The “Safety Stutz” of 1926 was the first American production car to be equipped with engineered-in safety features, including a lowered center of gravity, a “shatterproof” windshield, narrow windshield pillars for increased visibility, and reinforced running boards that would protect against side-impact collisions. The body sat low on the chassis because a worm-gear differential made it possible to mount the drive shaft below the rear axle. Today this is widely considered one of the most innovative automobile designs of the early Classic Era, with Stutz enthusiasts still fiercely seeking out survivors.

The jaunty two-passenger speedster offered here, with 1927’s more potent Challenger version of the inline Vertical Eight, was formerly owned by one Clarence Moesle, who sold it at some point in the 1960s to the then-prolific collector and trader in vintage automobiles, Allen Bittner of Pennsylvania. Mr. Bittner offered the car in 1967 to longtime Stutz Club members Ray and Helen Keto, who took delivery at their hotel in Hershey and proceeded to drive it home to Rockville, Maryland.

The Ketos delved into the car’s history, communicating with various historians and photographing a second survivor of the body style as a reference. They freshened its older restoration with considerable mechanical work and improvements to trim, and toured with the car for many years all over the East Coast. It was featured on the cover of the November-December 1973 edition of the Vintage Motor Car Club of America Bulb Horn, and on the back cover of Mark Howell’s Profile Publications volume, The Stutz Vertical Eight. Only in 1999 did the couple finally part with their prized automobile due to their advancing ages.

More recently owned by a descendant of Stutz President Fred Moskovics, the speedster remains quite attractive in its striking red and yellow livery—one that Mr. Keto strongly believed was correct, based upon Stutz advertisements of the era—but would benefit from mechanical freshening before extended use on the road. The seller’s proceeds from this Stutz will benefit the San Marino Motor Classic, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports the Pasadena Humane Society and Cancer Support Community.

This is a fine Stutz for an equally fine cause.