Stutz the Man
Every great company starts with an entrepreneur, someone who posses vision, drive, daring, and some hard-earned skills. Early twentieth century automotive companies were all started this way, and many are still to this day. In this story, the entrepreneur was a storybook character named Harry C. Stutz.
Born on a farm on September 12, 1876, in Ansonia, Ohio, Harry Clayton Stutz was a child prodigy in tinkering and repair. He journeyed to nearby Dayton in 1894 at age 18 to seek his fortune, and he soon found work at the Davis Sewing Machine Company, where he learned the machinist trade.
Harry.C. Stutz 1897. image courtesy Horseless Carriage Gazette
He then moved on to the National Cash Register Company, subsequently setting up his own machine shop to repair pump motors. It was in that shop that he invented his first gasoline driven engine, and in 1898 he made his first car: an engine driven buggy named “Old Hickory.” Somehow, he found time to court and marry Clara Marie Dietz in October of that year.
1898 Harry C. Stutz on his first horseless carriage, “Old Hickory.” image courtesy Horseless Carriage Gazette
Stutz possessed a curious mind, and in 1899 he formed the Stutz Manufacturing Company, a machine shop dedicated to making gasoline engines. In 1900, he built a second car with an engine of his own design, improving on the lessons he learned from the first.
Restless and ambitious, Stutz moved to Indiana in 1903 and worked first at Gormully and Jeffery Tire Company, then at US Tire (later to become Uniroyal), and eventually at Schleber Carburetor. In 1905, he helped found the American Motor Car Company, then signed on with Marion Motor Car Company, where he worked for four years as plant manager and chief engineer.
While at Marion, Stutz developed an integrated transaxle (gearbox and differential) placed at the rear of a front engine car, and he patented it in 1909. He also developed four shoe rear drum brakes and the monocle windshield, and he raced Marions for the company.
HC Stutz driving 1911 Marion Model 30. image courtesy Laura Butler collection
In 1910, Harry left Marion to form the Stutz Auto Parts Company in order to sell his patented transaxle and other automotive parts he had developed. Stutz also formed the Ideal Motor Car Company with his partner Harry Campbell to manufacture and sell his own cars. In 1911, he worked for the Empire Motor Car Company as a consulting engineer. During this time, Empire’s principal owners were in the midst of selling the company, in order to focus on promoting their recently bricked dirt oval track, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Their idea: hold a big sweepstakes race on Decoration Day. The target date was May 30, 1911.
Stutz the Car: Bearcat Beginnings
Mindful of 1911’s upcoming Decoration Day race at the Indianapolis track, Stutz hurriedly constructed his first speedster in five short weeks. It is said that he drove it himself, out of the shop and straight to the track for its inaugural race. Although racing veteran Ray Harroun won the event in his Marmon Wasp, it was Gil Anderson who piloted the untested, underpowered Stutz to a creditable 11th place finish in its first race ever. And although this sturdy little bugger required neither adjustments nor repairs, it did need 11 pit stops for tire changes, placing it out of the money. Nevertheless, 11th place was a quite a finish for a bone stock car in its first outing!
1911 Stutz at Indy, Gil Anderson driver. image courtesy Horseless Carriage Gazette
The results of this race and the opportunity to make a splash in the automotive world were not lost on Stutz the entrepreneur. He quickly announced that Ideal Motor Car would make and sell duplicates of “The Car That Made Good in a Day” at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Stutz and its slogan were on their way!
The First-Gen “Sturdy Stutz” Bearcat.
1912-1925 Harry Stutz wanted to make a fast, sturdy, and moderately priced luxury car, and to meet his price point, Stutz produced an assembled vehicle of his own design using proven components already manufactured by others, which would save Stutz bundles in development time and expense. Although other auto firms of the period contended that assembled cars were inferior, Stutz would soon prove that an assembled car could be done—and done well.
One example of this is Stutz’s use of the Wisconsin four cylinder engine for 1912–1915. Harry Stutz specified a few changes to the basic unit and incorporated it as his first powerplant, thus avoiding the cost of developing his own engine while he built his brand.
1912 Stutz 4 cylinder Wisconsin engine, intake side. image courtesy AACA Library
1912 Stutz 4 cylinder engine, exhaust side. image courtesy AACA Library
Harry Stutz grew his company’s reputation using the slogan he coined at Indy, and the cars that his Ideal Motor Car Company (renamed Stutz Motor Car Company in 1913) turned out were stout examples of the period. All Series A models from 1912 were constructed on 120 and 124 inch wheelbase chassis and outfitted with the Wisconsin four cylinder powerplant.
