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1921 Duesenberg Model A Belonged to the Same Family for Almost a Century

77 points by clouddrover 6y ago

julianlam 6y ago
Fun fact: Duesenberg is what is referenced with the phrase "it's a doozy"
- kalleboo 6y ago
  Actually that's a common myth! https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/where-the-word-doozy-comes-from https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/where-the-word...
nexthash 6y ago
> Built to “outclass, outrun, and outlast” any car on the road, the Duesenberg Model A revolutionized the straight eight. Still does. Frederick and August Duesenberg were automotive geniuses, with unparalleled engine designs, top speeds, and exteriors/interiors for the day. Jay Leno did an episode on an original, unrestored Duesenberg from 1931. It will help you get the feel for these incredible cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdIKJ80ReiY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdIKJ80ReiY
- Geezus_42 6y ago
  Leno's model J https://www.thedrive.com/news/37462/of-course-jay-leno-drives-the-worlds-most-expensive-duesenberg https://www.thedrive.com/news/37462/of-course-jay-leno-drive...
tobobo 6y ago
I inherited a 1928 model A from my dad last year that he’d had since the early 1970s. I’m looking forward to giving it a drive, but it’s in a garage at the top of a hill and I’m afraid if I drive it down I’ll never get it back up. If anyone had tips for caring for and operating old cars, I’ll take any advice I can get!
- pottertheotter 6y ago
  I have no advice, but what a cool thing to have passed down!
- pfarrell 6y ago
  The Stutz building is a former auto factory in downtown Indianapolis that is now an office complex. Stutz is another Indiana luxury car manufacturer from around the same time as Duesenbergs. Last I knew, Turner Woodard [0] is the owner. Back in the 2000's Mr. Woodard had his extensive auto collection housed in that complex, including Duesenbergs, Stutz Bearcats, and memorably, a 1920's Reo Speedwagon fire engine. My point is this, if you can get in contact with his people, you are likely to find experts in maintaining those old cars. I definitely remember watching Duesenbergs used in parades when I was growing up. 0: https://www.turnerwoodard.com/ https://www.turnerwoodard.com/
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - tobobo 6y ago
    Thank you for the resource! I’m realizing through these replies that I’m talking about a different (and much more common) Ford Model A- but it looks like he has one of those in his collection as well.
- dmckeon 6y ago
  Generally, find a club, or group, or forum that specializes in whatever vehicle you have. But, Fred & Augie only made 444 Duesenbergs, so I would start with the ACD museum to get a recommendation for someone who could look it over for you and show you the quirks. Leno’s YouTube channel has several videos about them to start you off. Trivia: they were all made in the same year, but the depression struck, and so they were all sold and titled over the following decade.
  - tobobo 6y ago
    Good tip. I am realizing that the Ford Model A I’m referring to in my post is a totally different. car but I know this advice still stands- my dad had forums he would visit to find parts, I wonder if I can figure out which ones those were.
rmason 6y ago
My late father was early to the antique car hobby, he got started in the late forties when you didn't have to be wealthy to buy rare cars, provided you did most of the restoration work yourself. Of all the cars he owned, the one he liked the most and kept the longest was a 1926 Wills Sainte Claire roadster. He sold that car so that he could send me and my sister to college. My earliest memories from around age 2 were watching my dad wrench on that car. I borrowed it from the owner with the help of the president of the Wills Sainte Claire museum for my father's 100th birthday. Our entire family felt such a strong emotional attachment to that car, but none stronger than my Dad. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2016/07/07/wills-sainte-claire-enthusiast-reunited-with-his-old-wills-on-100th-birthday https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2016/07/07/wills-sainte-cla...
- jacquesm 6y ago
  What a wonderful story, thank you! I've restored a couple of cars and nobody that sees the end result will ever truly appreciate the amount of work that goes in to a job like that unless they've done it themselves as well. Your dad looks so happy in those pictures!
  - rmason 6y ago
    Thank you. I said at my father's funeral that he collected everything to do with the Wills Sainte Claire. He befriended C. Harold Will's two sons. The widow rode in my Dad's car in a Detroit parade. We were at a Wills event and coming back from the bathroom I heard two ladies talking about riding in the rumble seat of a car with their Grandmother in a parade in Detroit. I said would you like to meet the guy whose car you rode in? They were delighted and my Dad wrote letters to them until weeks before passing away at 101. My Dad served as a great example to me although my passions are more of the geeky kind.
    - jacquesm 6y ago
      Such a treasure. I was talking to a priest the other day about a nun that is alive today at the age of 117, to imagine all the things that she's seen for the very first time during her lifetime, to have conscious memory of two world wars and everything that has been invented during that time. That must give such a tremendous perspective on life. You are - and you probably already know this - very fortunate to have had a father like that.
DonHopkins 6y ago
