NJ Duesenberg J Find "Story" ! ?

Thank's Mercer09 !

Well at least one "Duesenberg found in a barn story" is true !
I am very glad to hear this "Story" finally confirmed by an independant third pary !

I have heard that many folks actually knew of this car but all were run-off this fellow's property by force.
~~~

Finally someone made him an offer that he could not refuse and was able to actually give him what he needed in exchange for this car !

Perhapps this is the very last known true "Duesenberg in a Barn" ever found ? !

Most likely our family drove directly past this property on our way to our "Shore" vacation home in Ocean City NJ literally hundreds of times and never knew what was in that old shack !

It makes you wonder what other great classics are just still sitting hidden away ?
~~~
My Father & I found and bought a great Springfield Rolls~Royce Phantom I "Special" Coupe'~~ S 136PM whih was once one of the 1927 NY Commodore Hotel Salon Show Cars for 1927 . It was found by my Father & I in a barn in Elverson Pa. about ten years ago ! It was the prototype for the later Brewster Wimbledon Coupe' catalog body of which six were actually later built. Our car is a "Special" custom-ordered be-spoke auto ordered by it's original owner. It is the only known Brewster Wimbledon coupe' and it was the "Special" order prototype !
What a strange & great Classic "Barn-find" story that was !
But this is the ACD website~~~so I will have to keep that story for another day & another auto forum~~~?

Thanks for the first-hand experience! So few of us have actually been around a Duesy barn find (even if you couldn't see it).

Brad, true story.
I grew up in Berlin and no, the car was not in Berlin, but rather in Marlton, which is in the Pine Barrens. The location of the car was on the border of Marlton, so Berlin is not such a stretch. The shack was located right by Camp Moore, where we all went as kids for a day trip here and there.
I had this discussion with Dave and his recollection is the house being built for the car collector and 45k. My recollection was an even swap for the house, as the man was literally living in the shack with the car.(a new house in the 1972-74 range would have been about 40k) He spent his last few years in that new 1000 sq ft. ranch home, which must have seemed like paradise compared with the shack of 40 or so years. If you go back to the early 70's, a fair price for an unrestored Duesey was around 40k and a restored one could fetch 100k. To get the car out, one side of the shack had to come down. As a kid of about 12, I would always look at the Packards up on cinderblocks, wo wheels. It seems the owner thought the great flood was coming back through and he had a good 8-10 cinderblocks stacked atop of one another at each of the 4 corners of each car. It must have been quite the effort.
I never could see the Duesey, though I was told at the right time of sunset, one could see it from the st. through the glass window in the front. I do clearly remember a Packard of about 1934 though....

Now that I'm home with my library again:

"A Model J from the Jersey Pines" by Sam Medway is in AQ Vol. 15, No. 3, beginning on p. 328.

Chris:

Thank You Again !
You came through again to confirm this New Jersey Duesenberg "Story" !

Frankly I thought it was just a tall car show tale !

I would like to see more on this article that was in A Q !

Saying it was found in the Pine Barrens was a bit of a stretch for the article's author !
Berlin NJ is nowhere near the "Pine Barrens"
which is the known home for the infamous "Jersey Devil "!

That New Jersey owner would fit the description of a "Piney" however !

Back in the early 1950's when I was associated with the "J" on a regular basis,we would get all sorts of stories about a "Duesenberg" being here,there or somewhere.
It HAD to be a Duesenberg because it was big and had big headlights and "wirespoke"wheels.Invariably,they turned out to be various styles of Cadillac.Packards.Lincolns and ONE 1928 Stutz boat tail phaeton in Charleston,WV locked up in a garage which we were allowed to look at.It was on axle stands and had 2800 actual miles on it.The lady that allowed us to examine it was the widow of the man that bought it new and he had died shortly after the car was purchased. She passed away a year or so later and whatever happened to the Stutz isn't known by me.
Does anyone REALLY know for sure how many "J"s went to Europe and what really did happen to them? I have a vague memory of one for sale in Eastern Europe but the conditions of the sale were were weird,something about tracing owners or some such foolishness.
There was one tale about some woman in Paris,France that was given one as a graduation present that according to Ted McPhail turned out to be a fable. This was in the newsletter years ago.
I hope all of you are enjoying this "Global Warming" were are experiencing now. We are NOT!

