What weighs more than three tons, has the presence of a sea-going leviathan, and looks more sinister than The Joker on a bad day? We take a look at the incredible Duesenberg, what Jay Leno found when he tried out this ride, and how much it costs.
Let's take a closer look at the Duesenberg.
Nothing Quite As Extravagant As A Duesenberg
It’s the 1934 Duesenberg Walker Coupe, a car built during the decade that brought you the Great Depression, dust storms, the Hindenburg Disaster and the rise to power of a failed artist with a dodgy haircut and a Charlie Chaplin moustache.
TV host and avid car collector Jay Leno recently paraded the brutal torque monster in front of the TV cameras. Built by America’s most luxurious marque at the time, it was the world’s most expensive and exclusive car, if not the the most beautiful.
The coupe, the only aerodynamic car Duesenberg ever developed, was built to order for pharmaceutical tycoon and car enthusiast, Josiah Lilly.
Money was clearly no object for Mr Lilly, and at $25,000 the coupe cost $5,000 more than the most expensive Duesenberg at that time.
A One-Off Coupe
As the car was a one-off, designer Herbert Newport was fastidious about detail. The huge inline eight with downdraught carburetors put out 265 bhp, almost double the output of any other car built at the time. It also boasted such sophisticated details as a chassis lubricator, a cast aluminum firewall and a $1200 grille. To put that into context, $1200 bought you a house in the cash-strapped 1930s.
To ensure the huge lump cut through the air, the headlights were placed in the centerline of the fenders and distinctive bi-plane bumpers were added as they offered less wind resistance - all courtesy of custom coachbuilder, A H Walker.
Unfortunately, Mr Lilly was a fickle man and did not like the end product. The car was hot and so cramped inside that there was room for only two adults, and only if they were willing to sit uncomfortably close to each other.
An Ignominious End - Almost
Lilly sold the car a year later to a New York politician’s mistress, who boldly took it on a driving tour across Europe – surely she deserves a feature all to herself for that. Eventually it was bought by a gas station owner who used it as a tow truck, of all things.
The coupe was left to rot in a garage for more than a decade, which would have been an ignominious end for such a grand automobile.
Fortunately, it ended up in Leno’s capable hands. He bought the car for the eye-popping sum of half a million dollars, but only after a long battle with the previous owner to get his mitts on it. He later spent a small fortune restoring it.
Leno took the coupe for a spin along Hollywood’s ample boulevards – the car’s natural habitat. Watching it burbling menacingly on the road, it’s perhaps no surprise that this Duesenberg appears on Grand Theft Auto V.
A Car Fit For A Gangster
Enthusing about its torque and undoubted road presence, Leno joked about the car’s “road-hugging weight” and “most inefficient use of space I’ve ever seen”.
Yet he admitted being won over by the coupe, describing Duesenbergs as “drivers’ cars”.
Perhaps that helps to explain the Duesenberg’s appeal. In a world where huge wealth could vanish in the blink of an eye, it was important to send a message that you were still a big player, especially if you were a gangster. Just ask Al Capone - he also owned a Duesenberg.
