Hot Rod Duesenberg

[Richard Bartrop]

From back when Duesenbergs were still just old cars and not yet museum pieces.  Something to think about if you're looking to do something a little different with that Monogram Doozie.

The full story at http://theoldmotor.com/?p=170490

Edited July 3, 2018 by Richard Bartrop

[Ace-Garageguy]

46 minutes ago, Richard Bartrop said:

From back when Duesenbergs were still just old cars and not yet museum pieces...

Here's one Howard Hughes had modified into a truck to haul a sailplane trailer...

 

Edited July 2, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[Mike999]

1 hour ago, Richard Bartrop said:

From back when Duesenbergs were still just old cars and not yet museum pieces.  Something to thing about if you're looking to do something a little different with that Monogram Doozie.

Thanks, that gives me some (bad) ideas.  Especially since I have some Monogram Classic built-ups bought cheap from eBay and flea markets.

"...which he purchased for one hundred dollars at a junkyard."  Yep, they were just old cars.  Tons of real classics were sitting in Los Angeles car lots and junk yards in the late '40s-early '50s, partly because of the movie industry.  Stars liked rare and expensive cars: Duesies and exotic foreign makes like Isotta-Fraschini or Delage. Many of those became orphans, hard to service and maintain once the original owners dumped them. One of my stalled projects is the Heller '34 Hispano-Suiza K6 limousine, dragged out of a junkyard and used as a surfer's wagon.  Replacing the original engine with a Chevy Stovebolt 6 is harder than I thought...

[ChrisBcritter]

Looking at this photo, I'm very strongly reminded of Philip Harkins' novel Road Race:

 

Story of a young hot-rodder who builds a '30 Model A roadster. He gets into a scrape with the law and is taken under the wing of a race driver who has a Duesenberg special. There's even a description of his rod that mentioned he "moved the body back and down, and the radiator forward and down" which sure looks like the case here. I wonder if Harkins knew these people, or just saw the photo and used it as inspiration for the novel?

Anyone else remember this book?

[Richard Bartrop]

According to the link, it raced regularly at Watkins Glen during the early 50s, so it's entirely possible Harkins was familiar with it one way or another.

[THarrison351]

3 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

Looking at this photo, I'm very strongly reminded of Philip Harkins' novel Road Race:

 

Story of a young hot-rodder who builds a '30 Model A roadster. He gets into a scrape with the law and is taken under the wing of a race driver who has a Duesenberg special. There's even a description of his rod that mentioned he "moved the body back and down, and the radiator forward and down" which sure looks like the case here. I wonder if Harkins knew these people, or just saw the photo and used it as inspiration for the novel?

Anyone else remember this book?

Read it when I was a kid.

[mk11]

3 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

Looking at this photo, I'm very strongly reminded of Philip Harkins' novel Road Race:

X2...

I've got the book here somewhere and remember that there was a note published at the front crediting a gent in Connecticut for technical info supplied to the author. Great book; in the vein of Hot Rod or Street Rod, sans the unhappy ending.

 

mike

Edited July 3, 2018 by mk11