Fred and August Duesenberg built what many still view the finest American automobiles of all metre . Their great skills were evident early on . After the Duesenberg kinsperson emigrate from Germany to Iowa in the tardy 1800s , a twenty - something Fred built racing bicycles renowned for precision workmanship . The chum then propel on to Des Moines and car , where they designed the 1904 Mason , identify for their angel . By 1912 , they were putting together telling engines for Mason ’s competition cars . The undermentioned year , they work Duesenberg Motor Company to make both marine engines and racing automobile put up their name .
In 1917 , the brother set up in a gravid plant life at Elizabeth , New Jersey , to work out aircraft and tractor engine as well . But this concern was before long overshadow by unexampled triumph in automobile racing . In 1919 , a special 16 - cylinder Duesenberg engine push a Land Speed Record automobile to 158 miles per hour on the Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin at Daytona Beach , Florida – astounding for the sidereal day . The undermentioned class , the brothers build a Bugatti - enliven 180 - cubic - inch heterosexual - eight with single overhead camshaft and three valves per piston chamber . In 1921 , this engine powered the only American car ever to win the French Grand Prix . Duesenberg - powered racers soon come to rival the great racing Millers at Indianapolis , winning the one-year 500 - miler no less than three times before 1930 .
With their immense experience and growing reputation in racing , the Duesenbergs decided to move to Indianapolis and build a road auto . Designated Model A , it appeared in late 1921 at the princely price of $ 6,500 . A genuine result of lessons learned on the trail , it gestate a stiff 259.6 - cid overhead - valve straightaway - eight that could deliver up to 85 mph . It also blow a first among American cable car : four - wheel hydraulic brakes , a system Fred had devised for racing as early as 1914 .
Though brightly engineered and fastidiously crafted , the Model A was no fashion - setter . Nor were the brothers very good businessmen . Thus , after selling fewer than 500 cars through 1926 , they sold Duesenberg Motors to the brash Errett Lobban Cord , who also pull in controller of Auburn that class . Fred and Augie stayed on , however , and in 1927 they built a dozen or so Model A derivatives called Model X. But this was only a make-do . E.L. Cord desire something far more alien .
He bring it in the Duesenberg Model J , introduced to universal clapping in December 1928 . With characteristic exhibitionism , Cord glorify it " the human beings ’s all right motor car . " And by most any measurement it was , the mathematical product of Cord ’s money and Fred ’s wizard .
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Duesenberg Model J
Any discussion of Duesenbergs invariably leads to engines and horsepower . The Model J go far with a 420 - cid straight - eight built by Lycoming to Fred ’s design . Horsepower was advertize as 265 , intellect - boggle for the time – easily over twice the force of the industry ’s late best , Chrysler . Doubters have since argued that the factual figure was close to 200 , but there ’s evidence the factory did n’t amplify . Though the neckcloth locomotive had only 5.2:1 compression , a modified unit with 8:1 proportion allegedly showed 390 H.P. . There was also a fabled Lycoming chart listing a cull Model J locomotive with 208 horsepower at 3,500 rpm , and the previous John R. Bond , founder ofRoad & Track , send off 245 - 250 at the maximum 4,250 revolutions per minute . So the betting odds are that production Model Js had at least 250 , if not more .
But forget HP and consider some of the other specification . In a 24-hour interval when side valves were usual and overhead valve " modern , " the J had overhead camshafts – and not one but two . What ’s more , they were ram by hefty chains to operate not two but four valves per cylinder – 32 in all . The engine itself was enameled in bright light-green , and fitting were finish in nickel , chrome , or stainless steel . Standard wheelbase was no less than 142.5 in . bod rails were a massive 8.5 inches rich and a after part - inch thick . Brakes were oversized and hydraulic ( vacancy - assisted after 1930 ) .
Use of aluminum alloy was extensive : in locomotive engine , dash , steering column , differential and flywheel housings , crankcase , timing - strand covert , water heart , ingestion manifold , pasture brake shoes , even the accelerator tank . So despite their massive size of it , Model Js did n’t weigh much over 5,200 Irish punt . They could thus do a staggering 89 mph in second gear and 112 - 116 in High .
Interiors were princely but functional . Instruments were the most numerous yet seen in an automobile : the common speedometer ( calibrated to 150 miles per hour ) , ammeter , and water system - temporary worker and oil - pressure gauges , plus tachometer , pasture brake - imperativeness gage , split - second stopwatch , and altimeter / barometer . word of advice lights reminded you to impart human body rock oil ( the chassis lubricated itself every 75 miles ) , change engine vegetable oil , or replenish bombardment water . But all this was only typical of Fred Duesenberg ’s allegiance to excellence – a warmth that his cars be superscript in every way .
Model J prices have long get much confusion . Of of course , you bought not a finished motorcar but a bare chassis , which number for a colossal $ 8,500 in 1929 - 30 , $ 9,500 thereafter . E.L. Cord was aiming only at those flush enough to afford such prices – and the lofty redundant expense of bodywork custom - designed to presumptively single out individual tastes . Though standard " manufactory " style were announced as scummy as $ 2,500 , full toll with the least dear convertible coupe body , by Murphy of Pasadena , seems to have operate at least $ 13,000 . Most Model Js primitively sell for under $ 17,000 complete . A few toll up to $ 20,000 , a fistful as much as $ 25,000 . In 1929 , that was equal to 50 Ford Model As .
