Stutz IV Porte
| Stutz | |
|---|---|
 Stutz IV Porte at the Retro Classics 2020
|
|
| IV Porte | |
| Production period: | 1979-1981 |
| Class : | Upper class |
| Body versions : | limousine |
| Engines: |
Gasoline engines : 5.0–7.5 liters |
| Length: | |
| Width: | |
| Height: | |
| Wheelbase : | |
| Empty weight : | |
The Stutz IV Porte (also: IV-Porte ) is a four-door luxury sedan in a retro design , which the former US car manufacturer Stutz Motor Car of America produced in small numbers from 1979 to 1981. The car was created parallel to the similarly designed Coupé Stutz Blackhawk III and, like this, used high-volume technology from General Motors . It was mostly sold in the US and the Middle East .
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 the end of the Second World War, the idea arose to revive the brand. It was due 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 classic design elements. They included free-standing headlights and stylized fenders. 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, which 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. 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 the Stutz Motor Car of America company in 1968 to market a coupé designed by Exner with classic stylistic devices. 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 ; The Stutz company 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.
The focus of production was on two-door coupés. In addition, individual vehicles were converted into convertibles at the customer's request by the factory or by external companies. After Stutz had built a sedan with the name Duplex Sedan as a one-off as early as 1971 , the series production of a four-door sedan was prepared from 1977, which was to be offered in parallel with the two-door coupé. Production began in early 1979 and continued until 1981. Initially it was planned to sell the car under the name Diplomatic Sedan; shortly before the market launch, however, the company's management decided on the name IV Porte. It was reminiscent of the Maserati Quattroporte, a luxury sports sedan that was also available in a third edition from 1979 and was also delivered to the USA.
The IV Porte in detail
technology
From a technical point of view, the Stutz IV Porte, like the Blackhawk III, was based on components from General Motors. Unlike in the case of the Blackhawk, the technology did not come from the Pontiac Grand Prix , but from the Pontiac Bonneville , a full-size sedan that was based on the current General Motors B-platform, which was introduced in 1977 and was slightly shorter than its predecessors. Stutz took over the entire chassis from the Bonneville. The suspension, the suspension and the brakes were not modified, and the wheelbase was also retained. The same applied to the basic structure of the body, the front and rear windows and the electrical system.
The Blackhawk III was initially powered by a 7.5 liter eight-cylinder engine from General Motors, which was not available as standard in the Pontiac Bonneville in this form. The engine output varied from year to year depending on the US emissions regulations. In the 1979 model year it was given as 200 hp. For the 1981 model year, Stutz switched to a 5.0 liter eight-cylinder engine, which was now also offered in the updated fourth version of the Blackhawk. The engine developed around 145 hp.
design
In 1973, Virgil Exner died shortly after determining the shape of the Blackhawk III coupe. The body of the IV Porte was designed from 1977 by Paolo Martin , a former Pininfarina employee who worked as a freelance designer in Turin from 1972 . Martin adopted the essential stylistic features of Exner's designs, but adapted them in terms of the dimensions to the changed technical basis. The most noticeable design features of the IV Porte were:
- 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 hood
- a large radiator grille protruding above the bumper line into which the lines of the bonnet flowed
- 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 was a steeply sloping stern. The trunk closure, however, was higher than the Blackhawk III. In contrast to the coupé, the taillights were not attached below the bumper, but above it.
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.
production
The IV Porte was built in Italy. Stutz received finished base vehicles from General Motors, which were delivered by ship and truck to Cavallermaggiore in Italy. There O'Donnell ran the Carrozzeria Saturn . Around ten Italian plumbers produced the new body parts by hand 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 up to 20 layers of paint, also took place.
From 1979 to 1981 around 50 IV Porte sedans were built. One of the first customers was the American country singer Kenny Rogers .
Prices
In 1981 the Stutz IV Porte sold for $ 79,500. In the same year, a Pontiac Bonneville, the base vehicle, cost 7,543 US- $ in the basic version, a Cadillac Fleetwood was offered for 13,791 US- $.
Successor: Stutz Victoria
In the 1982 model year, the IV Porte was replaced by the Victoria model. Technically, the Victoria corresponded to its predecessor, but the wheelbase had been lengthened by 10 centimeters. It was stretched by a spacer between the (unchanged) rear doors and the rear axle. The interior space enlarged in this way gave the passengers more legroom. Unlike the IV Porte, the Victoria was regularly delivered without sidepipes. The bumpers were initially chrome-plated, but later models - at least if requested - were painted in the color of the car.
The Victoria was produced until 1986. In the last two years, almost identical sedans of the Oldsmobile Delta 88 type served as technology donors instead of the Pontiac Bonneville, which had since been discontinued . A total of around 20 Victoria sedans were produced in five years.
In addition to the Victoria, Stutz has been offering two further, additionally extended representative limousines, the Diplomatica and the Royale, since 1980, which were mainly delivered to Arab or African rulers. Outwardly they resembled the IV Porte / Victoria, but were based on vehicles from Cadillac .
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 ).
Web links
Private website for the Stutz IV Porte
Individual evidence
- ↑ See description: Auto Katalog Nr. 25 (1981/82), p. 167 and Auto Katalog Nr. 29 (1985/86), p. 164)
- ↑ Occasionally a hyphenated spelling is chosen; see. z. B. www.madle.org (private website for Stutz IV (-) Porte (accessed December 27, 2013).
- ↑ Langworth: American Cars of the 1930s, p. 88.
- ^ Overview of Exners Revival Cars on the website www.madle.org (accessed December 27, 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 December 27, 2013).
- ↑ Auto Catalog No. 18 (1974/75), p. 114.
- ↑ Auto Catalog No. 22 (1978/79), p. 216; Entry for the so far identical Stutz Blackhawk III.
- ↑ Prices according to Auto Catalog No. 25 (1981/82), pp. 159, 163.
- ↑ Stutz Diplomatica on the website www.madle.org (accessed on December 27, 2013).