Bob Roller

The car in NJ was Derham Convertible Coupe J-199, bought by Robert Bahre, who still owns it. A story was done about it for "Automobile Quarterly" in the 1970s, after the car had been restored. I believe it was titled "A Duesenberg in the Pine Barrens" or something similar. Yes, its location was known prior to the purchase.

The car Randy mentions as the last found was J-585, the Gurney Nutting Convertible Coupe, which came out of India.

I would offer more and chassis numbers but am out of town at the moment.

I still believe there's one in Europe. I can see Randy's eyes rolling all the way from the East Coast. The way I see it, until there's documented proof of the fate of every car, I'm going to keep looking. Even if I never find anything, I'll have fun hunting.

RandyEma wrote: AJ The last found missing J was 1962 nothing new since then. Randy

Correction, 49 years

Randy, which car was this?

Guys:
According to the fellow from New Jersey who told me this "Story" it was a KNOWN Duesenberg J that many had in fact tried to buy before, but were in fact all run off his property !

Were there any KNOWN Duesenberg J autos in this area of Berlin NJ during this time period that were sold and changed ownership ?
The answer to this question should finally tell us if this tale is true or false.
To me there are just too many things in his "Story" that just sound too strange & good to be true~~~
I just had to ask the question here !

AJ The last found missing J was 1962 nothing new since then. Randy

My understanding (Randy or Chris please correct me) is that there has not been an undiscovered Model J find in 50 years. There have been cars out of sight from the general public but they have always been known. I don't know if the story is true or not, but in any event I would doubt it was an known car.

I just got off the phone after a long conversation with an AACA member named Dave M. who told me a Duesenberg J find "Story" .
This story goes that in the late 1970s-early 1980s there was an old hermit fellow living in an unheated shack of a house in Berlin NJ who had about 16 old cars scattered around his farm property. Some were said to have been Full Classics. Most were said to have been in very rough shape as they were stored outside for decades !
This old fellow would NEVER sell any of these cars. Many had tried to buy them over the years. They were greeted by a shotgun pointed out his door; and told to scram !

The old hermit's last name was said to be Parsons or Parkinson ~~~
He was said to have had a Duesenberg J roadster in a shed type garage.
The only auto he protected from the outside elements.
Supposedly a collector from New York or the New England area was able to make a deal to actually buy this Duesenberg J roadster.
Supposedly the collector built the old hermit a $45. thousand dollar new house with a heating system & gave him an extra $45. thousand in cash.
$90. K total purchase price !

The collector got his Duesenberg J and the hermit got a new heated house and some needed cash !

Dave M. told me that this car is now restored !

My question to the forum members is this~~~~

Is this a TRUE Duesenberg J "Story" ?~~~

Or ~~~
Just another crazy old Duesenberg J in a barn urban "Story" or myth as I suspect ?

To me this old hermit sounds like another A K Miller !

Dave Mellor. who I do not know, nor spoke with before tonight swears it is in fact TRUE !

Now we have all heard car collector fiction like this "Story" before~~~
They are almost Never True !
Just another "story" that circulates around at car shows; & growing as the tale is re-told !

I had never heard this Duesenberg J "Story" before; and I have been a Classic & Antique car collector all my life. I only live an hour away from Berlin NJ !
My late 92 y/o father never mentioned this Duesenberg J "Story" to me either !
I would have thought if anyone knew about this "Story"~~~my Father would have known about it~~~And told ME !

Does anyone on this Duesenberg Forum know the REAL TRUTH about this event ?

Has anyone heard this "Story" or a similar Duesenberg "Story" before ?