1930 STUTZ SERIES M LE BARON

Now this is something else all together and surely one of its kind in the country. Among many of the great American makes in the first four decades of the last century, Stutz was renowned as a maker of fine sporty cars plus also very elegant prestige luxury automobiles. With a rich history in motor sport (which was a big help commercially to any and every marque which succeeded on the race track), Stutz was ranked right up there in the pantheon of great American brands like Duesenberg, Cadillac, Packard, Pierce-Arrow, Auburn, Lincoln, etc before it succumbed in the great Depression and just faded away.

However before it was consigned to history it did produce some great machines and this handsome Le Baron bodied dual cowl speedster (chassis no. M-26 SD244) is one such machine. Formerly the preserve of the Maharaja of Baria (a princely state in Gujarat), it was ordered by him after he laid eyes on it at the 1929 Olympia Motor Show in London. It is one of the few examples of the marque with right hand drive steering but what makes it truly magnificent is that it is not just the only Stutz known to reside in India but that its superb straight-eight engine is one distinctive feature which was the direct result of the firm’s racing effort. Found in near derelict condition, it was subjected to a complete ground up restoration to the highest standards and I reckon this has to be the best example of an American prestige machine of the 1930s yet in India. No wonder it bagged its owner, Delhi-based classic car collector Diljeet Titus the runner-up gong in the Classics’ category.