and Bearcat came with a 160 hp, 5.7 L engine while the Royale had a 7.0 L  Oldsmobile engine rated at 180 hp.

1970–1987 Blackhawk (coupe)

• 1970–1979 - based on the Pontiac Grand Prix
• 1980–1987 - based on the Pontiac Bonneville

1979–1995 Bearcat (convertible)

• 1977 - a converted Blackhawk
• 1979 - based on the Pontiac Grand Prix
• 1980–1986 - based on the Pontiac Bonneville, Buick LeSabre, or Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale
• 1987–1995 - based on the Pontiac Firebird or Chevrolet Camaro

This incarnation of Stutz had some reasonable success selling newly designed Blackhawks, Bearcats, Royale Limousines, IV Portes, and Victorias. Elvis Presley bought the first Blackhawk in 1971, and later purchased three more. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Evel Knievel, Barry White, and Sammy Davis Jr. all owned Stutz cars. The Stutz Blackhawk owned by Lucille Ball was for a time on display at the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino Auto Collection in Las Vegas. The Stutz was marketed as the "World's Most Expensive Car" with a Royale limousine priced at $285,000 and a Blackhawk coupé over US$115,000 in 1984. However, other producers sold secret cars for much more, and the much more expensive Ferrari F40 appeared just 2 years later.

1970–1987 Duplex/IV-Porte/Victoria (sedan)

• 197? Duplex
• 1977–1987 IV-Porte - based on the Pontiac Bonneville, Buick LeSabre, or Oldsmobile 88
• 1981– 1987 Victoria

Production was limited and an estimated 617 cars were built during the company's first 25 years of existence (1971–1995). Sales of Stutz began to wane in 1985, but continued until 1995. Warren Liu became its main shareholder and took over ownership of Stutz Motor Cars in 1982.

defender/gazelle/bear

1984

The Defender, and later Gazelle, and was not much more than an armored Chevy Suburban with a roof panel that could slide back on rails to reveal a pop-up 50-calibre machine gun. The Gazelle was far from the lean and graceful animal it's name implied, but it served it's purpose and became popular enough that 46 future versions were built, each featuring a full convertible roof, a functional trunk lid added over the former storage area in the rear, a combination roll bar/grab handle across the passenger compartment, and fitted with a large chrome grille in the style of their sedans and limos. Renamed the Bear, these were built exclusively for the Saudi and Moroccan Royal families. Stutz evolved the concept further still into a true “sedan” that retained the trunk concept and was essentially a Bear with a roof.