10th Jun, 2009 13:15

The Pavilion Gardens

 
  Lot 70
 

1933 Stutz DV32 LeBaron Custom Sedan


Lot details
Registration No: WVS 298
Chassis No: DV-64-1595
Mot Expiry: Oct 2009

The emergence of Stutz as a motor manufacturer began at the inaugural Indianapolis 500-Mile Race on May 30th 1911. Having taken less than two months to design and complete, Harry Clayton Stutz's unproven entry finished a highly creditable 11th overall and was hailed as `The Car That Made Good in a Day'. Suitably buoyed, its creator swiftly formed the Ideal Motor Car Co with Henry F. Campbell which not only launched the immortal Stutz Bearcat but also claimed third place overall at the 1913 Indy 500 before morphing into the Stutz Motor Car Co (Indiana Corporation) that same year. Like its great rival the Mercer Type 35R Raceabout, the Stutz Bearcat Speedster was among America's first true sportscars and drew patronage from the likes of Barney Oldfield and Erwin `Canonball' Baker; the latter using his to shatter the existing coast-to-coast record by seven-and-a-half hours in 1915. Keen to expand Harry Stutz allowed Wall Street financier Allen Ryan to float the Stutz Motor Car Company of America Inc on the New York Stock Exchange the following year. Although retained as President, Stutz enjoyed an uneasy relationship with the major shareholders and left as soon as his contract allowed (July 1st 1919). Thereafter the marque drifted somewhat and failing to meet Allen Ryan's ambitious projections was taken over by Bethlehem Steel magnate, Charles M. Schwab, in 1922.

Schwab wanted Stutz to become known for luxury cars rather than sports ones and to this end he hired the ex-Daimler, Marmon, Franklin and Remy Electric engineer Frederick Moskovics. A Hungarian UmigrU, Moskovics counted Louis Delage, Gabriel Voisin, Charles Weymann and Ettore Bugatti among his friends. Appointed President on February 17th 1925 he soon recruited the Swiss-born Charles Greuter and ex-Metallurgique prodigy Paul Bastien to help instil a Eurocentric design philosophy. Looking for a unique selling point with which to breach the luxury car market, Moskovics decided upon safety. Thus, the sensational `Vertical Eight' or `AA' launched at the January 1926 New York Motor Show was promoted as the `Safety Stutz'. Developed with the help of a reputed $1,000,000 cash injection from Schwab, the newcomer boasted a notably low centre of gravity thanks to its use of a `double dropped' chassis frame and Timken worm-drive back axle. Sitting some five to eight inches closer to the ground than the class average endowed the `Vertical Eight' with superior handling / roadholding capabilities not to mention a decidedly rakish stance. While, other safety measures including the provision of wire-reinforced `shatterproof' glass and four-wheel hydrostatic drum brakes. A technical tour de force, the model's straight-eight 289 cu in 4.7 litre engine boasted a nine-bearing crankshaft, single chain-driven overhead camshaft and dual-ignition (sixteen sparkplugs). Developing an unstressed 92bhp @ 3,200rpm, it was allied to three-speed manual transmission and ensured that the `Safety Stutz' was one of the fastest luxury cars that money could buy.

Despite, or perhaps because of, his emphasis on engineering finesse Moskovics was a motorsport fan too. Widely credited with helping legendary driver Ralph DePalma make the transition from two- to four-wheel racing he was well aware of the publicity benefits that competition could bring. Thus for 1927 the Stutz President had none other than Ettore Bugatti rework the Vertical Eight's cylinder head to improve its breathing. The results were impressive with a steel-bodied `AA' sedan taking the Stevens Challenge Trophy for enclosed production cars (by averaging 68.44mph over 24-hours at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway) and the newly introduced Black Hawk Speedster winning every race it entered en route to being crowned AAA Stock Car Champion. Such was Moskovics' confidence in his new products that he accepted a wager from Charles Weymann to pit a Black Hawk Speedster against a Hispano-Suiza to see which could complete the most laps of the `Brickyard' in 24-hours. Unfortunately, the Stutz dropped a valve after fifty-six laps losing Moskovics his pride and the not insubstantial sum of $25,000. Nevertheless, he must have derived some solace from the fact that Weymann was sufficiently impressed by the Black Hawk to enter one for the 1928 Le Mans 24-hours. Piloted by Robert Bloch and Eduoard Brisson, the Stutz led for a good proportion of the race before losing top gear some ninety minutes from the flag and so finishing second to the Bentley 4.5 Litre of Woolf Barnato and Bernard Rubin. That same season also brought another AAA Stock Car Championship and a new American Production Car Speed Record (106.53mph) but was marred by Frank Lockhart's death aboard a Stutz powered Land Speed Record car.