1913 Stutz Bear-cat. Note the hyphenated name. image courtesy AACA Library
The Series B of 1912–1913 and Series C of 1914 remained much the same in dimensions and specifications but dropped the Wisconsin four cylinder for a six cylinder engine and made minor placement changes for accessories such as the horn and lights. The Bearcat dropped its hyphen in 1914 as well!
The classic Bearcat was part of the Sturdy Stutz era and was made in the years 1912–1916, an exact duplicate of the Indy prepared car from 1911. News accounts and sales records show that the Bearcat excited the public, sold like hotcakes, branded the company, and defined the age. Few other cars have made as deep an impression or earned as high a place in the pantheon of great American automobiles.
Bear-cats sported an open body and represented the speedster concept in 1912; a platform frame upon which seats were bolted, a cowl draped over the engine, and a drum gas tank placed behind the passengers were pretty much all there was for $2,000 FOB at the factory door. The Stutz Roadster had a body shell with doors as its chief distinction from the Bear-cat.
1913 Stutz Torpedo Roadster. image courtesy AACA Library
Two thousand dollars was a lot to pay for a sporting lifestyle car in 1912, a notion that was not lost on Stutz the entrepreneur. Alert to customer needs, Stutz introduced the H.C.S. in 1914 as a “baby Bearcat” that cost less than $1,500. It had a low slung cowl, entered by stepping over the sill in Bearcat style, and its cost point was justified by a smaller wheelbase and engine. This price position, coupled with well written paper ads, illustrates just how savvy Harry Stutz was in getting customers in the door.
1914 H.C.S. “Baby Bearcat” Roadster. image courtesy AACA Library
1915 Stutz ad. Note the models listed, with the H.C.S. featured in the illustration. Effective marketing, eh? image courtesy AACA Library
Another strategy that Harry Stutz used was to support a factory team and campaign the Stutz on tracks around the U.S. The Bearcat speedster built the reputation of the company and established its brand by entering and winning a slew of races around the country during the years 1911–1915. Indianapolis was the hometown race venue for the company, but a Stutz stock bodied example never won there. However, in the five years that Bearcats competed at the Indy 500 between 1911 and 1915, Stutz drivers earned one second place, two third places, two fourth places, one fifth, one sixth, and one seventh place, and of course that initial 11th place (in 1911).
Famous names drove Stutzes to success: Gil Anderson, Earl Cooper, Howdy Wilcox, Barney Oldfield, and Ralph DePalma are but some of the many who earned their wheels in a Bearcat, whether its name was hyphenated or not!
Stutz at 1914 Indy 500, Earl Cooper driver. image courtesy AACA Library
From Cutdown to Sport Body
From 1917 to 1921, the original Bearcat shape evolved to an enclosed cowl more reminiscent of a roadster, while retaining the 120 inch wheelbase. (The roadster and all other models were built on the 130 inch wheelbase.) A convertible top was added, with sheet metal covering the rear of the car and its exposed gas tank; eventually a more roadworthy body style developed and took over.
The Series KLDH of 1922, as well as the Speedway 4 and 6 of 1923–1924, took the place of the classic Bearcat speedster. The looks had changed to assume something more comfy: there was an enclosing body; there were doors.
1923 Stutz Bearcat ad. image courtesy AACA Library
The car’s evolving roadster styling was a sign of the times: more passenger comfort was needed, more weather protection was demanded, and racing heritage was downplayed. Although an H.C.S. Special won the 1923 Indy 500 after starting from the pole position, other makes began dominating the tracks because the Stutz company had ended crucial (and expensive) racing support. Reduced sales resulted from this decoupling of the brand from the sport. The iconic Bearcat lost its mojo and was no more.
Crash, Burn, Resurrection
Where was Harry Stutz while all of this decline was happening? Well, he had been forced out of the company in 1919 after its governing board allowed the company to “go public” in 1915 and sell shares in an effort to expand. They also decided to discontinue racing support, cutting the team loose to privateers—if race drivers still wanted the Stutz!
An up-and-coming stock manipulator named Allyn Ryan had bought a controlling interest in 1917 by purchasing all of the shares that he could find, which created a market scarcity.
This of course ran up the share price from $40 to $701, which was Ryan’s game plan, but then the New York Stock Exchange determined that stock manipulation had been going on. They confiscated Ryan’s seat on the NYSE trading floor, and then delisted Stutz from stock trading on the NYSE, which of course sent the company’s shares plummeting back down to $22. Ryan, out of cash to cover his debts, was bankrupt.
With depressed sales during the 1921 depression, the company was also just about bankrupt. Charles Schwab the investor saw the opportunity, swooped in, and bought Stutz for pennies on the dollar, saving the company to fight another day.
Next episode we will get into the 1920s part of Stutz’ remarkable history, which is covered in more detail in my book, Classic Speedsters. The text has been edited and the book is now on the book designer’s desk. Progress!