Stutz Model A Bear Cat
Two seats, two tanks and almost no bodywork turned Stutz's Indianapolis lesson into one of America's first true sports cars.
1912 Stutz Model A Bear Cat cover · Katherine Tompkins · CC BY 2.0
Research pending
A matching completed auction sale has not been verified for this exact year, body, trim, engine, transmission and market.
Joyride shows this gap instead of substituting an asking price, unsold bid or mismatched special vehicle.
More than a set of wheels.
Harry Stutz built a car in about five weeks for the first Indianapolis 500, where it finished eleventh in 1911. The production Model A followed in 1912. Its Bear Cat body was barely more than bucket seats and tanks on a 120-inch chassis, while a big Wisconsin T-head four sent power through Stutz's rear-mounted transmission-and-axle unit.
Look a little closer.
The factory spelled the name “Bear Cat” as two words in 1912; the joined-up “Bearcat” became the familiar later form.
Photos show an example of the model or generation. The pictured vehicle’s year, equipment, or modifications can differ from the specification described here.
A racer made road-legal
The Indianapolis Auto Museum says Ideal Motor Car built road-going copies of the 1911 racer with fenders and lamps. A surviving 1912 factory-catalog quotation promised the same material, workmanship and design as the car that had “made good in a day.”
Source: Indianapolis Auto Museum · Stutz history ↗Why early-engine numbers matter
Later Bearcats are often summarized as 389 cu in, but RM Sotheby's research on an exceptionally early Model A records a 4.75-inch bore and 5-inch stroke, an engine built in late 1910, and a 120-inch wheelbase. This profile labels that early Series A configuration instead of backdating later-family specifications.
Source: RM Sotheby's · 1912 Stutz Model A Bear Cat ↗Where these facts come from
- Indianapolis Auto Museum · Stutz history
- RM Sotheby's · 1912 Stutz Model A Bear Cat
- America's Packard Museum · Stutz 1912 Series A Bearcat
- Wikimedia Commons · 1912 Stutz Bearcat Speedster
Selected facts checked for this edition. Some source pages link to broader model families. Last reviewed October 1, 2026.