by Mike Gulett –
The Stout Scarab was a vehicle way ahead of its time in both design and concept. Conceived by aircraft engineer William Bushnell Stout, the Scarab stands as an expression of early 20th-century futurism and an important milestone in the history of automotive design. Though it never reached mass production, its influence is profound, making it a cult icon among designers and automotive historians.
William B. Stout and His Vision
By the 1930s William Stout was already an established engineer, best known for his work on the all-metal Ford Trimotor airplane, a project funded by Henry Ford. Stout believed that engineering and design principles from aviation should be applied to automobiles.
Frustrated by the limitations of conventional car design, Stout envisioned a “traveling office” or “mobile lounge” that offered comfort, efficiency, and versatility. He believed that cars should be designed from the inside out, with passenger comfort and utility as the central focus—not dictated by the constraints of a front-engine layout or out of date styling cues.
Design and Innovation
The result of this philosophy was the Stout Scarab, introduced as a prototype in 1935. It was unlike anything else on the road at the time:
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Streamlined, Monocoque Body: The Scarab featured a sleek, rounded, beetle-like shape (hence the name “Scarab”) that was highly aerodynamic. Its aluminum-skinned, unit-body construction was radical, predating the widespread adoption of unibody cars by decades.
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Rear-Mounted Ford V8 Engine: Most cars of the era had front-mounted engines, but the Scarab’s engine was placed in the rear to maximize interior space. It used a Ford flathead V8, coupled to a custom-built transmission.
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Flexible Interior: The interior layout was perhaps the most revolutionary aspect. The Scarab had a flat floor (thanks to its rear-engine layout and unit-body construction), configurable seating—including a swiveling front passenger seat, and even a table. It was, essentially, the first minivan or multi-purpose vehicle.
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Aircraft-Like Dashboard: Drawing directly from his aviation background, Stout gave the Scarab a dashboard more akin to a cockpit, with a mix of gauges and switches for a futuristic feel.
Reception and Legacy
Despite its forward-thinking design, the Scarab never entered mass production. Only nine vehicles were built between 1935 and 1946, largely hand-assembled and custom-ordered. A tenth prototype was reportedly destroyed.
Several factors contributed to its commercial failure:
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High Price: The Scarab was priced at around $5,000 (equivalent to well over $100,000 today), far beyond the reach of most consumers during the Great Depression.
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Radical Appearance: While now celebrated for its design, the Scarab’s bulbous, beetle like shape was considered odd or even grotesque in its day, out of step with the Art Deco lines and chrome-heavy aesthetics of the 1930s.
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Lack of Manufacturing Support: Stout did not have a large automaker’s backing or a dealer network. The Scarab was essentially a one-man project.
Nevertheless, the Stout Scarab anticipated many features and trends that would later become common: monospace interiors, rear engines (like the VW Microbus), flexible seating, aerodynamic design, and even elements of RVs and mobile offices.
Influence and Recognition
Though never a commercial success, the Scarab is now revered as one of the most important concept cars of all time. It has been featured in automotive museums, design exhibitions, and books on industrial design. The few surviving examples are highly prized collectibles and remain in museums or private collections.
Designers such as Raymond Loewy, Harley Earl, and Giorgetto Giugiaro are often cited as revolutionaries of car design—but William Stout arguably beat them all to the punch in certain aspects, especially in rethinking the automobile as a space to live and work, not just to drive.
Conclusion
The Stout Scarab was not merely a car—it was an experiment in living. A rolling sculpture of possibility, it represented the optimism of an engineer who believed the future could arrive early, if only the world were ready for it. While the world in the 1930s was not, its ideas now echo in the SUVs, minivans, and mobile workspaces of today. In that sense, the Scarab was not a failure, but a glance into the future.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
Research and some text by ChatGPT 5. Stout Scarab photos by Michael Furman.
The Stout Scarab reminds me of Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion concept. What scared me about the Scarab was that the vehicle had only one door on each side despite the length of the car. If it were involved in a bad collision then how would the passengers behind the driver get out.