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Photo Credit: James Mann
FROM THE ESTATE OF WILLIAM B. RUGER
The Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32 Turbo
1928 STUTZ BB FOUR PASSENGER BLACK HAWK SPEEDSTER
Chassis No. BBC18-BB23S
Engine No. DV 33171
Two-tone grey with red leather interior
Engine: dual overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder, 332ci, in-line, eight cylinder, single Garrett T04B turbocharger, electronic fuel injection, 360bhp at 4,250rpm with 17psi boost; Gearbox: GM 4L80E four-speed automatic; Suspension: solid axles with semi-elliptic leaf springs front and rear; Brakes: four wheel hydraulically actuated drums with power assist, hand-operated driveshaft hydraulic disc brake. Left hand drive.
Bill Ruger loved Stutz automobiles. He first saw one at the New York Auto Show while a teenager living in Brooklyn. "You can't imagine how exciting that car was at the Auto Show. It was so different from everything else. Long, fast, sleek," he remembered seventy years later. Bill also admired the engineering of Fred Moskovics, brought in by the new owner of Stutz, Bethlehem Steel's Charles Schwab, to rescue it from near capitulation to the stock manipulations of Alan Ryan. Introduced only a year after Moskovics took the helm at Stutz, the 1926 Safety Eight chassis and Vertical Eight engine were the basis of a rejuvenated Stutz. They were, "long, fast, sleek".
Moskovics resigned from Stutz in 1929 but left behind him the project that culminated in 1931's DV32, a dual overhead camshaft cylinder head with 4 valves per cylinder for the Vertical Eight block. It delivered 156 horsepower from its 299 cubic inches, more than a Cadillac V12 and a tour de force for a production car in 1932.
Bill Ruger appreciated gifted design, of which the Moskovics/Greuter DV32 was a prime example, and the DV32's potential intrigued him. Even with a 4-valve head it still breathed through a single Schebler updraft carb. Taken to its logical extreme with modern materials and methods, how would the long stroke (3¼" bore by 4½" stroke) Stutz DV32 perform? With nine main bearings it should be adequately strong to handle much more power. The question was, "How much".
On 1993's Memorial Day weekend Reeves Callaway visited Bill Ruger at Bill's Croydon, NH home. In response to Ruger's inquiry Callaway proposed a development program for the DV32 engine. It started with rebuilding, blueprinting and benchmark testing one of Ruger's spare DV32 engines, then developing a series of performance enhancement alternatives. Reeves' proposal was accepted.
Callaway Advanced Technology began engineering high performance engines several years before. Although Callaway is best known for their Twin Turbo Corvettes, they had earlier created the Callaway Twin Turbo Alfa Romeo GTV6 and had engineered, developed and built the competition engines for Aston Martin's AMR1 Group C endurance racers. Reeves Callaway and his team, led by Chief Engineer Mike Zoner and Engine Designer Derrick Peacock, were the perfect match for Bill Ruger's enthusiasm for creative, ebullient engineers. Their empirical, hands-on approach to development kept Bill Ruger in the loop.
The base line DV32 performed exactly as Stutz had described it in 1931: 156 horsepower. Callaway proposed several approaches, ranging from a naturally-aspirated engine with electronically-controlled port fuel injection through a redesigned cylinder head to the mother of all Stutz motors, a highly-boosted turbocharged, fuel injected beast that computer simulations showed would make well over 300 horsepower.
Bill Ruger (no surprise) chose the latter. The project ultimately took nearly three years and when it was completed a crowd gathered around Callaway's dynamometer for the first test. In initial testing, with 45 inches of boost the Ruger-Callaway DV32 produced 444bhp and was still climbing at 4,500rpm. Testing was quickly terminated to turn down the turbo's boost but the results more than met Bill Ruger's expectations. The Moskovics/Greuter DV32 proved to be everything, even by present-day standards, that had been hoped for it.
Using the factory crankcase, block (bored to 3 3/8" to clean up the cylinder walls) and ported cylinder head with siamesed ports for each cylinder's pair of intake and exhaust valves, the Ruger-Callaway DV32 employs steel-backed shell bearings, forged aluminum pistons, stainless steel valves and the original Stutz camshafts. The connecting rods are titanium castings from the Sturm, Ruger foundry (the world's largest titanium foundry) in Prescott, Arizona. A Motec engine management system with Callaway software controls the electronic sequential port fuel injectors while an Accel ignition system fires each cylinder's centrally-located spark plug. The stainless steel manifolding, created with meticulous care by Callaway's fabricators Vinnie DiScipio and Wayne Church, is a work of art. Their work on the stainless steel exhaust system is nothing less. An oil cooler, plumbed like all the other high pressure lines with Aeroquip hose and fittings, helps keep the hard-working DV32 cool. The electrical system is completely 12 volt and, just in case the big Stutz hydraulic brakes prove not to be up to the turbo DV32's urge, there is a hand-operated hydraulically-actuated disc brake on the driveshaft.
