What caught your eye.

Steve Derus wrote: now there's an idea for the reunion....a test drive exchange event.

Duesenberg, Cord, and Auburn owners exchange test drives in their cars. I bet there would be quite a bit of interest. Do a basic driving familiarization lesson in a closed area like a prking lot or airstrip, followed by a short drive on city streets.

I'm just sayin.........

I like the way you think Steve!

now there's an idea for the reunion....a test drive exchange event.

Duesenberg, Cord, and Auburn owners exchange test drives in their cars. I bet there would be quite a bit of interest. Do a basic driving familiarization lesson in a closed area like a prking lot or airstrip, followed by a short drive on city streets.

I'm just sayin.........

Fyreline wrote
[i:234hx77w]I have been privileged to drive two different Model J's, and I consider both times to rank among the most memorable experiences of my life. It's not something you ever forget. [/i:234hx77w]

I have driven a lot of interesting cars over the years, including a number of Auburns and an A Duesenberg, and have ridden in a couple of different Js. I have spent some time in and around general aviation and soloed in a small aircraft. All were memorable. But.... a major item left in my bucket is having generous J owner give me a lesson.

I have been privileged to drive two different Model J's, and I consider both times to rank among the most memorable experiences of my life. It's not something you ever forget.

Back in the day, around 1962, I was lucky enough to have access to my dad's Model J Murphy convertible sedan (mostly without his knowledge I must admit). The car was in pretty good shape mechanically but looked much like what we now call a rat rod. Suffice to say it was not looking its best back then. I drove the car frequently, and hard. The clutch chattered a bit, but other than that it was a joy. It had good to excellent brakes, it had plenty of power and handled freeway speeds easily. It never overheated, always started even after a good romp, and I had it up to 65 or 70 mph in second gear on more than one occasion; I believe 90mph in second gear would have been achievable but others may argue that claim. One has to drive a Model J to really appreciate it. I would love to have had a chance to try out an SJ.

I enjoy the Jay Leno video clips where he takes his J's out for a spin, I've seen the one with the Murphy beverly and the Walker coupe, he knows how to drive them and not afraid to wind em up a little.

For me, it was the December 1960 issue of [u:4qv6hbxq]Road & Track[/u:4qv6hbxq], featuring that magnificent two-tone blue Model J phaeton. I considered myself (at the age of 6) a fairly astute automotive historian - well, among my peers, anyway - but I had never heard of the Duesenberg. After digesting that article over and over, I was hooked. I was convinced that there never was, and never would be a more magnificent automobile than the Duesenberg. 50 years later, I still think so. I have been privileged to drive two different Model J's, and I consider both times to rank among the most memorable experiences of my life. It's not something you ever forget.

Its hard to single out one thing about a Duesenberg. Its that gleaming engine and firewall. Its that jeweled instrument panel. Its looking through the windshield over that long hood with the Duesenbird at the tip. Its that huge stoplight and the split exhaust tip.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the National Auto Museum in Reno with my 21 year old grandson Adam Griffith. The Weymann fishtail speedster is on special exhibit there, along with the Murphy clearvision sedan that Adam's great grandfather, Nate Derus, owned for a brief time in the 1960's. I think Adam was bitten with Duesenberg fever after seeing those cars. He described them as works of art. I sponsored an ACD club membership for Adam in hopes of cultivating his interest in these cars. Maybe one day he'll be lucky enough to actually get a ride in one.
Steve Derus

The first one I ever saw was in 1960; the black MCC owned by the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago (now on loan to the ACD Auto Museum). Since then, I have always loved the MCC best. The next one I remember seeing was Al Ferrara's "SSJ" years later in the 70's at a Cleveland car show.

My real ACD education began around 1963, when I got a copy of Roger Huntington's Cord treatise as a Christmas gift; it was all downhill from there. :rolleyes:

At the age of about 5, I saw a picture of a red convertible coupe in "duPont Registry," which back then I looked at mostly for the Ferraris and Lamborghinis. It stuck in my head and never really left.

In 8th grade I read Clive Cussler's "Flood Tide," which features one of his Duesenbergs. I remembered the name and the other car, so I started looking at Duesenberg pictures online. Eventually, to keep all the cars I saw straight in my head, I started making lists of them by chassis and engine number, which led to keeping records of their history.

I found Bill Hummel's cordhaven.com site when I was 16, and through that site found the ACD Club and the Forum. I found the people friendly, helpful, and receptive to my questions. At the age of 18 I joined the Club after being encouraged by Mike Huffman and others.

I've never identified that long-ago red convertible coupe. It might have been a Duesenberg II.

In June of 1951,my best friend,Bob Wilson and myself decided to go out into the hills South of Huntington to see if we could find any wild dogs. He had an 1873 Springfield in 45-70 caliber and I had an 1861 Enfield muzzle loading carbine in 58 caliber. We had no luck that day but we decided to take a different trail back and it took us to Overby Road which went into an area called Harveytown. It as there that we saw a garge with the door standing open and there were two men and two big cars.I thought they were Cadillacs but Bob thought differently. He was right.They were Model "J" Duesenbergs,a sedan (J467) and a chassis with a partly assembled engine that was J487,a LWB LeBaron dual cowl phaeton that had been in storage under a tree in Wisconsin. The Sedan looked good and would run but a stripped spline in the drive line prevented it from moving uder its own power. I was instantly fascinated by these cars and what were then stunning performance figures.The two men were Raydon R,(Don)Thompson and Shelby B.(Jack)Irwin. I became interested enough to keep going back to that garage and helping with whatever needed to be done and soon found that I did have a talent for mechanical things that was to take me on to other work like machine shops and ther automotive pursuits.In the time frame I worked with Thompson and Irwin,we developed reputation for being able to work on the Model "J"successfully and had others bring their cars to us and on occasion,we went to the owner to work on a car. We put a clutch in Melvin Clemans MCC in his home garage and I put spark plugs in J396 the next day.
There were others that called from distant places but Don Thompson hated to travel so we did nothing but work on the ones that could get to the garage. Memories stay sharp for me even after all these years and sometimes,I will encounter someone who remembers the garages (there were three)and those big cars we were seen driving around in. That was another America,on another planet and I am glad to have been a part of it even if it didn't last very long.

Bob Roller

I know that in the past post that I have had here. Some of you have told me what it was. But I would like to know. What was it that caught your eye the first time you saw a Duesenberg ?. Was it the paint ?. or was it the body design ?. or was it the sound of the stright eight Humming at idle ?. Just let me know (and the others that read this post) what it was. Kim