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A Fabric-Bodied “Supercar” From 1932: The Stutz DV-32 Super Bearcat

It’s believed that approximately 20 examples of the Stutz DV-32 Super Bearcat were built in the early 1930s. They were among the fastest cars money could buy, supercars in every sense of the word, with power provided by an engine that almost won at Le Mans in 1932.

The example you see here is one of the rarer Weymann-bodied examples. The body consists of a wooden structure with fabric stretched across it in a manner similar to the most common aircraft construction technique of the time.

Fast Facts – The Stutz DV-32 Super Bearcat

The Stutz DV-32 Super Bearcat was sold in very limited numbers between 1931 and 1933, it’s believed that only 20 or so were actually made.
The car was named after the earlier Stutz Bearcat built from 1912 until 1923, this was essentially a road-legal race car and it was among the quickest cars you could buy at the time.
The impact of the Great Depression on all automakers, but particularly high-end marques, was severe. Stutz was struggling as were their competitors. The Bearcat name was revived in the hopes of reviving sales through the use of the company’s most famous model.
The Stutz DV-32 Super Bearcat was given a short, low-slung chassis with a sporting body and an advanced double overhead cam inline-eight engine with four-valves per cylinder producing 156 hp and a hefty 300 ft lbs of torque. The top speed was over 100 mph.

The Mighty Bearcat

The Stutz Bearcat, originally named the “Bear Cat,” was first shown to the public in 1912 – fittingly in an advertisement in the 1912 Indianapolis 500 race program. A year earlier in 1911 a Stutz had achieved an 11th place finish in the 500 mile race, a remarkable achievement given that the car had been built in just five weeks.

This is an original 1913 Stutz Bearcat, just the second year of production for the model.

Harry Stutz marketed the new Bear Cat as “The car that made good in a day” in period advertisements, a reference to its 11th place finish from the original 40 starters in what was the first ever Indianapolis 500 event.

The production version of the Bear Cat, later renamed the Bearcat, was as close to the race car as they could reasonably get it. It did have additional parts like fenders, headlights, and a windshield added but otherwise it was a race car you could drive on the road.

The Bearcat helped put Stutz on the map as a manufacturer of fine automobiles and even today over 110 years after the car was first introduced it’s remembered as an icon of its age. The Bearcat was sold until 1923, with many updates over the production run of course, at which point Stutz had shifted focus to other models.

The Stutz DV-32 Super Bearcat

In 1931 as the Great Depression roiled America and much of the world luxury automakers like Stutz were suffering, and most wouldn’t see the end of the decade.

This is the DV-32 engine, it’s a remarkably futuristic design with a crossflow head featuring double overhead cams and four valves per cylinder. It produces 156 bhp and 300 lb ft of torque.

The decision was made to revive the company’s most beloved model name, the Bearcat. The car would be completely new of course and not share any parts with its predecessor, in order to ensure that it was technologically advanced enough to be a true competitor.

The new Bearcat was fitted with the company’s sophisticated DV-32 “Dual Valve 32” inline-eight cylinder cross-flow engine with double overhead cams and four valves per cylinder – an unusual specification for a road going engine at the time, most engines were still using pushrods and two valves per cylinder for decades to come.

The fastest version of the new Bearcat was the suitably named the Super Bearcat, it was fitted with a much shorter (and therefore lighter) 116 inch chassis and a low-slung body for a lower center of gravity. With its lower weight and its DV-32 engine producing 156 bhp and 300 ft lbs of torque, the Super Bearcat was able to reach speeds in excess of 100 mph – an astonishing rate of speed for the era.

In this image you can see the texture of the fabric used for the body. The Weymann body uses the aircraft-like technique of stretching fabric over a wooden frame.

Sadly due to the economic crisis very few were sold, it’s thought just 20 or so in total. The Super Bearcats were fitted with either traditional aluminum bodies or patented Weymann bodies which were even lighter still.

“Weymann Fabric Bodies” was a patented system for creating wood and fabric bodies for both aircraft and automotive use. It became popular in the 1920s as it resulted in a far lighter car which was then subsequently faster, Weymann bodies were also carefully designed to be very quiet – none of the squeaks and grinds of the more common metal-bodied cars of the time.

The Super Bearcat would leave production in 1933 and the company wouldn’t make it to the 1940s, succumbing to bankruptcy in 1939. There have been a few attempts to revive the marque over the years, and there are rumors now that the name will be brought back for a new line of electric vehicles, one of which will almost certainly be called the Bearcat.

