Stutz Blackhawk III
| Stutz | |
|---|---|
 Stutz Blackhawk III
|
|
| Blackhawk III-VII | |
| Production period: | 1973-1979 |
| Class : | Upper class |
| Body versions : | Coupe |
| Engines: |
Otto engine : 7.5 liters |
| Length: | 5766 mm |
| Width: | 2007 mm |
| Height: | 1372 mm |
| Wheelbase : | 2946 mm |
| Empty weight : | 2400 kg |
| Previous model | Stutz Blackhawk II |
| successor | Stutz Blackhawk VIII |
The Stutz Blackhawk III is a top class - Coupe , which the US carmaker Stutz Motor Car of America expelled from the 1973rd From 1974 to 1979, technically and externally identical vehicles were built, which carried the designations Blackhawk IV to Blackhawk VII . The vehicle designed by Virgil Exner , known in the US as the Revival Car , is an early example of retro design in the automotive sector. The body of the Blackhawk was handcrafted in Italy, but the technology came from American high-volume vehicles. Between 50 and 70 vehicles were built annually. Most of them were sold in the United States and the Arab states. In Europe, the car often had a dubious reputation because of its sensational exterior. Only a few vehicles made it to Europe. The actor Curd Jürgens was one of the German buyers of a Stutz .
background
Stutz was an Indianapolis- based sports and luxury vehicle manufacturer that existed from 1898 to 1938. The company, one of the “legendary American thoroughbred brands of the prewar period”, competed with Duesenberg at times . After economic difficulties, Stutz stopped producing sports cars in 1932. In 1936, in order to utilize existing capacities, a few delivery vans (“Pack Age Car”) were built, but they were unable to assert themselves on the market. In 1938 the company was dissolved after a bankruptcy .
The idea of reviving the Stutz brand 30 years after it was discontinued goes back to the American automobile designer Virgil Exner. In the 1950s, Exner designed numerous models for the Chrysler Group, some of which were stylistically progressive (see, for example, the Forward Look from 1955). Deviating from this, he gave the 1961 vintage of Chrysler's luxury brand Imperial some of his own classic style elements. They included free-standing headlights and stylized fenders. The models were not a success. Exner left the Chrysler Group in 1961 and has worked as a freelance designer ever since. Here he pursued the idea of adapting features of classic automobile design to contemporary vehicles. Under the name Revival Cars , he designed some classically inspired bodies that he assigned to various brands from the pre-war period. Among them were Bugatti , Duesenberg, Mercer , Packard and Pierce-Arrow . The ideas mostly did not get beyond the stage of drawings. Exceptions were the Bugatti design which the Carrozzeria Ghia on a chassis of the 1965 Type 101 realized, and the design for a four-door sedan Duesenberg, the 1966 Duesenberg Model D was created in a single piece. The attempt to have the Model D mass-produced failed due to funding.
In 1968 Exner convinced the New York banker James O'Donnell (born March 26, 1914 - January 12, 1997) of the viability of his revival car concept. O'Donnell founded Stutz Motor Car of America in 1968 , which was supposed to market a coupé designed by Exner. In order to keep the technical and economic effort low, the company relied on high-volume technology from General Motors ; the body was made by hand in Italy.
Series production began in 1970. The model was named Blackhawk ; Stutz had already used this term in the 1920s. The first series was created from 1970 to 1971 (Blackhawk I), the second (Blackhawk II) in 1972. 1973 the third series was launched; it was produced until 1979 with minor modifications. In the first year of construction of the third series, the vehicle was called Blackhawk III. In the following years, the number addition changed continuously up to the Blackhawk VII of 1979. However, there were no changes in technical or stylistic terms. Only the engine output changed depending on the respective emissions regulations, and different rear lights were used from year to year.
From 1980 there was the fourth, called Blackhawk VIII series. All series had comparable design elements; The main differences resulted from the necessary adaptations of the Exner design to the respective base vehicle.
The vehicle in detail
technology
From a technical point of view, the Stutz Blackhawk is based on the Pontiac Grand Prix of the third series, a General Motors coupé of the upper middle class, which was introduced in this form in the late summer of 1972 and was produced until the summer of 1977. From the 1978 model year, General Motors reduced the dimensions of the Grand Prix considerably. Stutz did not go this way. Until the end of 1979, more than two years after the production of the third Grand Prix generation was discontinued, these cars remained the technical basis for the Stutz coupés. This was made possible by James O'Donnell's decision to stockpile a number of the third series Grand Prix models.
