Dick Shappy's Barn Fresh Duesenberg - Updated

Gorgeous, gorgeous car. I love the crank-out windshield panels.

That is a wonderfull story! Thankyou for posting the pictures so that we can all enjoy them.

Great job!
Duesenberg J is a very beautiful car - In Germany too!

Greetings from good old Germany...

I'm sure I speak for many of us when I say, I'm jealous. We've all seen beautifully restored examples at shows. How many of us ever get the opportunity to delve into one of these mechanical masterpieces?

Although I doubt I'll ever find a "barn fresh" Duesenberg, I have hauled home countless other Barn Beauties....There is nothing like hearing an engine roar to life that has been idle for 40, 50, or 60+ years.

I am happy to say that the restoration of my "barn fresh find" has progressed very well and that the restoration is almost complete. You can check the documented progress by going to the Duesenberg section of my website at www.classiccars.ws




An interesting thing happened yesterday during my visit to the upholstery shop which may be worthy of a short story for the ACD website. During my visit, Nick the upholsterer informed me that while the leather panel was off, it would be practical to remove the wooden door panels to examine the window crank assembly to see why the cranking up and down of the window was not working properly. We removed the wood panel screws and found two very interesting pieces resting at the bottom forward corner of the door panel.

The first was the 1946 Massachusetts auto registration and the second was to me a much more spectacular find. It was the missing cigarette lighter that rests in the lighter socket which is mounted on the rear of the front seat.

A few years ago, I had mentioned to Randy Ema that I was missing the two lighters that were originally fitted to this car. He informed me that he had only seen one in his years of collecting and researching Duesenbergs and offered it to me for sale as he knew how much I wanted to have it for my car. I remember him saying "good luck finding the another one" Well..I got lucky yesterday and found another one. I am thinking of removing the drivers side door panel as well ...who knows what I might find.

Thank You,

Dick Shappy