Stout Scarab - A Very Different Kind of Beetle

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The Stout Scarab is an impressive vehicle built by a very remarkable man. Today we call it the first minivan, but it was much more than that.

The Stout Scarab was unveiled in 1935 – a few months after the Chrysler Airflow. Though the two cars shared some Art Deco-influenced styling elements, the Scarab was even more radical and different than any other vehicle of the era. Innovative features included a centrally mounted passenger door, a multifunctional and spacious interior, fenders incorporated into the body, no running boards with a body, and suspension built using technology lifted from airplanes. It was also expensive at USD 5000, so only nine were built. Its builder, William Bushnell Stout, was a man of extraordinary talent. He was behind more technical innovations than any man since Thomas Edison. Like his contemporaries, Ferdinand Porsche and Hans and Joseph Ledwinka, Stout was an early proponent of lightweight, rear-engined, air-cooled automobiles and for many years earned a living as a journalist, under the nom de plume of ‘Jack Kneiff.’

William Bushnell Stout was born on March 16, 1880, in Illinois. By the outbreak of the first World War he became an accomplished journalist, editor and inventor. In the 1920s he developed the Ford Tri-Motor, an all-metal airplane. During the winter of 1933-34, Stout commenced construction of his car. Stout was officially elected President of the Society of Automotive Engineers in early 1935, at which time he introduced his rear-engined car to Society members. Stout named the car “Scarab” because, like the Egyptian beetle, it had an exoskeleton – an external protective or supporting structure. Moreover, the Scarab was regarded as sacred by the ancient Egyptians, and its image was used as a symbol of creativity.

The Stout Scarab, which was powered by a Ford V-8 engine, had a streamlined Duraluminium body “to facilitate easier steering in all directions of wind... There are no running boards. The usual running board space is part of the floor inside. And there is no dividing line between chassis and body... The construction of the car, with the running board space added to the floor inside, and the removal of the engine from the front, makes the interior exceedingly roomy. The Scarab has no greater over-all length than the average popular-priced car, and its roof is at the usual height, yet there is a gain of five inches in headroom inside and much added breadth and length for passengers and luggage… The windshield is at the extreme front, almost directly over the front wheels. The capacious driver’s seat is in the usual place, and fastened to the floor. This is mentioned because all the other seats are chairs and may be moved around at will. At the back of the interior is a wide cross-seat, or sofa, which may be moved to the side of the car and placed next to an extension that folds out of the wall to make a full-length sleeping couch.”

After the war, Stout updated the Scarab again. The new version was called the Stout Scarab Experimental (or Stout Project Y, or Y-46). Designed in collaboration with stylist Dutch Darrin, for Graham-Paige’s Joseph W. Frazer, Stout’s Project Y was one of the first automobiles constructed using a Fiberglas Reinforced Plastic. Popular Science raved about the car in 1946: “The plastic car, once the favorite drawing-board dream of wartime designers, is here – but there is only one. William B. Stout, veteran airplane and automobile designer, owns it. Built according to his blueprints, the ‘Stout Forty-Six’ has a body made of fiberglass plastic, and a string of other unconventional features – no frame, engine in the rear, air-cushion springs, and doors that are opened with electric push buttons.” Afterward, Stout returned to the field of aviation. He died of a heart attack in March 1956.

The fate of six of the nine Scarabs constructed in 1935-36 are known, and thankfully five survive. One of them has recently been offered for sale and was photographed extensively.

Techical specifications

Mark Theobald tracks the story with photos by Gabor Mayer.

This is an excerpt from an article to be featured in the first of Rare & Unique Vehicles Magazine. Conceived by Pál Négyesi, a Hungarian motoring historian, journalist and museum professional. Rare & Unique Vehicles will be a subscription-based, quarterly print-magazine. The first issue will be available in digital format by mid-November and in printed format next January. Please visit rareandunique.media for further details.

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