Stutz took over the chassis including the subframe from the Grand Prix. The suspension, suspension and brakes were not modified. The wheelbase was also retained. The same applies to the basic structure of the body, the front and rear windows and the electrical system. Some add-on parts such as the door handles were used by Italian high-volume vehicles, e.g. B. the Alfa Romeo Giulia GT .
The Blackhawk III was powered as standard by a 7.5 liter eight-cylinder engine from General Motors, the output of which varied from year to year depending on the US emissions regulations. In the 1979 model year, the power was specified as 200 hp. This year, the Stutz was the car with the largest displacement engine. An American source reports that, deviating from this, individual copies were also equipped with an 8.2 liter Cadillac engine. These engines weren't more powerful than the 7.5 liter versions, but they had more torque .
The fact that no changes were made to the technical components of the base vehicle was repeatedly noticeable disadvantageously. For example, the magazine auto motor und sport noted that the smaller radiator openings compared to the base vehicle quickly led to high thermal loads, which could cause considerable problems in city traffic. Another example was the door and hood hinges, which were taken over unchanged from GM and were supposedly too weak for the heavier Stutz components, so that opened doors quickly hung crooked.
design
The body of the Blackhawk III had - apart from the dimensions and the basic layout of the body - no external reference to that of the Pontiac Grand Prix. Basically, it was a two-door coupé with a long bonnet and a narrow passenger compartment.
Numerous design details were reminiscent of classic design features of vehicles from the time before the Second World War . They included:
- curved chrome strips on the sides of the car, imitating the lines of free-standing fenders
- indicated, but not functional running boards below the doors
- a long, exposed engine hood, so-called Knudsen's nose
- a large radiator grille protruding above the bumper line, into which the lines of the bonnet flowed and which, according to O'Donnell, Virgil Exner wanted to be understood as a phallic symbol
- Free-standing headlights made possible by recesses on the left and right of the radiator grille
- imitated sidepipes , i.e. exhaust pipes that emerged from the fenders behind the front tires and ran to the rear under the doors and
- a freely visible spare wheel that was partially embedded in the trunk.
A special characteristic of the third Stutz series was a steeply sloping rear end that ended in a high bumper; the taillights were (like the Blackhawk of the first series) mounted below the bumper. Over the years there have been a number of minor technical changes, for example the positioning of the tank filler neck. The taillights were also repeatedly changed: one year they came from the Chevrolet Vega , in another from its clone Pontiac Astre , and sometimes they were round taillights from the aftermarket.
The interior was of high quality: British Connolly leather, hand-knotted carpets and burl wood from Italy. The surrounds of the instruments and the switches and levers were covered with gold leaf.
Dimensions, performance
The Blackhawk III was a very large and heavy car. The curb weight of the coupés was given as 2400 kg, about 400 kg more than the weight of the base vehicle. Additional equipment such as a minibar was able to raise the empty weight by a further 200 kg. Due to the front and rear overhangs, the length of the car was almost 5800 millimeters; it exceeded the Grand Prix by 250 mm.
The factory specified a top speed of 200 km / h and a value of 12.5 seconds for the acceleration from 0 to 96 km / h. The average consumption was given as 8 miles per gallon , which corresponds to about 30 liters per 100 km.
production
The Blackhawk III was built in Italy. After the first copies of the first series had been produced by Officine Padane in 1970, the Carrozzeria Saturn in Cavallermaggiore in Piedmont took over the production of the Blackhawks from 1971 . O'Donnell had set up this workshop especially for his cars.
Stutz received finished basic vehicles from General Motors, which were delivered to Italy by ship. There, around 10 Italian plumber handcrafted the new body parts and adapted them to the basic vehicles that had been freed from their standard body. The interior was also made in Italy, and this is where the paintwork, which consisted of 20 layers of paint, also took place.
price
The Stutz Blackhawk III was a very expensive vehicle. Its retail price in the 1973 model year was $ 40,000 and in 1979 it was $ 70,000. A production Pontiac Grand Prix, the base vehicle, cost US $ 4,900 in 1976, and a Cadillac Seville , General Motors' most expensive production vehicle, cost US $ 14,020 in 1979.
distribution
The third series Stutz Blackhawk was the brand's most successful single model. More than 300 vehicles were built between 1973 and 1979; they are still the best available models today.
Some vehicles were also sold in Europe. Auto Becker took over sales in Germany.
