1928 Stutz Model BB

The automobiles produced by Harry Clayton Stutz's marque were renowned for their performance and quality. Known as the 'car that made good in a day,' it competed at the inaugural Indianapolis 500 on May 30, 1911, where it finished 11-place overall, a tremendous accomplishment as the car had been completed just days before the race. The production Stutz Model A rode the wave of success of its racing sibling, but among the most notorious and memorable of the early Stutz cars was the Bearcat speedster model. A racing team, called the White Squadron, were very successful and helped elevate the brand's status, thanks in part to the specially-designed overhead cam four-valve engines from 1915 to 1917.

A period of corporate instability and the departure of Harry Stutz ushered in a new era for the Stutz Motor Car Company, and under the direction of Hungarian-born engineer Fredrick Moskovics, the Stutz car was completely redesigned, receiving a double-drop chassis frame, worm gear rear axle, safety glass, four-wheel hydraulic brakes, and a new six-cylinder overhead cam engine. The brakes were known as 'hydrostatic,' a system that used water with an anti-freeze additive, but for one year only.

'The Safety Stutz,' as it was called, had a 'Vertical Eight' engine and its styling was somewhat boxy in comparison to competitors, but it rode several inches lower. It had plenty of torque and horsepower, courtesy of America's most powerful production engine. Stutz returned to racing with the Vertical Eight, the first competition being the Stevens Challenge Trophy race of 1927 for closed-body production cars. A Stutz sedan with a steel body clocked an average of 68.44 mph for 24 hours at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to win the Stevens Trophy.

The Stutz Black Hawk was later added to the company's catalogue, offering two-passenger seating and aluminum speedster coachwork. It became the AAA Stock Car champion of 1927, winning every race in which it was entered.

Although Stutz automobiles were very successful during its competition career, winning numerous races, the company is often best remembered for the races it did not win, the first being the inaugural Indianapolis 500. Another memorable competition began with a boisterous gathering of wealthy car enthusiasts - Moskovics made a $25,000 bet with his friend Charles Weymann, inventor of the Weymann fabric body construction for which Stutz held the American rights. A match race was to be run between Moskovics' Black Hawk and a Hispano-Suiza. The latter was favored due to its three-liter advantage in displacement, but Moskovic banked on his car's greater agility and acceleration. The contest was to be a 24-hour order that took place at Indianapolis three days prior to the Stevens Challenge. After 56 laps, the Stutz swallowed a valve, and lost to the Hispano. Weymann, however, was impressed with the Stutz performance and decided to enter one at Le Mans the following year. The Stutz would lead much of the race, finishing second only to Bentley.

Tragically, racer Frank Lockhart was killed attempting to set a land speed record in his Black Hawk Special Streamliner.

Stutz built approximately 2,500 automobiles during the 1928 model year.

The 1928 Stutz Model BB
The 1928 Stutz Model BB was available with 131- and 145-inch wheelbase sizes, and the 229 cubic-inch SOHC (single overhead camshaft) inline eight-cylinder engine used a single Schebler Model S 1 1/2' Duplex Downdraft Carburetor to produce 110 horsepower at 3,600 PRM. It was paired with a three-speed manual gearbox, and four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes provided the stopping power. The live axles were suspended via leaf springs.

A variety of two and four-door coachwork was offered, from coupes to seven-passenger sedan limousines. Prices ranged from $3,500 for the two-door Speedsters to $6,345 for the 5-passenger Prince of Wales. The seven-passenger Versailles listed at $5,300, the seven-passenger Fontainbleau at $4,75, and the 7-passenger Biarritz sedan at $4,495.

by Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2024