alsancle

The first one is a LeBaron and has the raked windshield. The second is a factory body with the straight windshield.

That is a cool vintage hot rod as is. I would chuck the hemi too.

Btw, Mark your car looks great. Did it still have the Auburn 2 speed rear end in it when you bought it?

It is also possible that the front axle was removed and then remounted backwards. It will go on this way and the difference is a couple of inches. You can only do this if the steering box is not connected, because if it is the drag link will not fit and show the error in your ways.

Ah, how great minds think alike I was thinking how nice the green one looked with that windshield. The thought went through my mind that "wow, usually these have a straight windshield but this body looks good".

The picture I posted is a 31/32 Stutz SV16 Conv Coupe which is what you have. I think when you get all the parts together you will find that the original car has been modified slightly (rear end, dash, etc) and that you have some other cars mixed in. Like I said before, great find, although to warn you up front - that engine is going to be about 25k to rebuild assuming it's all there and not cracked.

If you compare the molding around the cowl with the picture below I think you will see a match. When I see something like this I get excited because it's a great find. But then I get tempered by the thought of how much work it will be to put it all back together again. We all only have so many full restorations in us. The benchmark seems to be about 10 years when you are dealing with a relatively complete car. A car like this will need to go to a Stutz guy if it has any hope of seeing the road again.

Jason, If you have your book handy maybe you could look up the engine number?

The 20 inch Buffalo has locking rings. The later wheels with the drop center and hubcaps were less in diameter - there were two sizes which are escaping me now. Look for that chassis number which I think is on the right side of the frame. Right where the bumper attaches. My book is at my garage so I won't have that until Saturday. It is possible that you have a combination of cars. Cool in any case. Where did you find the car?

The dash is 31/32 with a custom insert of some sort. The shocks look 30 or later. I do not believe the wheels are 20 inch, are you sure you measured them correctly? The engines are both single overhead cam so it's not a DV32 which would have been a great find. Although, if it's a SV16 with a conv coupe body that's not too shabby. I have no idea what that rear end is. Possibly a combination of parts going on. You can find a serial number on one of the rear chassis horns where the bumper bolts on. The serial number should provide a good idea what the chassis is. I see one of the engine numbers, I don't have my book with me at work but perhaps someone can look that up.

Wow, touch that as little as possible just to get it running.

So what distinguishes a "wolverine" from a standard REO?

If we are throwing numbers around I would have said 125 to 200 depending on level of restoration, but then again I'm just throwing numbers around. You are probably high with the 300 as the recent auction results are all for more desirable bodies. The correlation between roadster & sedan depends on marque but if you use the L29 as a guide subtract 50% or more.

That is really cool. Keep us posted on your progress.

Yeah, I kinda figured that

Curt, was the Reo a Royale?

I will stand by my estimate of 75% to 100% more than a comparable L29. Sometimes rarity does drive the price even when it shouldn't. See Exhibit A: the Tucker. I like the L29 more too, but there are probably 10 L29s for every Ruxton. When you get to be the only guy to show up at the Concours with a Ruxton it will drive the price.

I'm not sure a museum that happens to own a car will really help determine a value. Take the market value of an L29 sedan in the same condition and double it or add 75%. You will be pretty close.

Here is a link to a long thread on the Stutz

This is a great thread and I remember the car in question at the 2001 Hershey Auction that Don Williams and Richie Clyne put on. Rusty, you put me in the uncomfortable position of being on the same side of the argument as Hitler. He's probably about 99% right. Other than the Duesenberg and maybe the Marmon V16, any of the American cars would have required a special rear end ratio to get over 100. I'm a Pierce fan but was that a bone stock car and what was the rear end ratio? The problem with the Grosser was the amount of weight it was pushing. It would be interesting to see how it would do with a light weight conv coupe body like what was on the Pierce. Also, there is no comparison between the fully independent suspension and transmission of the 540k/770k and the Pierce/Duesenberg 3 speed. The 4 & 5 speed transmission in the Mercedes gave a high top end with a stock rear end ratio.

There have been a couple of Ruxtons that have sold at auction in the last few years. More desirable body styles but you can do the usual math of sedan vs conv. You could also compare to L29 sales and add a premium.

I've posted this before.

A 3 window coupe with leather interior and artillery wheels is a cool car. Unfortunately, 3 window coupes have a way of getting cut up. Did Hupp really put leather in closed cars?

That is a good looking car.