Lot 81

Arizona 2014

1932 Stutz DV32 Convertible Sedan by LeBaron

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$154,000 USD | Sold

United States | Phoenix, Arizona

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Chassis No.
DV-42-1450
Engine No.
DV-33165
Body No.
130 A 2107
  • A genuine matching-numbers DV32
  • Purchased new by Stutz enthusiast Arthur Powers
  • Preserved for six decades by the Kracow family
  • Unrestored, incredibly original, and well-preserved
  • One of the last great Full Classic “finds”

156 bhp, 322.1 cu. in. dual overhead-camshaft inline eight-cylinder engine, four-speed manual transmission, solid front and live rear axles with semi-elliptic leaf springs, and four-wheel vacuum-assisted hydraulic drum brakes. Wheelbase: 145 in.

Chicago financier Arthur Powers called one of his two Stutz DV32s the “Last Great Train Chaser.” Every evening during the week, the Powers’ chauffeur would ride into Chicago from suburban Kankakee in the powerful Stutz, with its double overhead-camshafts and hemispherical heads. For the ride home, Mr. Powers would take the wheel, set the car, and race against the commuter train. The Stutz did not often lose the race. That was the supremacy for which the Indianapolis automaker was famed: dominance that had made legends of the men who knew how to command it. Arthur Powers was one of those men.

The LeBaron-bodied Convertible Sedan offered here was owned by the Powers family from new until the late 1940s, when it was sold during one of their vacations in Phoenix, Arizona. It made its way to Odessa, Texas, where it was spotted, a decade later, by a used car dealer from New Mexico, Arthur “Archie” Kracow.

What at first was intended as flashy advertising for Archie’s Used Car Lot would actually end up being a treasured possession of the Kracow family for six decades. By serendipity, in the 1980s, it was visited by Bruce McBroom, who had inherited a passion for Stutzes from his grandfather, Arthur Powers. McBroom was astonished to recognize the vertical bumper guards, the center-mounted spotlight, and the red reflector, which were his grandfather’s “signatures,” and he was thrilled to be reunited with a member of the family. He would help Kracow get the Stutz running and then look after it for some 20 years.

In its current ownership, the DV32 has continued to be maintained in its original condition. It still wears its factory-applied paint and upholstery, and underneath it all, it still has its original wood, with the LeBaron body plate still intact. The original top fabric remains, although the bows underneath are largely gone. This Stutz is exquisitely complete and patinated, and it begs for entrance into the Preservation Class at the concours of its new owner’s choice. Whatever prestigious event that it attends, it will undoubtedly be among the top contenders.

Importantly, this car is known by Stutz authorities to be an original and genuine DV32, still with its factory-installed engine, chassis, and body. Its ownership by the Powers family is documented in an e-mail from Mr. McBroom, a copy of which is in the file, and it appears in a story on Mr. Powers in Henry Rasmussen’s book, The Survivors: American Classic Cars.

The last time that this Stutz was sold publicly, it was scarcely a quarter-century old, and the sale was conducted on a used car lot. Its value has raised and its importance has increased, but it is still the same powerhouse that the two Arthurs—Powers and Kracow—kept, knew, and loved, and it has been maintained with an honesty that both would recognize. Train chasing is optional.