Just Back from Lake Tahoe/Reno Area

Since I'm only 60 miles from Reno maybe I'll go admire J-305/2333 again.
One of the best looking closed Duesenbergs imho.

Hey Chris,

Are you back from your Duesenberging excursion yet?

Would be interested to hear all about it.



Steve

Steve Derus wrote: There is a wooden boat festival/concourse at Tahoe every year in August. I'm planning on going this year.

The museum is not the Harrah Museum, it is the National Auto Museum. Most of Harrah's collection was liquidated after his death. There was a core group of his cars endowed to the National Auto Museum, there might have been a Cord and Auburn or two included, but as far as I know, none of his Duesenbergs.

When I was at the National Museum a few years back the only Duesenberg there was the Murphy clear vision sedan J-305/2333 which was on loan. That car was owned by my dad for a brief time back in the late 60's.

I was at the "original" Harrah collection in about 1966, when it was at its zenith. It was truly amazing.

As for the Ferrari-powere Jeep Wagoneer I remember it from that visit. It was also featured in Motor Trend or one of the other major car pubs.

I know about the new museum name but I'm an old fart and stuck in my ways. <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: --> A cousin of mine is a high level exec with Harrah's and he says there's alway been rumors that many of the Harrah's exec's got cars as part of their severance package when taken over by Holiday Inn.
As long as you're going to the Tahoe boat regatta, check out the new Maritime Museum. It's not all that big but worth a visit. A trip to Sierra Boat Company would also be a nice side trip. Lots of buildings and we freely roamed around sticking our heads in the doors. There were many wood speedboats in storage and various states of restoration. There were also quite a few at the docks and already in the water. Judging by the shapes of the boat covers and the visible mahogany hull, there were a few "sedans."
Another diversion...one of the 1920's era lakefront mansions, now owned by California, is open for tours. In one of it's boathouses was a mid 20's Belle Isle boat that was about as nice as they get (multi cockpit). In the other there was quite a surprise...an aluminum hulled two seater, Cigarette, which was a race boat back in the day. It's vintage motor was replaced a few years ago by a big block GM. You might see it at the Regatta????

clydester wrote: ....another Harrah owned hybrid was a late 70's Jeep Wagoner with Ferrari power...weird....

I was living in Reno during the 70's and remember seeing Bill Harrah drive his "Jerrari" occasionally. The Harrah's lived a couple of miles from us and we would see various cars being driven around town.

The wood-decaled Jeep Wagoneer's were very popular in the 70's. Bill Harrah had the front of his Wagoneer extended 6 inches or so to acommodate the massive Ferrari engine.

Everett Adams was Bill's Ferrari guy, and I suspect he may have had something to do with this automobile.

J-305 is still on display. Daniel Hamilton of Reno owns it and has it on loan.

There is a wooden boat festival/concourse at Tahoe every year in August. I'm planning on going this year.

The museum is not the Harrah Museum, it is the National Auto Museum. Most of Harrah's collection was liquidated after his death. There was a core group of his cars endowed to the National Auto Museum, there might have been a Cord and Auburn or two included, but as far as I know, none of his Duesenbergs.

When I was at the National Museum a few years back the only Duesenberg there was the Murphy clear vision sedan J-305/2333 which was on loan. That car was owned by my dad for a brief time back in the late 60's.

I was at the "original" Harrah collection in about 1966, when it was at its zenith. It was truly amazing.

As for the Ferrari-powere Jeep Wagoneer I remember it from that visit. It was also featured in Motor Trend or one of the other major car pubs.

Spent a few days out that way. Great country and plenty to see.
For the vintage boat fans, theres' Sierra Boat Company that, besides their newere boat business, appears to do well on restoring/selling old wood speed boats. To see a 28 foot triple cockpit Gar Wood at the pier was quite a sight. There were many other mahogony speedboats both in the shops, the showroom and in the water. A recently opened Maritime Museum had several vintage sppedboats, hydroplanes and a wall full of vintage outboard engines.
In Reno, we went to the Bill Harrah museum. Unfortunately, there was only an hour before closing time so the walk through was pretty fast. Sammy Davis' Duesenberg (like the Cooper/Gable cars) replica roadster was there along with a real four door closed car. An L-29 convertible was also present. All the old restoration work looked superb. A couple oddities....Bill Harrah's personal Lincoln Mark II that he bought new and installed a Chrysler hemi motor....another Harrah owned hybrid was a late 70's Jeep Wagoner with Ferrari power...weird....