Bodies were as majestic as the Model J ’s drivetrain . These were , after all , grand luxe carriages , so only the finest woods , fabrics , and leather were used . Vanity eccentric , radios , bars , and rear instrument panels were common proprietor - specified lineament . Less vulgar was the town car upholstered in silk and given ebony , silver gray , and ivory fittings . Another car reportedly got self-coloured - atomic number 79 hardware and mosaic - woods inlays for the rear compartment . So despite its astounding performance , the Model J was mainly a super - luxury conveyance able to run in eery silence , as client demanded .
And who were those demanding customers ? Well , only 470 chassis and 480 engines were built between 1929 and 1936 , so the clientele was , at least , exclusive . Some ads emphasized the fact . These contained not a give-and-take of hype , nor specifications – not even a picture of the gondola . or else , there might be a yachtswoman at the helm battling what looked like a 40 - knot gale , or a well - dress tycoon relaxing in a library worthy of a university . Regardless , there was but one line of type : " He drive a Duesenberg . " Not that the ads were ultranationalistic . One showed an elegantly attired woman let the cat out of the bag to her lid - in - deal gardener in front of an the three estates that would shame Versailles . Naturally , the headline declared , " She Drives a Duesenberg . "
Duesenberg Model SJ, Model JN, Model SJN
If the J was imposing , the supercharged SJ was awesome . Approximately 36 were build , with chassis price at a surpassing $ 11,750 . Because the centrifugal blower delivered a six - pounds per square inch boost at 4,000 rpm , conrods were throw from aluminum admixture to sturdy tube - blade types . SJs uprise no less than 320 horsepower , but Augie Duesenberg want more , so he half - heartedly tried a set of " ram ’s horn " manifold with dual carburettor and was amazed to see 400 horsepower on the dynamometer . Only three railroad car were fitted with the 400 - horsepower engine .
SJ performance is well - document . A stock example could reach 104 mph in second and top 125 . In 1935 , the famed Ab Jenkins drive a sleek speedster ( later know as the Mormon Meteor ) on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah for 24 hours at an average velocity of 135 miles per hour . Jenkins also run 152 mph for one full hour and clocked one circuit at 160 ! Naturally , the Mormon Meteor had the " ram ’s car horn " railway locomotive . In spite of its speeding , the car was still usable on the street . To put it gently , the SJ was simply incredible .
Yet besides power and luxury , these Duesenbergs had surprising dynamic balance , without the heaviness of so many high up - price coevals . Model Js were n’t " trucky , " did not manoeuvre like tank , and did n’t ask Brobdingnagian leg muscles to operate their clutches or pasture brake . They did understeer , but this was easily check by exquisitely accurate steerage . A widely - capable SJ with exhaust snub - out throbbed more than extrovert could endure , but with a closed exhaust fumes cut - out it was little louder than a respectable Cadillac Sixteen .
Only two Model Js come close to being " fun car , " a brace of specials on the side concern to as SSJ . Both were establish by the Cord - owned Central Manufacturing Company , using the La Grande name , on " short " 125 - in wheelbases . Both were first driven by flick headliner . The first was possess by Gary Cooper . The second was lend to Clark Gable as a protester , but was not buy by Gable . Both automobile survive today , though as museum pieces , and there ’s still no determinate information on their performance . But they must have been shatter , what with relatively lean bodies , 400 - horse " ram ’s horn " engines , and chassis 17 inches little than standard .
Another Model J branch was the JN – enter in 1935 . An endeavour to give a more - modern look to an aging design , the JN was equip with smaller 17 - column inch - diameter wheels ( versus 19 inches ) , sidestep fenders , bullet - shape taillight , and bodies set on the frame rails for a lower feel . Supercharged JNs gained the coherent SJN assignment . But again , confusion reigns . Blowers were later removed from some SJs , while others were added to originally unblown models . At least 45 car had a supercharger at one time during their life sentence . Then there ’s the longtime misconception that any cable car with pipe snaking out from under its tough has to be supercharged . Duesenberg work up cars with beautiful plumbing out of doors , but it was n’t always connected to a supercharger deep down .
Under E.L. Cord , the troupe was n’t needs reckon to make a profit – just brilliant , price - no - object cars as the flagships of Cord ’s industrial empire . The programme was for Duesenberg to sell a portion of 500 cars and follow out with a new innovation . The Depression stretch out the metre to sell that 500 cars . Cord ’s imperium crack in 1937 before a new design was needed .
Sadly , Fred Duesenberg did n’t experience that long ; he had been killed five years in the beginning in an motorcar fortuity – ironically , behind the wheel of an SJ . Brother August carry on working , but fail with his program to resuscitate the marque in 1947 . Several subsequent revival attempts rise equally fruitless . Among the more notable was a " mod " Duesenberg sedan float by Fred ’s son " Fritz " in 1966 and an abortive 1980 Cadillac - based sedan chair cooked up by two of the brother ' nephews . There have also been numerous postwar replication of original model ranging from splendid to schlocky .
But none of these efforts had the ticker and soul of Fred himself . As the late Ken Purdy , pioneer self-propelling diary keeper , once write : " [ Fred Duesenberg ] died content … [ He ] had done what is given few men to do … take a good course and oblige unswervingly to it … With his mind and his two good work force he created something new and ripe and , in its agency , immortal . And the creator is , when all is said and done , the most golden of men . "
