The Car That Made Good In a Day

          Between 1911 and 1935 a small company in Indianapolis, IN made some of the most prestigious and also best running cars the world had seen. Beginning life as the Ideal Motor Car Company, the firm's first car was a one-off that they entered in the Indianapolis 500. It finished 11th and inspired the slogan "The car that made good in a day."

          But that finish also inspired Ideal's owner, Harry C. Stutz to start building cars for more than just one race. And he changed the named of the company to the Stutz Motor Company.
          The Stutz cars were highly valued for both their luxury and their success on the race track. But because the quality of manufacturing them was so pricey, Harry had a difficult time making ends meet. He was forced to raise money through stockholders, eventually selling to the largest share holder, Allen Ryan, in 1919. Ryan subsequently went bankrupt.

          By 1922 the company was floundering and three stockholders gained control, led by Charles M. Schwab. They brought in Frederick Ewan Moskowics, a highly respected automobile executive who had done wonders for such companies as Marmon and Franklin. The first thing Moskowics did was redirect the company into making "safety cars."
          What Stutz offered was features such as safety glass, the "Noback" hill-holding transmission and a lower center of gravity which made for much better handling. This in particular helped the cars as they continued their impressive run on the race track.

          In 1927 Stutz set averaged 68 miles per hour on a 24 hour run to set a new world speed endurance record. The next year a French owned Stutz finished second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Also that year Stutz set another speed record of 106.53 miles per hour in Daytona, FL. Then, in 1929, another Stutz finished fifth at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
          Production ended in 1935 in the midst of the Depression. The company couldn't afford to maintain their factory with the economy, and their potential buyers, in fiscal trouble. In all, 35,000 cars were built. Two of them are pictured here.

          One is a 1932 Stutz Bearcat. Perhaps the most famous of the Stutz cars, the Bearcat was the "street legal" version of the Stutz Indy car. First produced between 1914 and 1924 and then again from 1931 through 1933, it featured the eight cylinder DV 32 engine that made Stutz famous. With four valves per cylinder the DV 32 pumped out 156 horse power, a huge amount for the day. The later Bearcats of which this is an example, were all tested at the factory at 100 miles per hour before being delivered to buyers.

          Also shown here is a 1930 Stutz Model M Lancefield Supercharged Coupe, so named because it was bodied by the coach builder Lancefield Coachworks of London. Of the five originally built this is the only one that still survives and it is one of only two supercharged Stutz cars to ever exist. This car raced in the 1929 24 Hour of Le Mans.

          Stutz was a highly prized manufacturer that had remarkable success on the race track but, like so many other small firms, couldn't cope in a difficult economic environment. Though 1968 brought back the name in the form of Stutz Motor Car Company of America, it wasn't the same. The grandeur and racing spirit was gone and while these were fairly successful cars, they were based on existing Pontiac models and lacked the character and charm, and the raw rush that came with driving a Stutz.

Just Like High School

          "In high school I had a 1963 Impala SS," said Don Stepp of his current classic Chevy. "I bought it from a doctor my mom worked for."
          That was reason enough for Don to go looking for a '63 Impala which he found five years ago in Louisville. "It was a solid car but needed a lot of work," he said. While he painted, re-did the chrome trim and the carpets among other minor fixes, he claimed the bones of the car were in good shape.

          "It was a good, solid car. The frame, the motor, the floor boards were all in good shape. The car had been taken care of. It just showed some basic wear," he said. "What you see on the car is all original except for the rally wheels that I put on. But I have the original hub caps at home if I wanted to use them."

          Chevy introduced the full sized Impala in 1958 to compete against rivals such as the Ford Galaxy 500 and the Plymouth Fury. It was to be a "prestige car that would be within the reach of the average American," according to General Motors brass. And it was.
          Though the car was at the top of Chevy's Bel Air line it's price tag when first introduced was just over $2500 for the V6 version and just under $3000 for the V 8.
          Don's Impala is part of the car's third generation. Re-styled on the company's B platform in 1961, which was trim and boxy and, by the time the '63s rolled off the line, all signs of the once prominent body fins were gone.

          While a 348 cubic inch V 8 was available by 1963, Don's model sports the 283 small block. "It was the basic SS model, the low end Super Sport," he said.
          Among collectors the 1963 Impala is perhaps the most popular. Even though the 1963 Impala body is all but identical to the previous year's model, it does have cleaner lines and a low slung styling that is accentuated by the pointed front and rear bumpers.

          "This is my favorite," said Don of the styling. "The body has a little more character."

          And the car rides well, too, according to Don. "It handles well but it's not a 'slot car,'" he explained of the nearly 18 foot long vehicle. "It's more of a straight line car."
          Though Don enjoys driving this car it really us just a car show car. "I drive it about 500 miles a season," he said, looking in to note that the car has 74,000 original miles.

