Thursday, April 30, 2009

Duesenberg Model J


Due to the current economic climate, we are going to see a number of brands disappear from the automotive landscape. Here is one that disappeared due to the Great Depression! Most of you probably do not know this manufacturer! Duesenberg was an automobile company that started in Auburn, Indiana....producing cars from 1913 thru 1937. Approximately fifty percent of the cars manufactured still remain as collector cars. Currently, Duesenberg models J and SJ are among the most prized collector cars. A Duesenberg in good condition can be worth in excess of several million USD.
In 1913, brothers Fred and August Duesenberg founded the the Duesenberg Automobile & Motors Company in Iowa to build sports cars. The two brothers were born in Germany and were self-taught engineers. Duesenberg cars are considered some of the very best cars of the time, and were built entirely by hand. A Duesenberg won the the Indianapolis 500 race in 1924, 1925, and 1927.
The cars were extremely advanced, offering features such as dual overhead camshafts, four-valve cylinder heads, and the first hydraulic brakes offered on a passenger car.

In 1926, E.L. Cord, the owner of Cord Automobile, Auburn Automobile, and other transportation firms, bought the company in 1926.....he was a business legend in his day. The newly revived Duesenberg company set about to produce the Model J, which debuted in 1928. The standard Model J produced 265 hp. with a top speed of 119 mph. The supercharged version, called the SJ, was reputed to do 104 miles per hour with a top speed of 135–140 mph. Zero-to-60 mph (100 km/h) times of around eight seconds. Duesenbergs generally weighed around two and a half tons; up to three tons was not unusual, considering the wide array of custom coachwork available.

The interior and body of the car would be custom-made by an experienced coachbuilder to the owner's specifications. The bodyworks for the Duesenbergs came from both North America and Europe. The finished cars comprised some of the largest, grandest, most beautiful, and most elegant cars ever created. The chassis cost $8,500 ($9,500 after 1932); the completed base model cost $13,500; and a top-of-the-line model could reach $25,000 at a time when the average U.S. physician earned less than $3,000 a year.

The Duesenberg quickly became one of the most popular luxury cars in America and also in Europe, driven by the nobility, rich and famous, among them Clark Gable, Gary Cooper(each driving one of the two very rare SSJ 125″ short-wheelbase convertibles), the Duke of Windsor, the King of Spain Alfonso XIII, who was very keen on motoring, chose his now missing Duesenberg J, among his cars, to go to exile after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic.

Duesenberg advertising claimed it was the best car in the world, and their world-beating performance and extreme opulence tended to back that up. to some of the last supercharged models to produce 400 hp (298 kW). Duesenberg ceased production in 1937 after Cord's financial empire collapsed due to the depression.

After World War II, August Duesenberg tried to revive the Duesenberg name, but was unsuccessful; several later attempts were also unsuccessful.
My take is these cars were from a different time....excellent examples of a wealthy era! Obviously, they were expensive for their day! Today, they will cost a new owner a small fortune!
Information coutesy of Wikipedia!

8 comments:

  1. Thank you for this post. A sad time for our own car industry. Just like times past. If we do not learn from the things of the past, we do it over and over again. It looks like we are now.
    Dan and Deanna "Marketing Unscrambled"

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  2. Aren't they special!! Wonderful looking machines .. and I love the look of the coachwork. It is wonderful when their owners 'take them out' .. and give them an airing so the general public can see them.

    Beautiful pictures .. even if they come from that amazing reference source!

    I'm dreaming of a Duesenberg - bright red ..
    Hilary Melton-Butcher
    Positive Letters

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  3. Hello Dan & Deanna,

    I agree..it is a sad time for the automobile companies and their employees. It is a sad time indeed for all the people that will be without jobs due to this difficult economic time!

    Unfortunately, the Great Depression was caused by the U.S., the same with the current economic downturn.

    Thanks for commenting!

    Best Regards

    Pete Baca
    The Car Enthusiast Online

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  4. Hello Hilary,

    The real word to describe the Duesenburg is opulence! They were fabulous cars in their day...a testament to excellence. It is no wonder that the sals prices are so high!

    Your so right...a Duesenberg is a dream car! Collectors dream about buying one!

    Thank you for your comments!

    Pete Baca
    The Car Enthusiast Online

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  5. Peter, you are so right that the depression as now started here. A lot of it has to do with the way congress puts in laws and takes no blame for the things that they do and the harm that they bring on others. It is a shame. So many others are now paying the price. They KEEP doing the same things over and over and expect a different ending. That is what we call insane.
    Dan and Deanna "Marketing Unscrambled"

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  6. He Dan & Deanna,

    I agree that congress has been a major part of the problem. They let the banks get away with high interest rates and less regulation. Then when the banks took on to much risk they bail them out with our money.

    They fund the banks with very little discussion then they put the auto industry thru the ringer. The auto companies have been mismanaged so changes need to be made.

    Your point is well taken! Thanks for commenting!

    Best Regards

    Pete Baca
    The Car Enthusiast Online

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  7. Hi Pete,

    Your post reminded the movie "Tucker" years ago. I understood that "Tucker" is another brand disappeared. Model J is such a beautiful car. I would love to own this kind of classic car one day. Thank you for your sharing.

    Shaw Funami
    Fill the Missing Link

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  8. Hello Shaw,

    Tucker is also an excellent car....way ahead of it's time! I enjoyed the movie....it showed how innovation can be stopped by big corporations and politics.

    I think that there are parallels to the U.S. auto industry today! I plan on doing a post on
    Tucker the man and the automobile. Stay tuned!

    Best Regards

    Peter Baca
    The Car Enthusiast Online

    ReplyDelete