One of the greatest christenings of an automobile was the choice of the name “Bearcat” by Stutz, to capture the essence of their spartan, stripped-down road racer. The animal itself might be a peaceful creature, but the name Bearcat conjures a combination of brute force and lithe movement – a perfect summary of what the company was offering.

After testing his first design at the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911, Harry Stutz envisioned the Bearcat to be a racing car with fenders and running lights. Despite suffering from tire trouble throughout the race, the new Stutz managed a respectable 11th Place finish with an average speed of 68 mph. It was a remarkable performance from a car just weeks off the drawing board. Stutz improved its finishing position in the 1913 Indianapolis 500 to 3rd Place.

When Stutz debuted the Bearcat in 1912, the Stutz sales literature of the period boasted the Bearcat was “designed to meet the requirements of the customer desiring a car built along the general lines of a racing car and with a slightly higher gear ratio than our regular torpedo roadster.” The Bearcat could be specified with either four- or six-cylinder engines – the six being a 426 cid T-head inline six-cylinder, which was built by the Wisconsin Motor Manufacturing Company.

The car presented here may have been born a six-cylinder roadster or touring car (both were offered), but has been in its current form for many decades.

This example was already an older restoration in 1996, when it first emerged in the public eye as part of A.K. Miller’s estate in East Orange, Vermont. In one of the most electrifying auctions of all time, buyers from around the globe descended on the Miller homestead and vied to secure cars or mementoes of this extraordinary cache, the majority of which were Stutzes. Stan Lucas was part of this enthusiastic crowd, and he boldly outbid others to snare this Bearcat for his collection.

Once under Mr. Lucas’ ownership, he elected to restore the car. A careful refurbishment was undertaken, with perhaps the most astute decision being to leave the numbered crossmember in what appeared to be its original finish, plainly noting it as a six-cylinder model, its chassis number prefixed by “6B.” Upon completion, the Bearcat was shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance® in 2001 and 2002.

A part of the Stan Lucas Collection for nearly 30 years, this ultra-rare, six-cylinder Stutz now presents a chance for motorists to experience a model of which there are very few survivors. Longer-legged and more refined than its four-cylinder brother, this example would make a fine Brass Era tour car.