The Louwman Museum in The Haag, Netherlands has a couple of beautiful Duesenbergs, one red and one black one: Duesenberg Model SJ Lagrande Dual-Cowl Phaeton https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/duesenberg-model-sj-lagrande-dual-cowl-phaeton/ https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/duesenberg-model-sj-lagr... >Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, James Cagney, Mae West, Lupe Velez, Joe E. Brown, Dolores del Rio, Howard Hughes, William Randolph Hearst, HM King Alfonso XIII of Spain, HM Queen Marie of Yugoslavia, HRH Prince Nicholas of Romania: many famous Hollywood stars and members of high society owned a Duesenberg. Duesenberg Model J Limousine-Landaulette Throne Car https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/duesenberg-model-j-limousine-landaulette-throne-car/ https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/duesenberg-model-j-limou... >This car, the heaviest, longest and widest Duesenberg ever built weighs about 3000 kilogrammes. The car is intended to seat ten: American evangelist ‘Father Divine’ and his ‘courtiers’. Father Divine established the International Peace Mission Movement in the 1920s. Amongst other things, it campaigned the rights of minorities and expanded rapidly in the 1930s. Father Divine’s followers came from all layers of society. I also saw the Swan Car and the Baby Swan Car at the Louwman Museum. It had brushes to clear the elephant shit from the road, had glowing eyes, and could belch steam from its beak to clear people from street in front of it, while it could even dump its own simulated bird shit behind it to mark its trail. And it even had a Cygnet / Baby Swan Car daughter! https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/brooke-25-30-hp-swan-car/ https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/brooke-25-30-hp-swan-car... >Brooke 25/30-HP Swan Car >This Brooke Swan Car is truly extraordinary. It was the creation of the eccentric and wealthy Scotsman Robert Nicholl ‘Scotty’ Matthewson, who lived in early 20th century Calcutta, the capital of what was then British India >Matthewson wanted to shock the local elite with his car, and he certainly succeeded in doing so. >The bodywork represents a swan gliding through water. The rear is decorated with a lotus flower design finished in gold leaf, an ancient symbol for divine wisdom. Apart from the normal lights, there are electric bulbs in the swan’s eyes that glow eerily in the dark. The car has an exhaust-driven, eight-tone Gabriel horn that can be operated by means of a keyboard at the back of the car. A ship’s telegraph was used to issue commands to the driver. Brushes were fitted to sweep off the elephant dung collected by the tyres. The swan’s beak is linked to the engine’s cooling system and opens wide to allow the driver to spray steam to clear a passage in the streets. Whitewash could be dumped onto the road through a valve at the back of the car to make the swan appear even more lifelike. >The car caused panic and chaos in the streets on its first outing and the police had to intervene. Matthewson sold the car to the Maharaja of Nabha, whose family owned it for over seventy years. >The car was discovered years later in its original state, albeit in poor condition. The sumptuous Indian silk upholstery had been eaten away by rats. >In 1991 it came into the ownership of the Louwman Museum and was fully restored. New upholstery was commissioned from an Indian weaving mill following the discovery of remnants of the original material under the seats. All the gadgets were made to working order again. In 1993 the Swan won the Montagu Prize at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance in California. https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/cygnet-the-baby-swan-car/ https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/cygnet-the-baby-swan-car... >To accompany the large ‘Swan Car’ The Maharaja of Nabha had this smaller version made for use on his estate in the 1920s. >The body was hand-beaten from steel sheet and fitted with an electric motor. It was called the ‘Baby Swan’ or ‘Cygnet’. Note the cygnets at the front. This is probably the oldest Indian-made automobile. >Both cars are now reunited in the museum, like ‘mother and daughter’. Jay Leno borrowed it for a while, but it's back in the Louwman Museum now (which is currently closed, but reopens March 3): https://www.autoweek.nl/autonieuws/artikel/swan-car-uit-louwman-museum-bij-jay-leno/ https://www.autoweek.nl/autonieuws/artikel/swan-car-uit-louw...
DonHopkins 6y ago
>Duesenberg built the chassis and engine at their Indiana plant, and coachbuilder Bender Body Company of Cleveland, Ohio, was tapped to customize the Model A. Bender Body Company??! I'd kiss their shiny metal ass!
OJFord 6y ago
> he shipped it all the way back to Indiana in the late 20s, and the Duesenberg company updated it with a Model J steering wheel, luggage rack, and lights. Them were the days.
WalterBright 6y ago
> He took delivery in 1921 in Hawaii I'm amazed the car wasn't destroyed by rust (ocean air).
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
_tom_ 6y ago
My uncle still has his father's Model T, from about the same time. Even has the original bill of sale! I've ridden in it. It's scary even at 5mph. Not a single safety feature.
arbitrage 6y ago
It's really wonderful to see the care and admiration of technology manifested like this.
mymythisisthis 6y ago
Random tech from the 1920s <a href="https://youtu.be/tcV1EYSUQME">1920 https://youtu.be/tcV1EYSUQME">1920, Tesla Valve.</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/WR-FfL5Nf6Y?t=52">1921 https://youtu.be/WR-FfL5Nf6Y?t=52">1921, Megola, Radial engine motorcycle.</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/gjsR4ZI92L8">1921 https://youtu.be/gjsR4ZI92L8">1921 American LaFrance Fire Truck</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/YpIYZELsvYs">1925 https://youtu.be/YpIYZELsvYs">1925 Thomann antique bicycle</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/HPo8cLc56ac">1925 https://youtu.be/HPo8cLc56ac">1925 Lanz Tractor</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/YqGaEM9sjVg">Mechanical https://youtu.be/YqGaEM9sjVg">Mechanical Television 1926</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/dwPRGFN-TVA">1929 https://youtu.be/dwPRGFN-TVA">1929 - A Giant Flying Boat</a>

