Stutz Blackhawk, 1971-1987. The original Stutz Motor Company had ceased trading in 1935 but was revived in 1968 by New York banker James O’Donnell and retired Chrysler stylist Virgil Exner. The Blackhawk was based on Pontiac Grand Prix running gear using GM’s 455ci V8 engine. The prototype was built by Ghia in Italy and subsequent cars were handmade at Carrozzeria Padane in Modena, Italy, and from 1972 at Carrozzeria Saturn in Cavallermaggiore, near Turin. The very first Blackhawk sold was purchased by Elvis Presley on October 9, 1970. Other famous owners included Dick Martin (1971), Lucille Ball (who got her 1971 Blackhawk as a gift from her husband Gary Morton with a dash plaque saying ‘I Love Lucy – Gary’), Sammy Davis Jr. (who owned two, one for himself and one for his wife), Dean Martin (who owned three and crashed his 1972 Blackhawk with vanity plate DRUNKY), Robert Goulet (1972), Evel Knievel (1974), Wilson Pickett (1974), Luigi Colani (1974), Johnnie Taylor (1975), Johnny Cash (1975), Curt Jürgens (1977), Erik Estrada (1978), Larry Holmes (1982), as well as Jerry Lewis, Liberace, Willie Nelson, Lou Brock, Isaac Hayes, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Tom Jones, Billy Joel, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Al Pacino, Wayne Newton, Barry White, and H.B. Halicki. The Shah of Iran reportedly owned twelve of them.
By the time production ended in 1987 approximately 500 to 600 cars had been manufactured.