The marque's assault on the 1929 Le Mans 24-hours netted a fifth place overall (2nd in class) behind a quartet of W.O. Bentleys. However, Stutz could not outrun the Great Depression and, as sales plummeted, Moskovics made way for a new President, Colonel Edgar S. Gorrell. With total 1930 production amounting to just 1,318 cars, tenth place at the Indianapolis 500 and victory in the Mexican Nuevo Laredo to Monterrey road race seemed like scant compensation. A distinguished serviceman and respected figure within the aviation industry, Gorrell was far more conservative than his predecessor. Conscious that competitors such as Cadillac and Marmon were working on V16 engines with which to woo the fast diminishing supply of luxury car buyers, he decided to follow near neighbour Duesenberg's lead by adopting a double overhead-camshaft cylinder head. Doubtless Gorrell's reasoning took into account the fact that work on a `Double Valve' (four valves per cylinder) design was well advanced with pre-production examples being supplied to both Eduoard Brisson and Glen Shultz for their attempts at the 1930 Le Mans 24-hours and Pikes Peak hillclimb respectively. Thus, by the time Stutz's final flagship, the DV32, was officially launched in May 1931 it boasted a singularly refined yet volumetrically efficient powerplant; Stutz extracting 155.8hp from 5.28 litres (322 cu in), where Cadillac could only manage 185hp from 7.4 litres (452 cu in) and Marmon 200hp from 8.0 litres (491 cu in). Indeed, the only American car of the period with a claimed higher output in terms of horsepower per cubic inch was the similarly advanced Duesenberg.

In an article published by TIME magazine on September 21st 1931, Gorrell is reported as saying that a week earlier "Not one, not two, not three or four but no less than nine separate motor companies had approached Stutz with offers to buy, sell, merge or be merged . . . Stutz's position, so satisfying to itself, so appetizing to others, is this: Steelman Schwab, at the head of new and additional banking interests, has acquired 72% of Stutz stock. The company's assets have increased this year by some $800,000, its surplus by some $2,500,000. At the end of last year the ratio of quick assets to liabilities was 1.6 to 1, today 10.6 to 1 . . . Big, solid and sleek a Stutz car carries Stutz Associate Schwab. Other names for Stutz to conjure with: William E. Dodge Stokes and Frederic de Peyster, John D. Rockefeller Jr and Witherbee Black, Paul Whiteman and Herbert Bayard Swope. Cardinal Dougherty of Philadelphia wears his red biretta in a Stutz". Quite possibly lulled by the extra capital being pumped into the company's coffers, Gorrell sanctioned the DV32's year-on-year development. Hence the 1933 sales brochure for Stutz's grandest offering made mention of a new camshaft design, stronger con-rods, increased radiator capacity, automatic choke, thermostatically controlled automatic shock absorbers, three-speed synchromesh transmission and hydrothermic engine lubrication control (essentially a compartmentalised oil / water intercooler) etc. While other niceties included running boards that were integral to the chassis frame and an impressive choice of `Challenger' (Factory) or `Custom' coachwork. The fastest DV32 - the short wheelbase Super Bearcat - could exceed 100mph with ease. Though, even the limousine bodied long wheelbase derivatives were said to be able to cruise at 70mph and touch 90mph on occasion. As well as being more exclusive and aesthetically adventurous, the Custom cars benefited from plusher upholstery and lustrous Carpathian Elm veneers.