77 points by clouddrover 6y ago

julianlam 6y ago

Fun fact: Duesenberg is what is referenced with the phrase "it's a doozy"

kalleboo 6y ago
Actually that's a common myth! https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/where-the-word-doozy-comes-from https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/where-the-word...

nexthash 6y ago

> Built to “outclass, outrun, and outlast” any car on the road, the Duesenberg Model A revolutionized the straight eight. Still does. Frederick and August Duesenberg were automotive geniuses, with unparalleled engine designs, top speeds, and exteriors/interiors for the day. Jay Leno did an episode on an original, unrestored Duesenberg from 1931. It will help you get the feel for these incredible cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdIKJ80ReiY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdIKJ80ReiY

Geezus_42 6y ago
Leno's model J https://www.thedrive.com/news/37462/of-course-jay-leno-drives-the-worlds-most-expensive-duesenberg https://www.thedrive.com/news/37462/of-course-jay-leno-drive...

tobobo 6y ago

I inherited a 1928 model A from my dad last year that he’d had since the early 1970s. I’m looking forward to giving it a drive, but it’s in a garage at the top of a hill and I’m afraid if I drive it down I’ll never get it back up. If anyone had tips for caring for and operating old cars, I’ll take any advice I can get!

pottertheotter 6y ago
I have no advice, but what a cool thing to have passed down!
pfarrell 6y ago
The Stutz building is a former auto factory in downtown Indianapolis that is now an office complex. Stutz is another Indiana luxury car manufacturer from around the same time as Duesenbergs. Last I knew, Turner Woodard [0] is the owner. Back in the 2000's Mr. Woodard had his extensive auto collection housed in that complex, including Duesenbergs, Stutz Bearcats, and memorably, a 1920's Reo Speedwagon fire engine. My point is this, if you can get in contact with his people, you are likely to find experts in maintaining those old cars. I definitely remember watching Duesenbergs used in parades when I was growing up. 0: https://www.turnerwoodard.com/ https://www.turnerwoodard.com/
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- tobobo 6y ago
  Thank you for the resource! I’m realizing through these replies that I’m talking about a different (and much more common) Ford Model A- but it looks like he has one of those in his collection as well.
dmckeon 6y ago
Generally, find a club, or group, or forum that specializes in whatever vehicle you have. But, Fred & Augie only made 444 Duesenbergs, so I would start with the ACD museum to get a recommendation for someone who could look it over for you and show you the quirks. Leno’s YouTube channel has several videos about them to start you off. Trivia: they were all made in the same year, but the depression struck, and so they were all sold and titled over the following decade.
- tobobo 6y ago
  Good tip. I am realizing that the Ford Model A I’m referring to in my post is a totally different. car but I know this advice still stands- my dad had forums he would visit to find parts, I wonder if I can figure out which ones those were.

