My fascination with speedsters started oh so long ago, when I was a wee little camera boy for my father. I was just a kid, and so my recall of that day is all very vague. But I do remember that this is how it all started…

Who could imagine that an automobile board would not wisely direct the company over which it had control? This has happened before, and unfortunately, it happened again—this time at the Stutz Motor Car Company…

Stutz had its day in the sun of the early teens and had since been laid low by a stock manipulator who almost ruined the company after taking over in 1917. Then a war. Then a pandemic. Then a post-war depression. I mean, what else could happen to the Bearcat brand?

Well, read on, my friend…

I can just see it in my mind’s eye: Dorothy is nervously walking faster and faster as she scurries down the Yellow Brick Road in the Enchanted Forest, chanting “Bearcats, Blackhawks, and Speedsters—oh, my!”

Stutz as an automobile company produced a remarkable run of such cars—fast, expensive, and darn good-looking! All done in 25 short years. This is part one of its speedster involvement.

In the previous post, we looked at five example of speedsters that came up for auction—specifically, five speedsters offered at the Bonhams 2021 Amelia Island auction on May 20, 2021. For this episode we’ll look at five more from that same auction whose YOMs range from 1921-1935, the eras of the sports-bodied and luxury-lifestyle (“luxo”) speedsters.

Have you ridden in a speedster on a perfect day, felt the curvy road unwind before you as you adventure on with your companion? The value? Priceless!

But: how much does it cost these days to own that seat? We’ll look at some recent auctions and price us a few to get a perspective…

The Indianapolis Speedway and its annual 500-mile saga would not have lasted if not for its drivers and their remarkable stories. This episode considers the 1911 Marmon 32 Speedster known as the Wasp, and the hero of that day, Ray Harroun.

Why would a stately luxury brand need a speedster in its automobile lineup? To go fast? To tear around corners? Why, Jeeves, what nonsense–slow down–you’ll spill our brandy!

In this episode we’ll look at the speedsters in three series of Packards, but also, check out their variants!

All cases have exceptions, and so all definitions must also have that which strays from the concept. True also for classic speedsters, as we’ll see in this next posting!

What if you wanted a speedster to haul all of your best buds around in? Speedsters were typically designed to carry one or two and had seating for such. What’s a poor fella or gal to do with that arrangement?

This episode features a few companies that did a work-around to address that limitation!