Many vehicles were sold to well-known personalities from show business. Blackhawk III owners included Elvis Presley , Wayne Newton , Lucille Ball , Robert Goulet , Elton John , Curd Jürgens , Kenny Rogers , Ricardo Montalbán , Liberace and Evel Knievel .
Driving reports and reception
There are few contemporary driving reports of the third series of the Blackhawk. The European press dealt with the Blackhawk III with restraint, sometimes with disdain. In Germany, the car was called "one of the most expensive jokes in the world" during its production time. That did not change even afterwards. A British trade magazine stated in 2003:
- Anyone wanting to drive a flashy luxury car around 1980 had to resort to a Rolls-Royce Camargue or an Aston Martin Lagonda , depending on their taste - or, if you are a successful porn star, a Stutz Blackhawk .
A driving report by auto motor und sport from the spring of 2000, which deals with a coupé stationed in Berlin , primarily criticizes the driving behavior:
- The Stutz moves through the dense city traffic like an old rigid axle Pontiac, the trunk of which has been poured with concrete to improve comfort: soft like Lenor laundry, rocking like a carousel horse, agile like an oil tanker.
variants
Cabriolets
The third series Blackhawk is the basis for two convertible versions:
- After completion, at least two coupés were converted into convertibles by external companies on behalf of customers. They were full convertibles, so they didn't have a roll bar . One of the vehicles was converted into a convertible by the Californian specialist American Custom Coachworks in 1974 on behalf of Elvis Presley. Three years later, on a private initiative, another, very similar vehicle was built, which was named D'Italia . It was delivered to Evel Knievel.
- In a series of about 30 copies, a convertible with a roll bar was created from 1978 onwards, which was named Bearcat . These models were offered by Stutz at the factory.
Limousine and representation vehicles
From 1978 Stutz offered a four-door sedan with the name IV Porte, reminiscent of the Maserati Quattroporte . The model designed by Paolo Martin has nothing to do technically with the Blackhawk. It bears some of its design elements, but is based on the Oldsmobile 88 from 1977. The Stutz Diplomatica and 7.5 m long Stutz Royale were derived from this .
literature
- Richard M. Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930-1980 . Beekman House, New York 1984, ISBN 0-517-42462-2 (English).
- James O'Donnell: The Story of Stutz. Rebirth of a classic car . James O'Donnell's 1991 outline of the company's history, written for his doctoral advisor (available at http://www.madle.org ).
- Franz-Peter Hudek: Carved on the neck. Impressions of a Stutz Blackhawk from 1974. In: auto motor und sport 7/2000, p. 224 ff.
Web links
- Private website with a detailed description of the brand history and numerous images
- Sales brochure of a Stutz Blackhawk VII from 1979
Individual evidence
- ↑ Langworth: American Cars of the 1930s, p. 88.
- ↑ Overview of Exners Revival Cars on the website www.madle.org (accessed on June 14, 2013).
- ↑ However, a few model cars based on the Exner designs were built in the 1960s.
- ↑ For the Duesenberg Model D s. www.madle.org (accessed June 14, 2013).
- ↑ Auto Catalog No. 18 (1974/75), p. 114.
- ↑ Auto Catalog No. 22 (1978/79), p. 216.
- ^ Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930-1980, p. 671.
- ↑ The curb weight of the Pontiac Grand Prix was given in model year 1975 with 2000 kg, the length with 5.520 mm; see. Auto Catalog No. 18 (1974/75), p. 151.
- ↑ Auto Catalog No. 22 (1978/79), p. 217.
- ↑ For production cf. Overview of the model on the website www.madle.org (accessed on June 14, 2013).
- ^ Press release from Auto Becker on the Stutz Blackhawk (with several errors in content) on the website www.madle.org (accessed June 14, 2013).
- ↑ Overview of Elvis Presley's Stutz vehicle fleet on the website www.mabroselvisworld.com ( memento of the original from October 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed June 25, 2013).
- ↑ Auto Catalog No. 22 (1978/79), p. 144.
- ↑ Thoroughbred & Classic Cars, issue 9/2003
- ↑ Auto Motor und Sport 7/2000, p. 225.
- ↑ Illustration of the vehicle with a note from the manufacturer on the website www.madle.org (accessed on June 25, 2013).
- ↑ On the Stutz D'Italia cf. the website www.madle.org (accessed on June 14, 2013).
- ^ History of the Stutz Bearcat on the website www.madle.org (accessed June 25, 2013).
