A Different Breed of Cat.(Escape Roads)

Byline: JOHN F. KATZ

Stutz was born on the Speedway in 1911 and died in the Depression in 1935. But in between the hairy Bearcat (Escape Roads, March 23, 1998) and the suitably climactic DV-32 (Nov. 27, 1995), the fabled Indianapolis automaker emphasized advanced engineering and safety with European style.

Inventor and entrepreneur Harry Stutz had left the company in 1919 after losing control to Wall Street financier Alan A. Ryan-whose flagrant manipulation of Stutz stock prices would scandalize the nation. Nonetheless, Bethlehem Steel boss Charles M. Schwab and two associates from Chase National Bank bought Ryan's inflated shares in July 1922. Stutz continued to falter, however, until reprieved by Hungarian-born engineer Fredrick Ewan Moskovics.

Previously Moskovics had conducted experiments with alcohol carburetors, organized the Yellow Taxicab Co. in New York, and built the Los Angeles Motordrome. He joined Marmon in 1913, where he contributed to the innovative Marmon 34 (Escape Roads, Sept. 18), while at the same time collaborating with Charles Kettering on adding lead to gasoline.

By 1922 Moskovics was vice president of Marmon and working on an even more advanced design of his own. In many ways this new car would have been the Model 34's logical successor, but Howard Marmon was not ready for the change, and the two men parted on friendly terms.

After a brief (and more rancorous) stint at Franklin, Moskovics offered his car to Stutz-in return for the presidency and 10 percent ownership. Schwab accepted in 1925 and would eventually commit more than $1 million to the development of the Moskovics design.

Like Harry Stutz before him, Moskovics recognized the importance of a low center of gravity: A double-drop frame and a worm-gear differential slung his Stutz five to eight inches lower than an average car of the time. As with the Marmon, the running boards were integrated into the frame. But where ...