The 1932 Stutz DV-32 Super Bearcat Shown Here

The 1932 Super Bearcat you see here is one of just two surviving examples with a fabric body, and one of eight Super Bearcat survivors in total.

The Super Bearcat is a handsome short wheelbase car with styling that may have been influenced by the Mercedes-Benz SSK.

This car has a fascinating history, as most Bearcats do, its ownership history has been traced back to 1952 when it was owned by Colonel Donald L. Bower, then stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

In his ownership Colonel Bowers is said to have given his Stutz a full mechanical rebuild and he had repainted the hood, fenders, and wheels. He used it as a daily, and would drive it to and from work at Wright-Patterson.

Later in the car’s life it was owned by Dr. Frederick Simeone, a major figure in American car collecting. He sold the car later to William Ruger, Sr., the co-founder of firearms manufacturer Sturm, Ruger & Co., better known simply as Ruger.

This Super Bearcat is now due to roll across the auction block with RM Sotheby’s later in August with a price guide of $1,000,000 – $1,300,000 USD. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.

Images courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The post A Fabric-Bodied “Supercar” From 1932: The Stutz DV-32 Super Bearcat appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/stutz-super-bearcat/
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There’s A Porsche “Sport Toboggan” From The 1960s For Sale

This is a rare Porsche Junior “Sport Toboggan,” an idea that was conceived in 1964 with prototypes made from fiberglass. They were tested by Ferry Porsche himself, along with his family, before they were put into production.

Interestingly, 1964 was the same year that Porsche began experimenting with fiberglass in earnest as they developed the advanced (for the time) body for the Porsche 904 sports racing car.

The toboggan carries Porsche badging and it was tested by Ferry Porsche, with members of his own family.

This experimentation with fiberglass moulding techniques seems to have led to some Porsche employees deciding to make toboggans, otherwise known as sleds. It’s possible that the Porsche Junior Toboggans were made in the same fiberglass section of the factory as the Porsche 904s from the same chopped fiberglass.

Images from the period show the Porsche Sport Toboggan being used on snow and also on water being towed behind a boat, perhaps an early pre-cursor to wakeboarding.

The toboggan measures in at 36″ x 12″ x 38″ and it has a plaid cushion inside to keep it comfortable. It’s finished in dark blue with a black interior, there are aluminum caps over the sled rails underneath to avoid damaging the fiberglass, and there are two handles on top.

The toboggan comes with this framed collection of magazine articles, you can click the image for a larger version however the resolution is still a little too low to read.

The toboggan also comes with a large framed array of magazine features on it and its design, including an image of the Porsche family in the snow with the children playing on the sleds.

Porsche experimented with a number of lighthearted snow toys over the years, the most famous is almost certainly the Arova-Porsche 212 Skibob. This is essentially a bike for the snow with skis in place of wheels.

It’s now known how many of these were actually made but the good news is that the one shown here is for sale. It’s currently being offered for sale in a live online auction with The Market by Bonhams with a price guide of $800 – $1,200 out of Los Angeles, California.

If you’d like to read more about the unusual Porsche Junior “Sport Toboggan” or place a bid you can visit the listing here.

Images courtesy of The Market by Bonhams

The post There’s A Porsche “Sport Toboggan” From The 1960s For Sale appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/porsche-junior-sport-toboggan-sled/
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Weird And Wonderful: The UMM Alter II Turbodiesel 4×4

This is an UMM Alter II, it’s a Portuguese-built, French-designed four-wheel drive that’s probably best known for two things – it’s said to have finished 100% of the Paris-Dakar Rallies it entered, and it was chosen as the Popemobile when Pope John Paul II visited Portugal.

The quirky looks of the Alter II have attracted a lot of attention over the years, it was designed as a purely utilitarian vehicle with the best off-road ability with the lowest possible cost, and it proved popular with various militaries and police forces.

Fast Facts – The UMM Alter II 4×4

The UMM Alter II is a somewhat uniquely styled 4×4 with a short, steeply slanted nose for optimal visibility of forward terrain. It was designed in France by automotive firm Cournil and built in Portugal between 1986 to 1994 with approximately 10,000 completed.
The Alter II has a steel ladder frame chassis, live front and rear axles, a front-mounted engine powering all four wheels through either a 4 or 5-speed transmission and transfer case.
A variety of engines were offered over the years, eight in total, ranging from the 75 bhp 2.5 liter naturally aspirated diesel up to the 150 bhp 3.0 V6 petrol engine.
Many examples of the UMM Alter II remain in service today and spare parts are still available from the company Europeças. The vast majority of Alter Its are in Europe however there are a number in Africa and South America.