The stance Gorrell outlined in his foreword to the company's 1933 sales brochure was a brave one especially given that some sources put production for the previous two years at 310 cars (1931) and 206 cars (1932) respectively: "In this era of price cutting and ruthless competition there is one decision which must be made by every manufacturer. Shall he maintain quality, and price his product accordingly, or shall he yield to expediency and skimp his product in order to shoulder his way into the welter of frantic competition and bargain claims . . . Stutz, which has always appealed to the lover of fine things, has refused to yield to the urge to `cut corners' and has continued to improve and refine its merchandise. Quality continues to be the Stutz watchword". The marque's refusal to compromise cost it dearly as production slumped to 80 cars in 1933 and petered out the next season after just six more had been made. A short-lived diversification into commercial vehicles bought a few more years but Stutz was forced to declare bankruptcy in April 1937. Less than 300 DV32-engined cars are deemed to have left the Works of which a mere 70 are thought to have survived worldwide. All eight-cylinder Stutz models are deemed Full Classics by the Classic Car Club of America but the DV32 has long been considered an engineering masterpiece and is valued accordingly.

The DV32 on offer, chassis number DV-64-1595, is the last car known to have left the Stutz factory in 1933 and has the further distinction of being the only recorded survivor to carry this particular style of LeBaron Custom coachwork. Interestingly, the Type 64 body fitted to chassis DV-64-1595 differs from one illustrated on page 25 of the accompanying reprinted 1933 sales brochure in that it features a sloping windshield. Founded by former Brewster employees Thomas Hibbard and Ray Dietrich (though, Ralph Roberts soon joined as the third and longest serving partner), LeBaron rose to prominence during the 1920s with examples of its work appearing on Locomobile, Packard, Minerva, Duesenberg, Isotta Fraschini, Pierce Arrow, Hispano-Suiza, Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Benz chassis. A merger with the Briggs Manufacturing Co in 1927 brought improved facilities enabling LeBaron to produce series-built Custom coachwork as well as bespoke one-off designs. Supplied new to an Illinois lawyer, the DV32 was to remain in his possession until 1947 when it was bought by Doctor Wesley C. Ward. Taken off the road with an engine fault during 1950, the Stutz was still immobile by the time renowned marque authority Ernie Toth acquired it from the late Doctor Ward's estate in 1987. Mr Toth only relinquished chassis DV-64-1595 to the vendor on the strict understanding that the Custom Sedan would be restored to its former glory rather than being modified into a special.

Imported into the UK during Spring 1989, the car was then subjected to a five-year long, `chassis up' restoration emerging just in time for the 1994 Classic & Sportscar Show held at the NEC, Birmingham. The refurbishment process was overseen by former race engineer Mike Treutlin who has now been involved in the rejuvenation of five Stutz eight-cylinder cars. Mr Treutlin was personally responsible for overhauling the original engine and allying it to a replacement `Detroit' four-speed manual gearbox. The latter, as factory fitted by Stutz to various models in period, enabled the refurbished back axle to carry a 3.8:1 final drive ratio (rather than its previous 5.2:1 gearing) thus notably improving the DV32's high-speed cruising capabilities and fuel economy. While Doug Thompson's skilful and sympathetic retrim (during which the original woodwork was saved) saw the car win the `Best Interior' award at a Parisian Louis Vuitton Concours d'Elegance meeting. Finished in cellulose to an authentic LeBaron colour scheme, the exterior paintwork was entrusted to Derek Robbins and took over two years to complete. Some fifteen years later, chassis DV-64-1595 is described by the vendor as being in "excellent overall" condition with regard to its engine, gearbox, electrical equipment, interior trim, bodywork and paintwork. Riding on cream-painted wire wheels shod with whitewall tyres and sporting a luggage rack, twin side-mounted spare wheels, Stabilite headlamps, dual horns and running board courtesy lights, the Stutz exudes a commanding presence. A veteran of numerous rallies and shows, it started readily upon inspection before settling down to a smooth idle. Reported to drive very well with a turn of speed and braking capabilities that belie its age, the DV32 is offered for sale with sundry restoration photos, reproduction sales brochure, copy 1953 State of Indiana Certificate of Title, MOT certificate valid until October 24th 2009 and historic class (free) road tax until October 2009. Among the very last Stutz motorcars built and the only survivor to wear this particular style of LeBaron Custom coachwork, chassis DV-64-1595 is a true pre-WW2 Great that would grace any collection.
 

All successful bids must be paid in full by midday the day after the auction at the latest.

You can collect your new pride and joy from our venue until 1pm the day following the sale or our partners are on hand to help arrange safe transportation:

               

Auction: The Pavilion Gardens, 10th Jun, 2009

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