1927 Stutz - Significant Cars, Inc.

Stutz was founded as the Ideal Motor Car Company in Indianapolis IN in 1911. Ideal entered a car in the Indianapoli s 500that year and placed 11th, earning it the slogan, "the car that made good in a day". The next year, the founder, Harry C Stutz , renamed the company Stutz Motor Company and began selling high-performance roadsters like the famous Stutz Bearcat. The Bearcat featured a brawny 4-cylinder T-head engine with four valves per cylinder, one of the earliest multi valve engines.

Stutz was forced to raise money to fund his automobile production, eventually selling the company in 1919 after a falling out with the company's major stockholders, Allen Ryan, who then went bankrupt. In 1922, three Stutz investors, one of whom was Charles Schwab, gained control of the company. The new owners brought in Freerick Moskowics, formerly of Daimler Benz, Marmon, and Franklin, in 1923. Moskowics quickly refocused the company as a developer of safety cars, a recurring theme in the auto industry. In the case of Stutz, the car featured safety glass, a low center of gravity for better handling, and a hill-holding transmission called "Noback". One notable advance was the 1931 DOHC 32-valve in-line 8 (designed by Fred Duesenberg), called the "DV32" (DV for 'dual valve'). This was during the so-called "cylinders race" of the early 1930s, when makers of expensive cars were rushing to produce multi-cylinder engines. While Stutz did not have the resources to design and tool a new engine, the DV32 did allow them to their cars with a larger number than any of its competitors, who were advertising 12- and 16-cylinder engines in their own cars.

In 1927, a Stutz set a world record for speed, averaging 68 mph for 24 hours. The following year, a 4.9 litre Stutz in the hands of by Robert Bloch and Edouard Brisson finished second at the 24 Hours of LeMans to the 4.5 litre Bentley of Rubin and Barnato, despite losing top gear 90 minutes from the flag, the best result for an American car until 1966. That same year, development engineer and racing driver Frank Lockhartused a pair of supercharged 91ci DOHC engines in his Stutz Black Hawk Special streamliner Land Speed Record car, while Stutz set another speed record at Daytona, reaching 106.53 mph in the hands of Gil Anderson. In 1929, three Stutzes, with bodies designed by Gordon Buehrig, built by Weymann's U.S. subsidiary, and powered by a 155 HP 322ci superchargred straight 8 ran at Le Mans, piloted by Edouard Brisson, George Eyston, and co-drivers Phillippe de Rothschild and Guy Bouriat; de Rothschild and Bouriat placed fifth after the other two cars fell out with split fuel tanks.

Production ended in 1935 after 35,000 cars had been manufactured. The former Indianapolis factory is today known as the Stutz Business Center and is home to more than eighty artists, sculptors, photographers, designers, architects, and craftsmen.

This Stutz has had only 3 owners and has almost all of its original parts.

In the same family since the early 40s. It was stored in numerous places over the next 45 years. In 1987 the sellers Father prepared the engine to be started. And with one big jolt it was up and running. He replaced the water brakes with Chrysler hydraulic breaks, had the upholstery redone and the car repainted. The engine was rebuilt in 1995 (this car has its original Zenith carburetor). It had appx 31k on the odometer and now has 36,467. His father had the valve cover chrome plated and the fuel vacuum tank and brake pump brass plated. All of the glass is original and complete. The seller brought the car to San Francisco in 1995, and had the brakes changed to original Stutz hydraulic brakes.

Items that are out of car for repair are the original amp meter, curtains and bar for lap blanket. The only missing parts are the rear seat ash trays. This car always starts right up and never runs hot. It is driven it up and down San Francisco hills and along the coast with ease. It was one of the best running Stutz at the 2005 southern California Show.