Untouchable Mustangs

          The Sixth Annual City of Blue Ash and Untouchables Classic Car Club Classic Car Show featured a few really nice true pony cars, Mustangs. The ones on display showed a bit of the range of this classic machine, from the mid-sixties beginnings to a four year old from the 21st century. Oh, yeah, and most of them were red. Enjoy.

Untouchable Super Sports

          The Sixth Annual City of Blue Ash and Untouchables Classic Car Club Classic Car Show drew its share of more "traditional" car show fare. Indeed, there were quite a few pony cars on display. For Chevy, there were a number of nice Camaros as well as Super Sport entries of all sorts. No, not all the Camaros shown here are SS models and not all of the Super Sports are Camaros but who cares? They're all great classic cars.

Untouchable Hot Rods

          My last blog was about cars and trucks that were manufactured in the years following the Second World War. Many of the cars and trucks from that era, the ones that are still around, have been modified in one way or another. Those vehicles and ones that were made much earlier have been used by automotive artists to create all new and different machines known as hot rods or street rods and, if they aren't really slicked up, rat rods.

          The variety that seems to be drawn to the City of Blue Ash and the Untouchables Classic Car Club Classic Car Show each year always includes some fine examples of this American ingenuity: taking one car and adding to it in such a way as to create something entirely different. Here are some of the rods that were at this year's show.

Post War Vehicles at the Untouchables' Show

          The other day I posted about the great show sponsored by the City of Blue Ash and the Untouchables Classic Car Club. In that blog I mentioned a wide variety of rides that always show up for this event. Oh, sure, there are the usual cars that you can find at shows all around the country and the ones that pulled in to show off here were wonderful examples. In fact, I'll be posting a lot of them later on. But one of the things that really excites me about a show like this is the fact that you get a number of vehicles that aren't usually at most open shows. Here are some of the cars and trucks made in the years following the end of World War II that were on display at this show. I hope you enjoy them.

It's More Than Just the Engine

          There's a reason Don Stepp went looking for a 1956 Chrysler New Yorker sever years ago. It wasn't  just because of the 351 Hemi V 8 though that was part of it. It wasn't just because, at the time, this was one of General Motor's top luxury lines, competing handily against others in that class. It wasn't just because you don't see many of them around these days. Those were all part of it but not the main reason.

          "I owned a Chrysler New Yorker in 1975," said Don. "I bought it for $37.50. It cost $75 and I split it with my cousin." Don eventually bought out his cousin and drove that car for a long time. But even beyond that there was a special memory associated with the New Yorker.
          "I met my wife driving that car. It was what I owned at the time," he explained.
          Don found the car that would become his second New Yorker doing a search on line. "This one was for sale on eBay out of Indianapolis," he said. At the time, Don admitted, that he really didn't know much about how eBay and on line auctions worked.

          "I had a walk away price in mind, the most I was willing to pay for the car. That's what I bid. When the auction was over I didn't win," he said.
          A few weeks later, still looking, Don was surprised to see the very same New Yorker back on the virtual auction block. Apparently the car didn't meet the minimum asking price, the reserve. "So I bid again, putting up the same amount I did the first time around," he said. As the end of the auction drew near Don went on line and was surprised to see that he was the high bidder.
          "I figured there was someone waiting to swoop in at the last minute and out bid me," he said. But as the clock started ticking down Don felt that he might have a chance.
          So he told his wife what he was doing and showed her the pictures of the car. "She said, 'You have to get that car,'" said Don, laughing. And he did. His bid won.

          While Don had seen pictures and read the description of the car on line, he had never actually seen it. So when he and his wife drove up to Indy to pick up the car he was pleased with the condition but concerned about how little the car had been driven. "The guy had driven it only 400 miles," said Don. "I asked him, is it going to make it? I'm driving it to Cincinnati and I wanted to know if it was going to break down on the highway." He shouldn't have worried.
          Though Don has done some mechanical and minor cosmetic work on the car, it is basically in the same shape as he bought it.
          "I tend to drive it every weekend," said Don of his New Yorker. "It's a great cruising car. You can go 70 miles per hour and it doesn't break a sweat" In fact, Don estimates that his jaunts around for fun and the occasional trip to a car show or cruise-in have put over 3000 miles on the New Yorker.

          One reason for it being such a fun cruising car is the legendary 351 Hemi V 8 which is also one of the reason you don't see many of these cars around. "People would buy these used, take out the Hemi and put it in a hot rod and then just trash the car," said Don. Which is a shame because they really were high end luxury back in the day.
          The 1956 was conceived as a very different model by chief engineer Virgil Exner who deemed it a "forward look" car. Part of that forward look was the fins that made their debut on this model New Yorker. Also new in 1956 was the push button transmission.

          But while those touches of high end engineering helped sell the New Yorker back then, they really weren't reason Don went looking and ultimately bought for his.