Now delivering 360 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque with 17 psi boost from its Garrett T04B turbocharger, the Ruger-Callaway DV32 is strong and reliable which it demonstrated in completing the 1996 Copperstate 1000. Subsequent to the Copperstate, it was returned to Callaway where it was fitted with a General Motors 4L80E electronically-controlled 4-speed automatic transmission. At the same time the brakes were upgraded with dual master cylinders and a power booster. Complete documentation on the Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32 is available from Callaway Advanced Technology along with tuning and engineering specifications and software support. Some technical files and photographic history of the build process will be available for inspection at the time of the auction.
The body is the original 1928 4-place Black Hawk speedster style which so impressed the teenaged Bill Ruger at the New York Auto Show, resplendent in two-tone grey. The interior has been upgraded to complement the high performance drivetrain with Recaro front seats and is trimmed by master craftsman Johan Merkhofer in bright red Connolly leather. The polished aluminum instrument panel is fitted with a comprehensive selection of VDO gauges. The panel's centerpiece is a 120mph speedometer and the Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32 has demonstrated its ability to make full use of the maximum calibration.
There have been few historic motor cars more thoroughly developed, simulated, tested and engineered than the Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32. Assembled with consummate care and attention to detail by the craftsmen at Callaway, their adherence to the highest standards of performance, function, fit and finish was endorsed and encouraged by Bill Ruger. In the course of the Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32's development Bill Ruger wrote some $300,000 in checks for its creation. The value of its unique titanium connecting rods is not included, but might realistically be measured in carats.
On the road the Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32 performs with alacrity. It cruises effortlessly at highly illegal speeds, accelerates around other cars on two-lane into nearly impossible gaps, starts and runs like a modern automobile - which, in effect, it is. It builds confidence with every mile until it becomes a delightful blend of vintage driving and modern performance.
The Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32 is the product of passion: passion for concept, passion for design, passion for engineering, passion for execution and, most importantly, passion for performance. Bill Ruger never lost his passion. He sought out others who shared it and encouraged them in its expression. The Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32 embodies the passion started by Harry Stutz, continued by Fred Moskovics, motivated by Bill Ruger and executed by Callaway.
It's one heck of a car, tangible evidence of the curiosity, application of scientific principles, practical engineering, empirical development and open-minded enthusiasm that characterized Bill Ruger.
WITHOUT RESERVE
FROM THE ESTATE OF WILLIAM B. RUGER
The Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32 Turbo
1928 STUTZ BB FOUR PASSENGER BLACK HAWK SPEEDSTER
Chassis No. BBC18-BB23S
Engine No. DV 33171
Two-tone grey with red leather interior
Engine: dual overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder, 332ci, in-line, eight cylinder, single Garrett T04B turbocharger, electronic fuel injection, 360bhp at 4,250rpm with 17psi boost; Gearbox: GM 4L80E four-speed automatic; Suspension: solid axles with semi-elliptic leaf springs front and rear; Brakes: four wheel hydraulically actuated drums with power assist, hand-operated driveshaft hydraulic disc brake. Left hand drive.
Bill Ruger loved Stutz automobiles. He first saw one at the New York Auto Show while a teenager living in Brooklyn. "You can't imagine how exciting that car was at the Auto Show. It was so different from everything else. Long, fast, sleek," he remembered seventy years later. Bill also admired the engineering of Fred Moskovics, brought in by the new owner of Stutz, Bethlehem Steel's Charles Schwab, to rescue it from near capitulation to the stock manipulations of Alan Ryan. Introduced only a year after Moskovics took the helm at Stutz, the 1926 Safety Eight chassis and Vertical Eight engine were the basis of a rejuvenated Stutz. They were, "long, fast, sleek".
Moskovics resigned from Stutz in 1929 but left behind him the project that culminated in 1931's DV32, a dual overhead camshaft cylinder head with 4 valves per cylinder for the Vertical Eight block. It delivered 156 horsepower from its 299 cubic inches, more than a Cadillac V12 and a tour de force for a production car in 1932.
Bill Ruger appreciated gifted design, of which the Moskovics/Greuter DV32 was a prime example, and the DV32's potential intrigued him. Even with a 4-valve head it still breathed through a single Schebler updraft carb. Taken to its logical extreme with modern materials and methods, how would the long stroke (3¼" bore by 4½" stroke) Stutz DV32 perform? With nine main bearings it should be adequately strong to handle much more power. The question was, "How much".
On 1993's Memorial Day weekend Reeves Callaway visited Bill Ruger at Bill's Croydon, NH home. In response to Ruger's inquiry Callaway proposed a development program for the DV32 engine. It started with rebuilding, blueprinting and benchmark testing one of Ruger's spare DV32 engines, then developing a series of performance enhancement alternatives. Reeves' proposal was accepted.
