The 1916 Stutz Bearcat
Stutz Bearcat the name rolls so easily off the tongue. It serves as a kind of shorthand, as an emblem of a bygone era. That probably accounts for the Bearcat popping up in everything from an episode of The Simpsons to a Velvet Underground song.
Unprecedented and widespread success as a performance machine gave the Bearcat its fame originally. After entering his first production car (reportedly built in only five weeks) in the 1911 Indianapolis 500 and finishing in 11th place, Harry C.
Stutz adopted The Car that Made Good in a Day as his company’s slogan. Stutz gained additional notoriety when Erwin George Baker drove an early Bearcat from San Diego to New York in 11 days, 7 hours, and 15 minutes, breaking the previous coast-to-coast record.
Stutz Bearcat Specifications
Brakes : Rear drums only; no front brakes
Wheels : Houk center-lock, wire spokes
Suspension : Rigid axles with Hardford shocks, semielliptic springs
Transmission : Three-speed manual, external shift lever
Wheelbase : 120 inches/305cm
Carburetion : Single updraft Schleber
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| Stutz Bearcat |
The Bearcat delivered a new kind of sporting driving experience to the public, and also had a spirited rivalry with the MercerRaceabout. These two sports cars faced each other often, particularly on American racetracks, and battled for the loyalty of enthusiast drivers.
The Mercer had a significant weight advantage of some 2,000 pounds. The Bearcat had the Mercer beat, if less emphatically, in the horsepower stakes.
This Bearcat, a Series C model, has a four-cylinder engine with 390 cubic inches of displacement a six-cylinder engine was also available. The cylinders were cast in pairs, and the T-head design featured twin spark plugs for each cylinder. Early Bearcat engines ranged from 60 to 80 horsepower.
The Bearcat’s minimal bodywork, including a simple hood and trim fenders, kept its weight relatively low. It had no doors, no windshield (a monocle windscreen could be fitted to the steering wheel column), no cowl, and no top. A stiff clutch and an intimidating hand-crank starter helped give the Bearcat a reputation as a real man’s car.
As with later marques like Ferrari and Porsche, racing success led to increased status among a certain type of car buyer. The Stutz became the car among wealthy buyers who could afford to spend a bit more on a vehicle that made up in performance what it lacked in practicality. By the 1920s, though, the company catered to customers a bit more, adding creature comforts to its roadster such as doors, a windshield, and a top.
Stutz’s relative success as a company boosts the Bearcat when evaluating the overall scorecard of its battles with the lithe and nimble Mercer. Long after Mercer was gone, and even after model production ended in 1924, Bearcats continued racking up racing victories and could still be found in competition through the rest of the 1920s. Despite this, by 1934 Stutz had quit making cars. Today, it is estimated that fewer than a dozen original Bearcats exist.