1973 Stutz Blackhawk

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | March 29-30, 2019

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

When Stutz was revived in 1968, it’s most famous product was the Virgil Exner-styled Blackhawk that was produced between 1971 and 1987. They were definitely a product of their time, but they kind of have a following and were pretty nice cars when new.

The original cars were based on Pontiac Grand Prix running gear, which was okay because they kind of looked like a gussied-up Grand Prix anyway. This particular car is described as having a “V8 engine” which is not too helpful as a variety of engines were used during the course of production.

The 1973 models were considered their own generation as the cars received annual updates during the first three years of production. These were expensive cars (they’d over $150,000 today), and there were a lot of celebrity owners, too. By the time production wrapped, about 600 examples had been produced. This one is expected to bring between $75,000-$105,000, which seems like a lot. Oh yeah, they also built other models that were essentially the same car but with four doors, which is kind of weird. Click here for more info about this car and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $55,000.

2000 Buick Blackhawk

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Fort Worth, Texas | May 2, 2015

Photo – RM Sotheby’s

This extremely long-looking convertible hot rod was actually built by General Motors to celebrate 100 years of Buick. Even though the Motor Division wasn’t founded until 1903 (the year public sales began), David Dunbar Buick founded his company in 1899, building engines and prototypes.

The car was built to showcase the best things Buick had done in the past century. In 1938, GM designer Harley Earl created what was essentially the first “concept car” – the Buick Y-Job. This car takes some of its design inspiration from that car – and also the 1940s Buick Roadmasters.

The engine is a 463 horsepower 7.5-liter V-8 from a 1970 Buick GS Stage III. It went on the auto show tour in 2001 and was very popular. After the shows, it went back to the GM Heritage Collection until GM had to thin it out during bankruptcy. It was then sold to the current owners at a Barrett-Jackson sale in 2009 for $522,500.

As it was a show car, it wasn’t really well-engineered. So the new owners made it derivable. It’s a fantastic piece of Buick (and GM) history and is a true factory custom show car. It is expected to bring between $300,000-$450,000. Click here for more info and here for more from The Andrews Collection.

Update: Sold $363,000.

Update: Sold, Mecum Kissimmee 2022, $385,000.