This is the 1977 Stutz Blackhawk VI that was ordered new by Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays, and owned by him for the rest of his life, right up until his passing in 2024.
The car is now being sold with 17,000 miles on the odometer, an impressive number for a Blackhawk VI and an indication that Mays actually drove it and didn’t just keep it tucked away. A long list of celebrities owned Blackhawk VIs in period, including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, and many others.
Fast Facts: The Stutz Blackhawk VI
- This 1977 Stutz Blackhawk VI was ordered new by Major League Baseball icon Willie Mays and remained in his ownership until his passing in 2024. Showing just 17,000 miles, it’s unusual as it’s a Blackhawk that was genuinely used rather than kept tucked away in a collection.
- The Blackhawk revival traced its name to the late-1920s Stutz Black Hawk Special land speed car, but the modern version emerged in the early 1970s under banker James O’Donnell. Designed by Virgil Exner, it combined dramatic neo-classical styling with Pontiac Grand Prix mechanicals and Italian-built coachwork.
- Construction was elaborate and expensive, with bodies hand-formed in Italy, extensive gold plating, lambswool carpets, leather upholstery, and wood trim. Early cars used a 7.5 liter V8 with strong straight-line performance despite considerable weight, though fuel consumption was extremely high even by 1970s standards.
- Willie Mays’ example was finished in Metallic Aqua with a tan Connolly leather interior and period luxury features including air conditioning, power accessories, a car phone, and CB radio. Production of modern Blackhawks ran from 1971 to 1987 in limited numbers, and nowadays they have a cult following.
History Speedrun: The Stutz Blackhawk VI
The original Stutz Black Hawk was called “Stutz Black Hawk Special,” it was a streamliner land speed record breaking car built in the late 1920s and powered by twin supercharged 91 cubic inch (1.49 liter) engines.
This is the 1977 Stutz Blackhawk VI that was ordered new by Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays, and owned by him for the rest of his life, until his passing in 2024.
When wealthy New York banker James O’Donnell was seeking to bring back the Stutz Motor Company in the 1960s he chose the name “Blackhawk” for the first production model, with the two words joined in order to differentiate it from the earlier land speed car.
O’Donnell hired retired Chrysler stylist Virgil Exner to design the car, it was based on the Pontiac Grand Prix and powered by a 7.5 liter (455 cubic inch) V8 engine, mated to a GM TH400 3-speed automatic transmission.
The original bodies were removed from the platform and a new body was built by the skilled artisans at Carrozzeria Padane in Italy from heavy gauge steel, then after 1972 the cars were built by Carrozzeria Saturn, also in Italy. The fact that the cars had to be shipped from the North America to Italy, built using 1,500 skilled labor hours per vehicle, and then shipped back to the USA contributed to their eye-watering price.
Each Blackhawk was given not just an all-new body but also an all-new interior. Gold-plating was everywhere, the carpets were made from imported Australian lambswool, leather upholstery and wood panelling covered most surfaces.
Despite the weight of the first generation Blackhawks they still had relatively good performance by the standards of the time, with its 425 hp engine producing 420 lb ft of torque it could manage the 0 – 60 mph sprint in 8.4 seconds and achieve a top speed of 130 mph (210 km/h). Mileage was said to be just 9 mpg.
A slew of celebrities would own Blackhawks including Elvis Presley, who owned no less than four. Other notable owners included Frank Sinatra, Evel Knievel, Lucille Ball, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, Wilson Pickett, Johnny Cash, Liberace, Willie Nelson, Isaac Hayes, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Tom Jones, Billy Joel, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Al Pacino, and many others.
Each Blackhawk was given not just an all-new body but also an all-new interior. Gold-plating was everywhere, the carpets were made from imported Australian lambswool, leather upholstery and wood panelling covered most surfaces.
Production of the “modern” Stutz Blackhawks ran from 1971 to 1987 over seven generations, it’s believed that between 500 and 600 were made in total. Later cars received different engine and transmission options but all of them had 18 to 22 hand-polished coats of lacquer paint, the painting process alone is said to have taken six weeks from start to finish.
The styling of the Blackhawk has always been a little controversial and there are those who don’t believe it has aged well as a neo-classic design. That said there is a dedicated owners group and they only come up for sale rarely – indicating that surviving cars are being held onto tightly.
The Ex-Willie Mays Stutz Blackhawk VI Shown Here
This is the 1977 Stutz Blackhawk VI that was ordered new by MLB legend Willie Mays, a man widely regarded to be one of the best to ever play the game, with a professional career that lasted 25 seasons from 1948 to 1973 – and that’s before he started coaching.
O’Donnell hired retired Chrysler stylist Virgil Exner to design the car, it was based on the Pontiac Grand Prix and powered by a 7.5 liter (455 cubic inch) V8 engine, mated to a GM TH400 3-speed automatic transmission.
Mays ordered his Blackhawk VI in Metallic Aqua over a Tan Connolly leather interior, with woodgrain trim on the dash and gold-plated trim detailing accents the cabin. The car is equipped with a car phone and CB radio, and it also has a power-adjustable driver’s seat, air conditioning, power windows, lambswool floor mats, stainless-steel sill guards, and an AM/FM cassette stereo.
It’s now being offered for sale out of Scottsdale, Arizona with manufacturer’s literature, Willie Mays’ original purchase paperwork, and a clean California title that lists the vehicle as a 1978 model year. If you’d like to read more or place a bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
