Beschreibung:

Few names in motoring are as redolent of wealth and power as 'Duesenberg.' The company's advertising for its Model J said it all—soft charcoal drawings of a man in evening dress, seated in front of the fire in a great hall with a minstrels' gallery dominated by a huge pipe organ, or the silver-haired skipper of an America's Cup-type yacht, above a single line of script: "He drives a Duesenberg." The company's catalog was more eloquent: "The superlatively fine has no need to be boastful. Always there is devotion to an ideal with only one thought in mind; to produce the best, forgetful of cost or expediency or any other consideration. When this is finally accomplished, the work is acclaimed as a masterpiece by those who are in a position to know; it is recognized as a standard by which all other things of its kind are judged...this is true weather the creation be a Taj Mahal, a Grecian vase, Cellini's metal craft, a Rembrandt painting—or a Duesenberg car..." America took the new model to its heart and a new superlative was added to the language: to this day the phrase "It's a Duesy" is a universal term of ultimate approval, just as the Model J has become the ultimate collectors' automobile. Duesenberg unveiled its Model J—the embodiment of company owner E.L. Cord and chief engineer Fred Duesenberg's vision of "The World's Finest Motor Car" at the New York Auto Salon in December 1928. Among its remarkable features was a twin-cam straight-eight engine whose massive crankshaft was balanced both dynamically and statically, with sealed cartridges containing mercury to damp out vibrations. A 'timing box' on the side of the engine contained trains of precision gearing that automatically triggered lights on the comprehensively-equipped instrument panel to warn the driver when it was time to change the oil and service the battery. Moreover, every 75 miles the timing box opened a spring loaded valve to force oil to all the chassis lubrication points. More indicator lights showed the driver that the system was in operation and that the lubricator still contained oil. The press ran out of superlatives describing this wonderful new luxury automobile which combined advanced technology with glorious styling. The society magazine Country Life was typically ecstatic: "The Duesenberg 265hp sports model...has a body that looks like a little boy's dream. The engine is old Fred Duesenberg at his best. It has double-acting cam, and everything that the old Duesenberg race car that De Palma won the championship in, had to make it go. It does go—one hundred and twenty miles an hour—all the models look as though they'd do two hundred and forty." The Duesenberg's race-bred engine was certainly out of the ordinary—a purpose-built 32-valve Lycoming 6876cc straight-eight said to develop 265bhp. There might have been a touch of exaggeration in the claim, but the actual output was certainly more than double the output of the previous claimant to the title of 'America's most powerful car,' the 112bhp Chrysler Imperial 80. Moreover, this remarkable power unit endowed the Duesy with breathtaking performance; it was possible to achieve 90mph in second gear, with a maximum speed in the region of 110mph in high gear. Ride and handling were exceptional for the period, matched by 15 inch hydraulic brakes all around. Fred Duesenberg had tempered his engine-designing skills in the crucible of competition, designing racecars that had garnered some of the greatest laurels in motor sport. The young marque had achieved international fame in 1921 when a Duesenberg racer driven by Jimmy Murphy had won the French Grand Prix against stiff opposition, giving the company a proud slogan "Built to outclass, outrun and outlast any car on the road." Duesenberg has also won America's premier race, the Indianapolis 500, three times before the arrival of the Model J announced its claim to supremacy in the luxury car field. To underline the Model J's competition-based credentials, every