- Hi, I'm Ben Bowlin.
- And I'm Scott Benjamin.
- And we're here at the High Museum of Art
for a very special episode of Car Stuff.
- That's right.
Today we're gonna take a look
at the 1936 Stout Scarab.
(upbeat jazz music)
- Okay, we're here in front of
the famous Stout Scarab.
This was built by William Stout
as part of his Stout Car Company,
and, weirdly enough, this
thing has a rear engine.
- That's right.
The engine's way back here,
and that's for a reason
we'll tell you about
when we get up to the
front of the vehicle.
But, for now Ben, let's talk
about the styling a little bit.
- Oh yeah.
Believe it or not, people thought
this was a really ugly
vehicle when it came out.
- Yeah, it's hard to believe, isn't it,
when you look at this,
because this, to me, seems
like a beautiful design.
(upbeat jazz music)
It's become an Art Deco icon.
- [Ben] Yeah, it's a masterpiece.
This was built to have
the shape of a scarab,
and it's not just the
outside that's unique,
this has a very special
purpose, right Scott?
- That's exactly right.
It has some unusual features inside
that were way, way ahead of its time
just like many of these dream cars.
- The front seats rotate completely.
- That's right.
The backseat lays down like a couch.
- Yeah, and there's a table that folds out
in case you want to play cards
with anybody else in
your rolling living room.
- Yeah, that's right.
You can hold drinks on there, or whatever,
but the idea was that this is built
for someone who's on the go
and wants to have a party.
(moves to upbeat
electronic keyboard music)
- And this has a very low floor pan
to maximize the amount of room
inside the vehicle
because William Stout had
this idea that he would make
a living room on wheels.
- Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Now that is what Chrysler thought
they would do in 1984 when they came out
with the Chrysler Minivan.
(moves to upbeat jazz music)
- Yes, ladies and gentlemen,
we are standing in front of what could
arguably be called the
world's first minivan.
- That's right except this one was built
with an all-aluminum skin.
- Uh-hmm.
- Had a tubular steel frame.
- Oh yeah, and it had
these lace-wood interior
so that it would be easier to clean.
- That's right.
You remember how we mentioned
that it had a rear engine?
Well, that's so that there
was plenty of room up-front,
here, for the driver.
- And as odd as the Scarab may seem today,
we have to remember that a bunch
of the features in this vehicle
later became features in production cars.
- [Scott] Yes, but decades
later, as is the case
with many of these dream cars.
- Now you want to know one feature
that I wish they had
kept is the scarab here
in the front.
Look at this, and tell
me that doesn't look like
the super-hero car of some
crime fighter in the 1930's.
- Yeah, it seems like it.
I mean, that's the scarab
beetle right there,
and that's the namesake of
the vehicle, itself, right?
- Yeah, like,
♫ Da na na na na na na na na na, Scarab ♫
- Oh.
- No?
- No.
- I thought it worked.
- No, it didn't work.
- Thanks so much for watching.
We hope you enjoyed this episode.
You can find us on Facebook, Twitter.
We have our very own website,
carstuffshow.com, and please stayed tuned
for some upcoming dream cars.
(upbeat jazz music)