rmason 6y ago

My late father was early to the antique car hobby, he got started in the late forties when you didn't have to be wealthy to buy rare cars, provided you did most of the restoration work yourself. Of all the cars he owned, the one he liked the most and kept the longest was a 1926 Wills Sainte Claire roadster. He sold that car so that he could send me and my sister to college. My earliest memories from around age 2 were watching my dad wrench on that car. I borrowed it from the owner with the help of the president of the Wills Sainte Claire museum for my father's 100th birthday. Our entire family felt such a strong emotional attachment to that car, but none stronger than my Dad. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2016/07/07/wills-sainte-claire-enthusiast-reunited-with-his-old-wills-on-100th-birthday https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2016/07/07/wills-sainte-cla...

jacquesm 6y ago
What a wonderful story, thank you! I've restored a couple of cars and nobody that sees the end result will ever truly appreciate the amount of work that goes in to a job like that unless they've done it themselves as well. Your dad looks so happy in those pictures!
- rmason 6y ago
  Thank you. I said at my father's funeral that he collected everything to do with the Wills Sainte Claire. He befriended C. Harold Will's two sons. The widow rode in my Dad's car in a Detroit parade. We were at a Wills event and coming back from the bathroom I heard two ladies talking about riding in the rumble seat of a car with their Grandmother in a parade in Detroit. I said would you like to meet the guy whose car you rode in? They were delighted and my Dad wrote letters to them until weeks before passing away at 101. My Dad served as a great example to me although my passions are more of the geeky kind.
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    Such a treasure. I was talking to a priest the other day about a nun that is alive today at the age of 117, to imagine all the things that she's seen for the very first time during her lifetime, to have conscious memory of two world wars and everything that has been invented during that time. That must give such a tremendous perspective on life. You are - and you probably already know this - very fortunate to have had a father like that.

