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Looking for a 1928 Bottail


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I'm a new member - as you can see from the number of posts, but I'm an old car guy. I've had a '29 Cadillac 341B for eight or nine years, and it is great to drive, and I've driven it everywhere (I'll try and attach a picture).

I'm looking for a '28 Stutz Boattail and was wondering if anyone here might know of such a car. There is a '29 for sale at the moment, but it doesn't have a data plate, which would make it very hard to bring to Canada. Mind you it is a lovely car, and whomsoever rebodied it in the '60's did a good job. I see that in '07 a member called TKC had one that had been beautifully done. I suspect it is in a museum in Alaska right now, just looking at pictures, but if someone here thinks they are two different cars, please let me know and I'll try and track down TKC.

Thanks!

Mark

P.S. I just realized that I'm going to have a hard time finding a BOTtail - I'm looking for a Boattail!!Sorry!! Mk

Edited by Smile
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Hi Smile :) Where in Canada are you? I have a 1933 Boattail for sale DV32.

Wow! That was quick!!

I'm out on the West Coast, in Vancouver, listening to the rain fill my gutters.

I would love to see what your DV32 looks like. The reason I was thinking of a '28 is because it ran at Le Mans, and when I was younger, so did I.

I'll send you a PM with my email, if you would like to contact me directly.

Cheers,

Mark

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While looking at Stutz Boattails, I came across the following:

It is from a blog at Stainless Trim Works, and the accompanying note says:

“ I have one hubcap that Dad saved. It cost more to restore this car than our house did.”

The car pictured looks like the twin of a car that is currently for sale, indeed it could even be the same one. Given that the photos have white borders, the picture was probably taken before 1971, say in the late ‘60s.

Does anyone in this forum know who might have blogged the comment, or how to contact the restorer? I would love to have a chat with him.

Help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Markpost-104646-143142866562_thumb.jpg

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Here is another question, and hopefully someone will chime in:

In looking at various pictures of Stutz engine rooms, one can't help but notice that the data plates seem inconsistent. Attached are pictures of plates from 1925, 1928, 1929, and 1932/33.

Why are the data plates not the same?

Stutz made very few cars, yet they always hoped for large sales numbers. The one component such hope would generate, you would think, would be a pile of data plates, waiting on a shelf, ready to go once tens of thousands of cars were built.

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Remember, Stutz came out with their all new 8 cylinder car in 1926, so anything 1925 & earlier is going to be different. I believe 1926 through 1928 used the one serial number plate in your 2nd picture with the earlier Stutz 8 design, then in 1929 til the end they used the other design in your other 2 pictures. By the way, the 1932 tag you displayed a picture of is actually from a late 1933 LeBaron bodied car.

Edited by K8096 (see edit history)
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  • 1 month later...

In 1929 Stutz upgraded their shorter chassis to one with a 134.5 wb. The Robbins bodies-in-white that the company had stockpiled, no longer fitted the new frame, so Stutz commissioned leBaron to produce a Torpedo Speedster, which went on sale in August 1929 (see attached picture). Apart from the 1930 'Jones Special' and one other red & black 1930 car that was auctioned several years ago, I've never seen a picture of a cycle-fendered Torpedo Speedster.

Can anyone here please either post one, or PM one to me?

I've got the basis of one, and I rather need to see what a finished car should look like!

As an aside, introducing a completely open car, right as summer ends, seems to be rather poor marketing!

I'm surprised that The Splendid Stutz says there are 6 surviving 1929 Torpedo Speedsters. That's quite a lot, for an expensive, seasonal car, that was introduced two months before Black Friday.

Thanks!

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Thanks! That's the other 1930 red and black car, which was auctioned a few years ago. I don't think it has the right windscreen. In point of fact, the restorer posted on this site, looking for some advice when he was working on the car.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I would be very careful before buying any 1927-28 boattail Stutz. My guess is about 2/3 of the ones in existence are repro bodies. If the seller cannot document the history back to the 1950's then run away!

That's true of many vintage cars.

But...in some cases (like vintage Bentleys and Rolls Royces and race cars) a re-body doesn't always affect the price.

If I was in the market for a open Stutz, I'd certainly consider a rebodied car. If the body was made accurately and with care, I'm not sure if it's important if you're buying it to drive and not as an investment.

But I'd take that it has a newer body into account when making an offer on the car. But I wouldn't run away or dismiss it out of hand.

To be honest, a quality new body built by a good shop in the last 30 years is probably preferable to a original body last restored in the 50s when prices were low and the care of the rebuild often reflected that. I'd wager there are plenty of chicken-wire and newspaper/bondo specials out there.

Edited by JohnBoyle (see edit history)
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Most of the Boattail Black Hawk Speedsters out there today are wearing their second body, and one can see why. Stutz cars were expensive, so buying a Stutz with a toy roof and no windows didn’t make much sense, unless you were very young and very rich, and/or it was a second car

Looking deeper into the situation, the Black Hawk Speedsters with Robbins bodies were only built in ’27 and ’28, and 1927 was the Year of Rain. In mid April it rained some 15 inches in 18 hours in New Orleans, flooding the Mississippi, which burst its banks. The resulting flood was the most destructive one in U.S. history. Up in New York in May, Lindbergh’s take off was delayed because of heavy rain.

How many people are going to buy a car with no roof when it is pouring rain?

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  • 9 months later...
Guest Oldcartech

Personally there is nothing wrong in owning a rebodied car if done well,... because lets face it, how many original cars are around? An original car is way out of sight in price for many people, so a nicely done one with all the right parts is not a bad idea. No disrespect to anyone, but a lot of so called experts don't own and never will own a real authentic Stutz Boattail. Life is short. If you want one bad, get one and start enjoying the rest of your life. You'll have almost the same amount of fun!

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I can understand that point of view.  But for me,  I would rather have a less desirable body that was correct then always have to explain the story.   I know this was a deal, but a few years ago a 28 BB roadster with an older restoration sold for less than 1/2 of what I see for the asking price on a replica speedster.

Edited by alsancle (see edit history)
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