Who remembers the Stutz Blackhawk, one of those “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” cars from the 1970s? Built in Italy, the styling of these opulent automobiles was over the top, which was the intended result. They were low-production vehicles, whose hand assembly often took weeks to complete. This beautiful example, which apparently is kept inside the house, is said to have once been owned by an NBC bigwig, but he died five years before it was built (Google him). Located in Liberty, North Carolina, this rare machine is available here on eBay for $68,000 OBO. And is a tip brought to us by “Driven by Faith Restorations.”
The Stutz Motor Co. was resurrected in 1968 and the Blackhawk made it to the market three years later. Chassis and drivetrains were sourced from General Motors (specifically the Pontiac Grand Prix before the 1978 downsizing). Former Chrysler designer Virgil Exner cooked up the bodacious styling, including a shell-type fake radiator and a spare tire mounted through the trunk lid, reminiscent of some of his early 1960s work. It probably killed most of the storage capacity.
These were bulky cars (5,000+ pounds), thanks to some really heavy bodies that stretched out nearly 20 feet. Under the hood was a 455 cubic inch V8 tricked out to produce 425 horses, paired with a TH-400 automatic transmission. The cars weren’t slugs in terms of performance, but you would seldom see more than 10 mpg on fuel.
Only about 200 Blackhawks were produced from 1971 to 1976, rising to 350 in 1980. By the time Stutz threw in the towel in 1987, not more than 600 ever saw the light of day. This two-tone example is said to have seen just 24,000 miles, but it was waylaid by an interior fire many years ago. Everything that was damaged was replaced, including the white carpeting (why would you put these in ANY automobile?). We’re told that $13,000 alone was spent on redoing the exterior chrome. If you have a spare $68k lying around, do you also have room in your dining room for this classic?
This vehicle looks like they wrote down every styling gimmick known to man on slips of paper and put them in a hat with the intention of randomly drawing out two or three of them. Ultimately, however, it appears that they decided to dump the whole hat on the table and incorporate every one of them.
Wow John, you totally nailed it!!!
What mods were made to a 76′ 455 to massage out 425hp ?
What a wild machine, and hefty.
Its really something else wow.
I was lucky to see one at new york coliseum car show back in early 70’s. Columbus circle Manhatten. Living in the NW Bronx i would jump on Number 1 local train and get off at columbus circle. The Stutz Blackhawk was beautiful. I wish I remembered the price on it. I knew it was very high. The way it was built you know it was not junk. The next owner should put another carpet over the sheep wool. That is nothing cheap about that!! The 455 is a perfect engine in this ride. You need the torque to move the Stutz around. I bet the smell inside must be great. Leather,wool and wood. And NO SMOKING in this ride!😂 Good luck to the next owner. 🐻🇺🇸
This may be a little too much for my Too much is NEVER enough philosophy. Still it’s significant as an attempt to resurrect a fabled Marque. I believe this is very similar to the 1966 prototype for Duesenberg. If I had room and the resources, I would gladly enjoy it. I’m sure someone will!
Hey Rick, I’m probably among the relative few who remember the 66 Duesenberg you refer to. I had the unique privilege of seeing the actual one-off Duesey when on a class trip to Chicago in 1976 or ’77 parked outside one of the fancy hotels. A 4-door, it was stodgier-looking than these Stutzes but still stunning in a deep burgundy with black top. I have a photo somewhere here and hope to dig it up again someday. What a thrill that was. As for the Stutz, I’ve never seen one in person and if I had a spare $68K lying around, I’d probably jump in on this. (But I’d quickly replace that awful white carpet!)
Throw up styling. Not throwback.
You took the chunks – I mean words right out of my mouth.
🤮🤮🤮!
This is one ugly car,I can see this in a car show with people pointing at it and shaking there heads saying what the hell is that?
Of course, they won’t take the time to look it up either.
reminds me of the car homer simpson designed!
nicest one ive ever seen tho so if you want one this is the one you want!
dont know if its a good deal or not but i know they were big bucks new.
i wonder if leno has one?
I think this is a unique car, hot wheels made a diecast of it in silver or black. Take your pick. That being said I would love to take it to one of those concours de lemon type of car shows and I bet it would take the eyesore or ugly award. As it has the 1970s pimp daddy look going for it.
That’s a lot of money for a car that at best has limited appeal, one needing some work recently sold on eBay for less than $10,000.
Steve R
You could improve it’s looks by parking it next to a Cybertruck.
Aaaand you win the internets today! ROFLMAO!
Is a lime green polyester leisure suit included? (white shoes and belt, of course!)
Thanks of reminding me of the 70s attire … I liked sporting my leisure suits back then – and with white or blue leather 2″ boosted shoes …
Hey Jon in Chico! We meet again. In NW Indiana we had the ultimate in Clothiers John Cicco Men’s wear. I loved to shop there. Custom fitting of tailored shirts for my THEN impressive physique. Like all good things, the shop and my physique are now memories of a time when this STUTZ was built (and so were we 😔).
Love it!! I would much rather see this than a Cybertruck or Kia Soul!
Interior fire? Electrical problem? Careless smoking? Freebase accident? If I were interested in buying this (I’m not) I think I’d like to know more about that.
This car is a preview of what future cars designed by artificial intelligence will look like :-(
IMO AI generated vehicles won’t even be CARS, but just uglier SUVS, which are already UGLY! 🤮
I agree with your IMO – the age of the Cybertruck is upon us. Like many others I wonder how long vehicles with small displacement gas engines with electrically driven superchargers combined with turbochargers combined with electric motors, regenerative braking and massive batteries will last – hopefully as long as their warranties – and when the warranties expire the vehicles will be useless as affordable second owner transportation.
If this atrocity isn’t a sixtie thousand dollar clown car, then I don’t know what is. A huge no thank you.
Renwal Model Company commissioned Exner (or his son) to update the looks of eight Thirties classics to what he thought they would look like had they survived to 1966. If you dislike the looks of this Stutz, get the gag bucket handy. I thought the Packard particularly atrocious.
https://www.madle.org/evival.htm
That Packard is hard to look at but he must have used the ’58 as a basis. Picked up where they left off.
The front end looks like a very nearsighted Edsel sucking on a lemon.
Always looked like a pimp mobile to me. Ugly as sim.
Mr Exner must have subscribed to the idea that too much is never enough. However, when you take time to look at the vehicle you may be hard pressed to identify it as having been a Grand Prix. Much nicer than the Custom Cloud cars. Not necessarily my cup of tea but it would be fun to cruise the circuit.
Counting Cars tv series restored singer Barry Whites ‘79 Stutz a while back for his widow.
I personally love the looks. Different strokes for different folks. I never owned a leisure suit but did have the boosted shoes. My dad came down stairs were his lime green leisure suit complete with white shoes and belt in 1987 for my parents 35th wedding anniversary dinner. My mom, my wife and me told him to go back up and change. Mom decided to go up and “help him”. At the dinner my aunt asked my mom how many years she had been married, she replied 29 years. I started laughing and asked if she needed to tell me something, she looked at me and I said I’m 34 years old. The look on her face was hysterical
And in Detroit this would have been THE car for Henry the Hatter.
Hideous.
Some of the lines are great. Others are downright horrible. Any big collection should include one. Elvis, Evel, and Sammy can’t be all wrong.
In a world infested with beige Camrys and silver Altimas, I love the over the top and beyond styling.
Must have been a throw up some where and see what it looks like . Didnt know the Italians could do such a crap job.