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This car is one of probably nine that were built by William Stout, an aeronautical engineer in Dearborn, MI. It was sold to a French publishing magnate and spent its entire life in France, supposedly used by General Eisenhower in North Africa and then by General DeGaulle. It was then used by a circus to house monkeys until Philippe Charbonneaux, a French automotive designer, bought it in the early sixties for his museum.
Not only did it have a unit construction body made out of light aluminum, it featured the famous Ford flathead V8 engine placed at the rear driving the rear wheels via a Stout-built three-speed manual transaxle. It has a 135-inch wheelbase, 4-wheel independent coil spring suspension, and the most spacious cabin of any American car as the result of no running boards and no drive shaft tube. This $5,000 aerodynamically vehicle was well ahead of its time.
Total production was 9 cars. Only 5 exist today. This was the first car without running boards.
William Stout was Father of Aviation and designed the Ford Tri-motor airplane for Henry Ford.
This car is known as 'Car with a Bar' and is the winner of the Palm Beach Intl. 2006, 2006 AACA Junior, 2007 AACA Senior. © 1998-2009. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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