# Throwing Caution to the Wind in a Stutz Bearcat **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 1, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504 "2016-08-01T21:46:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/1 "2016-08-01T21:46:17Z")
I was crossing the street on Devon Sunday on my way to wait for the bus to go to the grocery store, when this yellow antique car came rattling up. I edged up to the passenger side, and asked the guy driving, “What kind of car is this?” The guy who was sitting up high on the wooden driver’s seat, began tossing the junk on the passenger seat into a bag on the floor of the car answered, “1914 Stutz Bearcat. Wanna ride?” Now, I’ve been offered rides before by strangers, and if one rule has been pounded into my head since childhood, it’s this one: Never EVER get into a car with someone you don’t know. But, in that split second when my brain was dutifully dredging up that rule, something in my history loving soul screamed, “Screw you and your rules, Brain! This is a Stutz Bearcat, goddammit! Get your ass in that seat!” So, I climbed up over the running board and sat on the smooth wooden seat that was little more than a bench with a back. The guy sure was friendly, and I mean that in a nice way, but my brain still wasn’t certain about this, and hates being overruled by stupid impulses, so it spent the entire trip bitching about how dangerous this was. I covered my brain’s rudeness to my host by complimenting his car, and smiling and waving to people on the street, as they waved and honked and gave thumbs up as we passed. My smiles and waves also covered another disconcerting emotion roiling though me. Riding a “Rich Man’s Toy” at standard automotive speed sitting on a wooden bench in an open car with no seatbelt over Devon Avenue with its washboard potholes and swarming Asian humanity is…well, not terrifying exactly. It’s somewhere between bracing and scary anyway. And all the while, I’m arguing with my brain, saying things to it like, “It’s an open car. I can run away if I want.” “Look, he’s an old guy. I can probably take him if I have to.” Then we took the turn from Broadway onto Hollywood and my brain was forgotten as I clung to the slippery wood of the bench. The guy did drive me all the way to Mariano’s without asking for anything in return, not even my name or number, for which I was grateful. So, I did him the favor of throwing away the remains of the pistachio sundae he had been eating the whole time. “See Brain?” I sniffed. “Not everyone is a psycho killer.” “Great. So if the Son of Sam drove up in a '32 Packard, you’d jump right in.” My brain is the reason I never have any fun. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/2 "2016-08-01T22:08:05Z")
I don’t know if this helps but you were probably in greater danger from the lack of safety features in the car than from the possibility that the driver was a psycho. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/3 "2016-08-01T22:11:36Z")
A mind is a terrible thing. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/4 "2016-08-01T23:53:37Z")
“Oh, no, he’s taking out a knife…brain, what should I do? Fight or flight?” “Oh, look who’s come crawling back when he needs me…” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/5 "2016-08-01T23:53:45Z")
“Bearcats!” was my favorite TV show (all 13 episodes + the pilot movie, “Powderkeg”) when I was a kid. I had a plastic model kit of a 1914 Stutz Bearcat. You are the 2nd luckiest person on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/6 "2016-08-02T00:13:53Z")
Even though I’ve used up eight of my nine lives as a rambunctious kid and teen. I would have had to take the ride. Not too many nutcases driving around in a Stutz Bearcat. Good job. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/7 "2016-08-02T00:50:18Z")
You were the [Dennis Cole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX_bDkaNE0o) of the 2010s. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/8 "2016-08-02T01:02:12Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Not too many nutcases driving around in a Stutz Bearcat. “Hey, I’ll pick up this person in my open topped attention gathering Stutz Bearcat then drive through crowded areas, then spirit them away and do criminal things to them! No one will ever know it was me.” ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/9 "2016-08-02T01:23:32Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > “Hey, I’ll pick up this person in my open topped attention gathering Stutz Bearcat then drive through crowded areas, then spirit them away and do criminal things to them! No one will ever know it was me.” My brain wants to know why you’re siding with me against it. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/10 "2016-08-02T02:10:45Z")
Ah, what do _brains_ know? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/11 "2016-08-02T02:53:59Z")
Brains are a fairly stupid people in general. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/12 "2016-08-02T06:22:55Z")
You done did the right thang. I be jealous. :::: sigh ::::::: ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/13 "2016-08-02T07:04:59Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > My brain wants to know why you’re siding with me against it. Tell your brain to STFU, you are in charge here. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/14 "2016-08-02T18:18:32Z")
I read a memoir called We Shook the Family Tree, by Hildegarde Dolson. She and her mother rode in a friend’s Stutz Bearcat (this was shortly after World War I) and it stalled on train tracks. Fortunately, they were able to get it started again, since the friend refused to leave her car! ---
**Author:** ![CWN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@CWN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CWN)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/15 "2016-08-02T18:30:02Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > I read a memoir called We Shook the Family Tree, by Hildegarde Dolson. She and her mother rode in a friend’s Stutz Bearcat (this was shortly after World War I) and it stalled on train tracks. Fortunately, they were able to get it started again, since the friend refused to leave her car! Do you remember if the driver’s name was Pauline 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/16 "2016-08-02T19:23:58Z")
I’da jumped in that car in a heartbeat! Groovy, man! ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/17 "2016-08-02T19:50:30Z")
> [@CWN](#): > > Do you remember if the driver’s name was Pauline 😉 Just reread that part. It wasn’t a Stutz Bearcat, it was an electric “carriage, one of the last in town” which she “drove in the spirit of a Stutz Bearcat”. Her name was Mrs. Ramspeck, and she was “over seventy”. I did remember the part about its being stuck on the train tracks, though. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/18 "2016-08-03T06:06:14Z")
Did the guy have a big, pointy chin? ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/19 "2016-08-03T07:43:28Z")
Awesome! And we live in the same neighborhood, as I, too, would cross Devon in order to catch the bus to the Edgewater Mariano’s. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504/20 "2016-08-03T08:21:01Z")
Same thing happened to me about 10 years ago. I was at a show which had many pieces of steam powered equipment on display and meet a gentleman who owned a 1902 Locomobile. After answering my many questions about the car he offered to give me a short ride. Of course I said yes and soon we were chugging down the street at the blazing speed (at least for a 1902 automobile) of 20 MPH. It was like riding a padded bench mounted on bicycle wheels - there was nothing to keep you from falling out if you leaned too far over the armrest and hitting anything head on would cause you to go flying over the dashboard. _hits palm against forehead_ Great Scott!! At the time I didn’t even thing how dangerous that could be! If he had been some crazed killer, the driver could have pulled an axe out from behind the boiler and I wouldn’t be here to tell you this story! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throwing-caution-to-the-wind-in-a-stutz-bearcat/761504.md?page=2)