Bernard Cournil

To tell the story of the UMM Alter II you really need to go back to the early 20th century when an automotive company named Cournil was founded in France by Bernard Cournil.

Above Video: This footage from the 1993 Paris-Dakar Rally, if you skip forward to the 8:19 mark you’ll see the UMM Alter II driven by Francisco Sande of Portugal.

The company was initially an automobile workshop but during WWII, as the oil either ran out or was rationed, he specialized in converting cars to run on a wood-based fuel named Gazogene.

After the war Bernard saw an opportunity to put all the leftover American Jeeps to good use, and so he began converting them for farm and agricultural use. Eventually he signed a license agreement to assemble Willys Jeeps locally in France.

Over time the Jeeps being assembled by Cournil were modified, up to the point where Bernard and his team decided to just develop their own 4×4 vehicle, using as many pre-existing parts as possible.

The interior of later model Alter IIs was well designed by the standards of the era, certainly on par with similar offerings from Land Rover and Jeep.

In 1960 the company released the Cournil Tracteur JA1, a tough 4×4 vehicle with a chassis developed and built by Cournil. The body was also designed and built in house, but many other major parts like engines, transmissions, and axles were sourced from other manufacturers.

From 1961 onwards the body style was changed to include the steeply inclined front end, a feature that would become synonymous with Cournil and the SIMI and UMM vehicles that would follow.

In 1977 Council was sold to two companies, “Groupe Gévelot” got the French rights and UMM of Portugal got the international rights.

The UMM Alter II

Pronounced “U-M-M” rather than “Umm,” the company name stands for União Metalo-Mecânica in Portuguese or “Metal-Mechanical Union” in English. The company is a Portuguese metal works factory and former automobile manufacturer based in Lisbon.

The Alter IIs steeply raked nose was designed to ensure that drivers would have excelled visibility over forward terrain.

UMM had acquired the rights to Cournil designs back in the late 1970s, and by the mid-1980s there was a new updated design available from SIMI, the company who had taken over the French rights holder.

The new design was put into production in Portugal and named the UMM Alter II. As with the previous Cournil/SIMI designs the Alter II was tough, simple, and highly-capable off-road. It has live axles front and rear on leaf springs, a steel ladder chassis, and a simple angular body with a steeply inclined nose for better visibility.

Eight different engines were offered, from a 75 bhp 2.5 liter naturally aspirated diesel up to the 150 bhp 3.0 V6 petrol engine, however the 2.5 liter turbodiesels were the most common. Soft and hard top versions were offered as well as civilian, military, and police specification variants.

Approximately 10,000 were made in total and many remain in service to this day, with spare parts available through Europeças.

A number if Alters competed in the Paris-Dakar Rally over the years, though unconfirmed it’s been claimed that everyone that was ever entered managed to finish the event.

The 1993 UMM Alter II Shown Here

The vehicle you see here is an UMM Alter II from 1993, the second last year of production.

It was imported from Spain in December 2021 after a rebuild that included a new paint job, a newly upholstered interior, and some engine work on the 2.5 liter turbodiesel. The cooling system was also replaced as were the braking components.

As a later example of the model this Alter II is fitted with the desirable 5-speed transmission which sends power back through a dual-range transfer case to all four wheels. It has a black canvas soft top, a swing-out spare tire carrier, a roll cage, and a Continental stereo.

It’s currently being offered for sale out of Plymouth, Massachusetts on Bring A Trailer. If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here.

Images courtesy of Bring A Trailer

The post Weird And Wonderful: The UMM Alter II Turbodiesel 4×4 appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/umm-alter-ii-4x4-turbodiesel/
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A Rare (And Unusual) 1961 Dolphin America Sports Racer

This is the somewhat unusual-looking Dolphin America Sports Racer, it’s an American-built car that was developed by a team including future Shelby driver Ken Miles and British chassis designer John Crosthwaite who had worked for Lotus, BRM, Mickey Thompson, and Cooper.

Despite the small size of the firm, Dolphin Engineering Company had a significant impact on the Californian racing scene in the early 1960s. The company was turning out cars that were more than a match for their European competition, often beating them on track.

