Stutz

Stutz - the king of the neoclassics. Arguably the best looking and best built of the neoclassics that were all the rage in the 70's. The quintessential "pimp ride". Because of it's from the factory pimpability, I will now refer to it solely as the "Slutz".

Slutz started out as a Virgil M. Exner design. Mr. Exner was a chief stylist at both GM and Chrysler, and penned such classics as the 300C through 300G, and the 1961 Chrysler Imperial. Unfortunetly he also had a passion for penning "revival cars". In other words, classic cars redesigns to modern times - like the neoclassic or current "retro" trend. The Slutz was one of these - Stutz being a classic but then defunct car company.

James D. O'Donnell was so smitten with the design he had a prototype built by Ghia in 1969. Production cars were produced in Cavallermaggiore, Italy. The first car was bought by none other than Elvis Presley, and subsequently had a relatively large celebrity following included owners such as Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Isaac Hayes, Lucille Ball, Robert Goulet, Evil Knievel, Elton John, Wayne Newton, Muhammed Ali and the Sultan of Brunei.

The first car was a coupe, the Slutz Bearcat, which was based on a Pontiac Grand Prix (which itself heralded back to a past era). Although it was updated when the Grand Prix was, the car basically looked similar with each new iteration. However as it aged it looked more awkward as it seemed more and more chrome was added. Another model called the Blackhawk was a convertable adaptation of this car.

The next car they were to produce was a sedan. The sedan was sold under various names, such as the Duplex, IV-Porte and Victoria. The Duplex was the first 4 door, but it's unsure if it made it past the prototype stage. The IV-Porte (4 window - get it?!?) started production in 1977 based on the Pontiac Bonneville (and later the Oldsmobile 88 Royal). In 1981 the sedan was stretched 10 inches and lost the side tailpipes (I think that's neoclassic heresy) and renamed the Victoria.

A mini-limo was introduced after this called the Diplomatica and was based on the Cadillac DeVille (judging by the windows, it was post 1978). This was not a stretch limo, but it was still huge. 7 were produced, and only one of which did NOT go to the Middle East.

The Royale was the super-Stutz. 2 Royale's were made, both of which went to the Middle East (the King of Saudi Arabia, and the President of Gabon). One of these was sent back as the owner didn't want to sit on leather - the rear seats were replaced with velour.

The very last Stutz (a Blackhawk) was made in 1995 (although it was believed to have been around since 1987), and sold on Ebay. Currently I have not been able to track down a value for the car.