1931 Stutz Model SV-16

Stutz may not have won the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911, but its accomplishments earned it the slogan, 'the car that made good in a day.' Harry C. Stutz built his own car in just five weeks, then completed the race without a breakdown and may have won had it not been for continual tire failures. Accomplishments that followed included the famed Bearcat and the White Squadron racing team.

In 1919, Harry C. Stutz left the company bearing his name, which would continue to exist and build race-bred automobiles. In 1927, Stutz won the AAA Stock Car Championship and raced abroad at Le Mans.

As the cylinder wars continued to escalate in the 1920s and 1930s, Stutz matched its marketplace rivals with the SV16, heavily influenced by the knowledge and experience gained in racing. The straight-eight engine was designed by Swiss-born Charles Greuter and featured a nine main bearing, overhead cam unit with two spark plugs per cylinder, and a 287 cubic inch displacement developing 92 horsepower at 3200 rpm. The chassis featured Bijur central lubrication and four-wheel hydraulic brakes. The underslung worm drive helped lower the chassis, allowing for rakishly styled bodies and improved performance. Safety was improved with wire-reinforced glass in the windscreen. These were vehicles that had a graceful design and luxurious amenities and were capable of achieving 90 mph speeds. For 1931, the line was completely restyled with flowing front fenders and modern body treatments.

The Great Depression was a difficult time, yet Stutz managed to build some of its finest cars during this era. Although it lacked the financial resources to offer the multi-cylinder engines of its competitors, Stutz remained a competitor in the competitive luxury car segment with the 156-horsepower eight-cylinder DV32. This Greuter-designed engine had twin overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, and hemispherical combustion chambers. The DV32 was shown in chassis form in December of 1930 at the New York Automobile Show. When introduced in mid-year, the 113-horsepower Stutz vertical eight, with which the DV32 shared its chassis, was re-named the SV16.

Lacking the financial resources to compete in the cylinder wars (such as Cadillac and Marmon's sixteen-cylinder engine), Stutz promoted its powerful and reliable straight-8 by describing the number of valves. The SV-16 stood for 'Single-Valve,' meaning one intake and one exhaust valve per cylinder.

Despite building some of their finest cars during the darkest of hours, Stutz (like many other manufacturers) could not weather the Great Depression. By April 1937, it filed for bankruptcy, and in April 1939, the court ordered its liquidation.

by Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2019