01
Origins
The reborn Stutz Blackhawk of 1971 was Virgil Exner's neo-classical fantasy made flesh: a Pontiac Grand Prix rebodied in Italy by Padane with a freestanding grille, side-mounted spare, and acres of hand-finished lacquer, priced at several times the donor car. The pitch was pure spectacle — old-money name, new-money excess — and it worked instantly: Elvis Presley took delivery of the first production car, bought several more, and drove one through the gates of Graceland on the last day of his life. Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and half of Las Vegas followed. Detroit mechanicals meant the glamour never stranded anyone. Production continued in tiny, ever-gaudier numbers into the 1980s. As a car it was preposterous; as a mirror of its era's celebrity taste, it is practically a documentary.
Stutz Blackhawk Serie 1 · Triple-green · CC BY-SA 2.0