Fast Facts – The Dolphin America Sports Racer

The Dolphin Engineering Company was founded in San Diego, California in 1958 by Budd Hull and specialist British chassis designer John Crosthwaite who had formerly worked for Lotus, BRM, Mickey Thompson, and Cooper.
Sports racing cars from Europe, particularly Britain, Germany, and Italy, were a dominant force on American race tracks at this time and Dolphin was one of the companies to successfully challenge and beat them.
Hull and Crosthwaite hired talented driver and engineer Ken Miles to drive for them, he rewarded them with a slew of wins and plenty of engineering feedback on the cars which helped further develop them.
The 1961 Dolphin America Sports Racer you see here competed in races in California from the 1960s to the 1980s and it’s now being offered for sale out of Emeryville, California.

The Dolphin Engineering Company

The Dolphin Engineering Company was founded in 1958 by American Budd Hull and Brit John Crosthwaite who brought a wealth of cutting-edge chassis design with him from some of the most successful racing car manufacturers of the era, including the aforementioned British marques Lotus, BRM, and Cooper.

This Dolphin is powered by a 1,588cc Lotus twin-cam inline-four cylinder engine with twin Weber 45 DCOE carburetors mated to a Hewland Mk 6 5-speed transaxle.

In the 1950s many of the world’s most successful sports cars, both in terms of sales figures and race wins, came from Britain, Germany, and Italy.

The Americans had many notable successes of course, and the cars built by the international team at Dolphin regularly trounced their challengers from across the Atlantic.

The first car built by Dolphin was the front-engined Mk 1 Junior, it was powered by a Fiat engine and gearbox, and it proved immediately competitive. It was around this time that mid-engined race cars were becoming dominant on race tracks and Dolphin wasted no time in developing their own mid-engined sports racing cars.

In 1961 the company unveiled the Dolphin International, a more sophisticated design with a lightweight tubular steel spaceframe chassis and a body designed by Dick Troutman.

Power was provided by a Ford Anglia 105E engine, a simple 997cc inline-four with overhead valves that was proving successful in the under 1.0 liter class – with significant tuning for additional power of course.

After Crosthwaite left the company to pursue other opportunities in the early 1960s, Dolphin hired Don Maslin to replace him.

Designing The Dolphin America

Maslin would design the new Dolphin America by taking the tubular steel chassis of a Formula Junior car and increasing the width slightly from 47 to 51 inches to better suit sports car dimensions.

The reasoning was that if the chassis had been successful in the world of Formula Junior racing it should also be successful in sports car racing.

The car has seating for one as you would expect, with a harness, roll bar, and fire suppression system for safety.

With the chassis design complete attention turned to the body. In order to accelerate the design process a fiberglass mould was taken from the rear end of Maslin’s Lotus Eleven and the front was styled in a way somewhat similar to the earlier Ferrari Testa Rossa.

Though many have pointed out the dolphin-like look of the front of the car it’s never been established if this was deliberate or a happy accident.

The 12 mid-engined Dolphin America Sports Racers that were built were powered by an array of different engines in various displacements, from the 750cc Coventry Climax engine on the lower end up to a 1,700cc RS61 Porsche-powered car on the higher end.

This Porsche-powered car was lighter than the car that the engine was sourced from, the Porsche RS Spyder, by approximately 160 lbs. It had been commissioned by Otto Zipper and driven by Ken Miles to a number of class wins.

British immigrant to the USA Ken Miles would go on to become one of the most important sports racing car drivers of his era, playing a major role in all of the successes that were enjoyed by Shelby American later in the 1960s.

The unusual Testa Rossa-like styling of the front end has led many to wonder if the car was deliberately exaggerated to resemble a dolphin or if it was merely a coincidence.

The film about this time called Ford v Ferrari has Christian Bale playing the part of Ken Miles, a role for which he received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a male actor in a leading role.

The Dolphin Engineering Company would close up shop after just five years, they had built an estimated 50 cars in that time and somewhat remarkably these cars are still highly-competitive in vintage motorsport competition.

The 1961 Dolphin America Sports Racer Shown Here

The car you see here is a Dolphin America Sports Racer from 1961 and it’s powered by a 1,588cc Lotus twin-cam inline-four cylinder engine with twin Weber 45 DCOE carburetors mated to a Hewland Mk 6 5-speed transaxle.

It has four wheel independent suspension, four wheel disc brakes, lightweight fiberglass bodywork, and a tubular steel space frame chassis. It’s currently fitted with adjustable coilovers that allow fine tuning of handling, and it has bottom-hinged doors, a perimeter plexiglass windscreen, a roll bar, and a fire-suppression system.

This Dolphin is said to have competed in races in California from the 1960s to the 1980s, and in more recent years it has raced in HMSA and VARA events. It’s currently for sale out of Emeryville, California on Bring A Trailer.

If you’d like to read more about this unusual vintage racer or register to bid you can visit the listing here.