Callaway Advanced Technology began engineering high performance engines several years before. Although Callaway is best known for their Twin Turbo Corvettes, they had earlier created the Callaway Twin Turbo Alfa Romeo GTV6 and had engineered, developed and built the competition engines for Aston Martin's AMR1 Group C endurance racers. Reeves Callaway and his team, led by Chief Engineer Mike Zoner and Engine Designer Derrick Peacock, were the perfect match for Bill Ruger's enthusiasm for creative, ebullient engineers. Their empirical, hands-on approach to development kept Bill Ruger in the loop.
The base line DV32 performed exactly as Stutz had described it in 1931: 156 horsepower. Callaway proposed several approaches, ranging from a naturally-aspirated engine with electronically-controlled port fuel injection through a redesigned cylinder head to the mother of all Stutz motors, a highly-boosted turbocharged, fuel injected beast that computer simulations showed would make well over 300 horsepower.
Bill Ruger (no surprise) chose the latter. The project ultimately took nearly three years and when it was completed a crowd gathered around Callaway's dynamometer for the first test. In initial testing, with 45 inches of boost the Ruger-Callaway DV32 produced 444bhp and was still climbing at 4,500rpm. Testing was quickly terminated to turn down the turbo's boost but the results more than met Bill Ruger's expectations. The Moskovics/Greuter DV32 proved to be everything, even by present-day standards, that had been hoped for it.
Using the factory crankcase, block (bored to 3 3/8" to clean up the cylinder walls) and ported cylinder head with siamesed ports for each cylinder's pair of intake and exhaust valves, the Ruger-Callaway DV32 employs steel-backed shell bearings, forged aluminum pistons, stainless steel valves and the original Stutz camshafts. The connecting rods are titanium castings from the Sturm, Ruger foundry (the world's largest titanium foundry) in Prescott, Arizona. A Motec engine management system with Callaway software controls the electronic sequential port fuel injectors while an Accel ignition system fires each cylinder's centrally-located spark plug. The stainless steel manifolding, created with meticulous care by Callaway's fabricators Vinnie DiScipio and Wayne Church, is a work of art. Their work on the stainless steel exhaust system is nothing less. An oil cooler, plumbed like all the other high pressure lines with Aeroquip hose and fittings, helps keep the hard-working DV32 cool. The electrical system is completely 12 volt and, just in case the big Stutz hydraulic brakes prove not to be up to the turbo DV32's urge, there is a hand-operated hydraulically-actuated disc brake on the driveshaft.
Now delivering 360 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque with 17 psi boost from its Garrett T04B turbocharger, the Ruger-Callaway DV32 is strong and reliable which it demonstrated in completing the 1996 Copperstate 1000. Subsequent to the Copperstate, it was returned to Callaway where it was fitted with a General Motors 4L80E electronically-controlled 4-speed automatic transmission. At the same time the brakes were upgraded with dual master cylinders and a power booster. Complete documentation on the Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32 is available from Callaway Advanced Technology along with tuning and engineering specifications and software support. Some technical files and photographic history of the build process will be available for inspection at the time of the auction.
The body is the original 1928 4-place Black Hawk speedster style which so impressed the teenaged Bill Ruger at the New York Auto Show, resplendent in two-tone grey. The interior has been upgraded to complement the high performance drivetrain with Recaro front seats and is trimmed by master craftsman Johan Merkhofer in bright red Connolly leather. The polished aluminum instrument panel is fitted with a comprehensive selection of VDO gauges. The panel's centerpiece is a 120mph speedometer and the Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32 has demonstrated its ability to make full use of the maximum calibration.
There have been few historic motor cars more thoroughly developed, simulated, tested and engineered than the Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32. Assembled with consummate care and attention to detail by the craftsmen at Callaway, their adherence to the highest standards of performance, function, fit and finish was endorsed and encouraged by Bill Ruger. In the course of the Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32's development Bill Ruger wrote some $300,000 in checks for its creation. The value of its unique titanium connecting rods is not included, but might realistically be measured in carats.
On the road the Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32 performs with alacrity. It cruises effortlessly at highly illegal speeds, accelerates around other cars on two-lane into nearly impossible gaps, starts and runs like a modern automobile - which, in effect, it is. It builds confidence with every mile until it becomes a delightful blend of vintage driving and modern performance.
The Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32 is the product of passion: passion for concept, passion for design, passion for engineering, passion for execution and, most importantly, passion for performance. Bill Ruger never lost his passion. He sought out others who shared it and encouraged them in its expression. The Ruger-Callaway Stutz DV32 embodies the passion started by Harry Stutz, continued by Fred Moskovics, motivated by Bill Ruger and executed by Callaway.
It's one heck of a car, tangible evidence of the curiosity, application of scientific principles, practical engineering, empirical development and open-minded enthusiasm that characterized Bill Ruger.
WITHOUT RESERVE
Special notice
This lot is offered without reserve.