DonHopkins 6y ago

The Louwman Museum in The Haag, Netherlands has a couple of beautiful Duesenbergs, one red and one black one: Duesenberg Model SJ Lagrande Dual-Cowl Phaeton https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/duesenberg-model-sj-lagrande-dual-cowl-phaeton/ https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/duesenberg-model-sj-lagr... >Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, James Cagney, Mae West, Lupe Velez, Joe E. Brown, Dolores del Rio, Howard Hughes, William Randolph Hearst, HM King Alfonso XIII of Spain, HM Queen Marie of Yugoslavia, HRH Prince Nicholas of Romania: many famous Hollywood stars and members of high society owned a Duesenberg. Duesenberg Model J Limousine-Landaulette Throne Car https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/duesenberg-model-j-limousine-landaulette-throne-car/ https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/duesenberg-model-j-limou... >This car, the heaviest, longest and widest Duesenberg ever built weighs about 3000 kilogrammes. The car is intended to seat ten: American evangelist ‘Father Divine’ and his ‘courtiers’. Father Divine established the International Peace Mission Movement in the 1920s. Amongst other things, it campaigned the rights of minorities and expanded rapidly in the 1930s. Father Divine’s followers came from all layers of society. I also saw the Swan Car and the Baby Swan Car at the Louwman Museum. It had brushes to clear the elephant shit from the road, had glowing eyes, and could belch steam from its beak to clear people from street in front of it, while it could even dump its own simulated bird shit behind it to mark its trail. And it even had a Cygnet / Baby Swan Car daughter! https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/brooke-25-30-hp-swan-car/ https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/brooke-25-30-hp-swan-car... >Brooke 25/30-HP Swan Car >This Brooke Swan Car is truly extraordinary. It was the creation of the eccentric and wealthy Scotsman Robert Nicholl ‘Scotty’ Matthewson, who lived in early 20th century Calcutta, the capital of what was then British India >Matthewson wanted to shock the local elite with his car, and he certainly succeeded in doing so. >The bodywork represents a swan gliding through water. The rear is decorated with a lotus flower design finished in gold leaf, an ancient symbol for divine wisdom. Apart from the normal lights, there are electric bulbs in the swan’s eyes that glow eerily in the dark. The car has an exhaust-driven, eight-tone Gabriel horn that can be operated by means of a keyboard at the back of the car. A ship’s telegraph was used to issue commands to the driver. Brushes were fitted to sweep off the elephant dung collected by the tyres. The swan’s beak is linked to the engine’s cooling system and opens wide to allow the driver to spray steam to clear a passage in the streets. Whitewash could be dumped onto the road through a valve at the back of the car to make the swan appear even more lifelike. >The car caused panic and chaos in the streets on its first outing and the police had to intervene. Matthewson sold the car to the Maharaja of Nabha, whose family owned it for over seventy years. >The car was discovered years later in its original state, albeit in poor condition. The sumptuous Indian silk upholstery had been eaten away by rats. >In 1991 it came into the ownership of the Louwman Museum and was fully restored. New upholstery was commissioned from an Indian weaving mill following the discovery of remnants of the original material under the seats. All the gadgets were made to working order again. In 1993 the Swan won the Montagu Prize at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance in California. https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/cygnet-the-baby-swan-car/ https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/cygnet-the-baby-swan-car... >To accompany the large ‘Swan Car’ The Maharaja of Nabha had this smaller version made for use on his estate in the 1920s. >The body was hand-beaten from steel sheet and fitted with an electric motor. It was called the ‘Baby Swan’ or ‘Cygnet’. Note the cygnets at the front. This is probably the oldest Indian-made automobile. >Both cars are now reunited in the museum, like ‘mother and daughter’. Jay Leno borrowed it for a while, but it's back in the Louwman Museum now (which is currently closed, but reopens March 3): https://www.autoweek.nl/autonieuws/artikel/swan-car-uit-louwman-museum-bij-jay-leno/ https://www.autoweek.nl/autonieuws/artikel/swan-car-uit-louw...

DonHopkins 6y ago

>Duesenberg built the chassis and engine at their Indiana plant, and coachbuilder Bender Body Company of Cleveland, Ohio, was tapped to customize the Model A. Bender Body Company??! I'd kiss their shiny metal ass!

OJFord 6y ago

> he shipped it all the way back to Indiana in the late 20s, and the Duesenberg company updated it with a Model J steering wheel, luggage rack, and lights. Them were the days.

WalterBright 6y ago

> He took delivery in 1921 in Hawaii I'm amazed the car wasn't destroyed by rust (ocean air).

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

_tom_ 6y ago

My uncle still has his father's Model T, from about the same time. Even has the original bill of sale! I've ridden in it. It's scary even at 5mph. Not a single safety feature.

arbitrage 6y ago

It's really wonderful to see the care and admiration of technology manifested like this.

mymythisisthis 6y ago

Random tech from the 1920s <a href="https://youtu.be/tcV1EYSUQME">1920 https://youtu.be/tcV1EYSUQME">1920, Tesla Valve.</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/WR-FfL5Nf6Y?t=52">1921 https://youtu.be/WR-FfL5Nf6Y?t=52">1921, Megola, Radial engine motorcycle.</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/gjsR4ZI92L8">1921 https://youtu.be/gjsR4ZI92L8">1921 American LaFrance Fire Truck</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/YpIYZELsvYs">1925 https://youtu.be/YpIYZELsvYs">1925 Thomann antique bicycle</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/HPo8cLc56ac">1925 https://youtu.be/HPo8cLc56ac">1925 Lanz Tractor</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/YqGaEM9sjVg">Mechanical https://youtu.be/YqGaEM9sjVg">Mechanical Television 1926</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/dwPRGFN-TVA">1929 https://youtu.be/dwPRGFN-TVA">1929 - A Giant Flying Boat</a>