Evaluation: One of 14 first-year Stutzes surviving and 25 total built. Gorgeous restoration. There is chrome flaking off the left exhaust, but otherwise the car looks spectacular with impressive attention to detail. Spotless on top and underneath. Ready for a show field other than that exhaust issue.
Bottom Line: Three decades after the original Stutz Motor Company closed its doors, a New York banker revived it and coaxed ex-Chrysler designer extraordinaire Virgil Exner out of semi-retirement to do the styling. Around 500-600 were built utilizing mostly Pontiac running gear, but the 1971 models are particularly rare and were built to more exacting standards and better-equipped, so they are worth a lot more money than the later ones. One of Elvis’s 1971 Stutzes, for example, sold in Las Vegas for $297,000 last year. This car in Amelia is in much better condition but the price here is still appropriate for it. Such is the Elvis premium.
