Looking back, I must have been one very pretentious 13 year-old. I actually rode in this beauty one summer morning in Del Mar, CA, on the backside of the stable area of the racetrack, in 1981. I will never forget the gold-plated instrumentation and the rabbit fur carpeting.
This Stutz IV-Porte is one of only 50 built, and is a true collector car. Each vehicle was a custom order, and the cars were built by hand in Italy, using a Buick as the base. This car sold for close to $100,000 dollars when it was delivered new in 1981 to the original owner, Tommy Heard, a prominent Thoroughbred owner and trainer.
Stutz had a celebrity fan base, and owners included Lucille Ball, Robert Goulet, Sammy Davis. Jr., Dean Martin and Elvis Presley among many others. Most are still on the road, like this one is, part of a private collection in Germany since 1992.
