Search the Community

I have been thinking about this for quite a while. The recent flurry of TROG projects has gotten me thinking about moving this project to the front burner. So what is it you may ask? The very highest performance cars in America in the late '20's and early '30's were Duesenbergs. They were also the most successful American racing cars both here and abroad (I know about Bugatti's and Bentleys but I am talking American made). That being said, I have always been perplexed as to why more Model J Duesenbergs were not raced. While Ab Jenkins did some speed runs with the highly massaged Mormon Meteor and there was a well known race between the Marx Brother's Mercedes and Phil Berg's Duesenberg Barrellside (J-299), there was no formal record of anyone racing a Model J. That brings us to today. If I were to win the lottery the third car I would buy would be a Duesenberg Model J...or two or seven. Just because I could I would take one said Duesenberg and whale the tar out of it as often as I could. Inspired by the TROG events I would prep my Duesenberg and line it up to run the beach. Being a Duesenberg, I would not pull out the interior, instead I would put tonneau covers on the open compartments. I would add some speed equipment specifically done for Duesenbergs (such as the dual carb setup and a Monel exhaust manifold and would put knock-off hubs on the wheels. I would leave the factory exhaust in place but install a gigantic cut out for that special sound while racing. Ala Bentley, I would install protective screening over the radiator and those big beautiful lights. I also would commit a sin and have a set of bobbed fenders made. Just for fun I will make a few subtle changes such as changing the direction the doors open. The notion of a Full Classic entry into a TROG event is not unprecedented. In combing through reference photos somebody recently entered the event with a 1931 Auburn 8-98 Speedster sans fenders. I figure if an Auburn was welcome in New Jersey a Duesenberg would be okay too. Below is the model I started with. No offense to the TROG crowd but it seems most appropriate to start with one of my "junkyard" Duesenbergs. This is a "just for fun, what if?" build so authenticity is out the window. Of course, if I do win the lottery, I'll build the 1:1 also.