The 1914 Stutz Roadster, with 6.5 litre four cylinder
engine was the first of Harry C Stutz's
cars to be called a "Bearcat"...
The Bearcat featured a well angled steering column
combined with completely exposed controls and levers,
and from 1917 wonderful “Houk”
wire wheels became standard...
After selling his share in the company, Harry C
Stutz remained connected with motor vehicles, particularly
Stutz fire engines...
Following a US$1 million injection in 1924, F E
Morkovics and Charles Greuter would set an entirely
new direction for the company...
Many years later, in 1970, a new Stutz company
offered GM-based replicas from New York, these
cars retaining the Bearcat or Black Hawk titles... |
The archetypal early American sportscar,
or roadster as it was then known, was unquestionably
the Stutz Bearcat. Harry C Stutz had worked for J N
Willys at Marion, and for other motor car manufacturers,
before leaving to produce combined gearbox/final drive
transaxles, which were bought by several concerns.
The
progress from component manufacturer to automobile
manufacturer was set in motion in 1911 when Harry’s company built a successful
Indianapolis race car as a publicity exercise.
The success
would gain investors, and so Harry set about the manufacture
of his own “complete” passenger car.
But
it was the “Bearcat” model that would gain
the marque notoriety and fame. Originally announced
in 1914, the new car competed directly with the Mercer
Race-about.
The Bearcat was a large two-seater with a long ungainly
bonnet and, surprisingly, no weather protection for
the occupants.
The car was driven by a 60bhp four-cylinder
Wisconsin engine up front; the Wisconsin produced massive
torque and gave the car (for the time) very good performance.
But the best part of the Bearcat was the styling, for
it epitomized speed, and even in these early days of
automobile manufacture such styling would invariably
make the car extremely desirable.
The cockpit of the Bearcat featured two bucket seats,
while a cylindrical fuel tank was located at the rear
of the seats. A well angled steering column combined
with completely exposed controls and levers, and from
1917 wonderful “Houk” wire wheels became
standard (although the traditional wooden wheels could
still be ordered).
In view of Harry Stutz's expertise with rear-mounted
gearboxes, it was not surprising that the Bearcats had
this feature, which helped to balance the weight distribution,
and improved the road-holding. Stutz himself profited
mightily from Bearcat sales, then sold out his stake
in the company in 1917.
With this money he started up
another car company, HCS, but this was not successful.
Although he remained connected with motor vehicles for
many years afterwards, these were not cars, but mostly
Stutz fire engines. He died in 1930.
The firm's peak year came in 1919 when 8500 cars were
built, and a year later C W Schwab (president of Bethlehem
Steel) bought the business. The Stutz Motor Car Co.
of America, building cars at Indianapolis, continued
to prosper.
One of the first changes they carried out
following the departure of Harry Stutz was to revise
the rear-mounted gearbox configuration, opting for a
more conventional arrangement located close to the engine.
Stutz's own design of engine - in four-cylinder or six-cylinder
guises, had already been made available from 1918. The
'four' was a 360cu./5.9 litre side valve unit, good
for 88bhp, while the 'six' had overhead valves, and
a similar power output, but was much smaller that the
4 being only 268cu./4.4 litres.
By 1921 the Bearcat was brimming with technological
improvements. Among its many features was electric starting,
rear wheel brakes, a multi-plate clutch, a three speed
transmission, shock absorbers and a spotlight mounted
in the windscreen pillar.
These later version had a
more enclosed bodywork than the originals, even with
a vestigial hood. The final versions of the car were
manufactured in the mid- 1920s – featured the
more sporting six-cylinder engine, and were appropriately
dubbed the “Speedway Six”, while the Bearcat
itself was called the “Speedway Four”.
But it was during the early 1920’s that the fortunes
of the company seemed to take a turn for the worse –
almost overnight. By 1924 the company was losing over
$500,000, a princely sum for the time.
To rectify matters
Schwab hired F E Morkovics (from Marmon) as President,
while Charles Greuter was brought in to produce a new
European-style sports-car, with $1 million being made
available for tooling.
The new model “AA” or “Vertical Eight”
appeared in 1926, and was fitted with a straight-eight
cylinder 289cu./4.7 litre engine. Marketed as the Safety
Stutz, it had advanced four wheel hydraulic brakes,
and used wire-reinforced glass in the windscreen.
A
speedster version of 1927 was given the name Black Hawk,
and while Stutz cars of this period performed well in
American racing, one car would travel to Europe and
finish second at Le Mans in 1929 - naturally behind
the winning 4.5 litre Bentley.
The Bearcat name was retained for short wheelbase versions
of subsequent luxury models, but all car production
ended in 1935. Many years later, in 1970, a new Stutz
company offered GM-based replicas from New York, these
cars retaining the Bearcat or Black Hawk titles.
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