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Duesey conversions

  • RandyEma
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14 Apr 2011 00:39 #19806 by RandyEma
Replied by RandyEma on topic Duesey conversions
the pig truck is J 237 judkins front with a derham town car back on it. Randy

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  • Steve Derus
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07 Mar 2011 17:39 #19482 by Steve Derus
Replied by Steve Derus on topic Duesey conversions
This is a sales contract from my dad's records, showing how he purchased two J's in 1961. Inventive financing for sure. I apologize if I have posted this before. It seems relevant to this thread. The Murphy sedan was J305, don't know why they left the engine number blank on the contract.

$4,000 for two J's was about the going rate back then.

Steve

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  • Bob Roller
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07 Mar 2011 15:08 #19481 by Bob Roller
Replied by Bob Roller on topic Cars sold too soon
Brad,
I would say that your uncle Bill was like the rest of us and had NO idea as to how the prices of these cars would inflate. The other end of that is the question as to why we all didn't try to buy one. As I posted earlier,in "The Day",a $100 bill looked bigger than a bed sheet and few working people had very many of them.Another thing is that those of us that were around the "J" a lot either were too stupid to realize the rarity of the cars (me)or simply took them for granted. Those cars were dated relics (old fashioned)in the 1950's and those in use were personal preference cars,bought cheap. We all have seen pictures of a "J" sitting on the back row of a used clunker lot with a low or flat tire and $200 or so in white shoe polish on the windshield. I remember raising the hood on them to show the engine to other mechanics and they were all stunned at what they saw and usually said they wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.
Only a few people kept them for decades and saw their investment go into orbit .Most did not. I remember seeing a Murphy CC advertised for $25,000 in 1962 and thought that insanity had set in. I should have bought it.
I wonder who did and do they stil have it.

Bob Roller

Bob Roller

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  • Bob Roller
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07 Mar 2011 14:48 #19480 by Bob Roller
Replied by Bob Roller on topic J554
Chris,
No problem as I stay confused most of the time anyway.

Bob
[/b]

Bob Roller

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  • Chris Summers
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06 Mar 2011 22:58 #19477 by Chris Summers
Replied by Chris Summers on topic Duesey conversions
Bob, sorry for the confusion, I was asking about the two cars in Pennsylvania.

Chris Summers
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So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

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  • Bob Roller
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06 Mar 2011 22:20 #19475 by Bob Roller
Replied by Bob Roller on topic J554
Chris,
I don't know who had the car when Leno bought it or if the purchase was thru an agent of his. One story I heard was that two brothers owned it and were always squabbling over it after it became valuable as a collector car. This may be just another story and as long as it's restored and running,that is the main thing.

Bob

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  • silverghost
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05 Mar 2011 19:20 #19471 by silverghost
Replied by silverghost on topic Duesey Conversions
When talking about Duesenberg "J" conversions let's not forget the Derham Tourester that my great uncle William "Wild Bill" Hunter sold to his buddy Howard Hughes; who later chopped-off it's aft body and used it to tow gliders and experimental test air-frames at a small airport during WW II .
This model "J" was first owned by Joe E. Brown the famous comic movie actor !

Eventually it wound-up as only a bare rolling chassis & drive train in the 1950s ~~~

Chris, our great historian here, says that no known photo of it exists in it's former glider towing form .

It has since been restored with a copy of it's great original Derham body.

Funny Note:
To this very day it is still better known as the Glider tow~car !

Why my "Uncle Bill sold this Duesenberg, and three other great Model "J" Dueseys, is an enigma to me today !

I only wish he had kept at least one for our family today .

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. BRAD HUNTER Huntingdon Valley Pa/Ocean City NJ 215 947 4676 Engineer & RE Developer Brass & Classic Auto, Antique Boat, Mechanical Automatic Music Machine, & Jukebox Collector

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  • Chris Summers
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04 Mar 2011 23:22 #19461 by Chris Summers
Replied by Chris Summers on topic Duesey conversions
Could it have been a family named Taylor?

Yes, the Lilly car was J-554.

Chris Summers
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So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

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  • Bob Roller
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04 Mar 2011 18:41 #19458 by Bob Roller
Replied by Bob Roller on topic Duesenberg conversions (perversions)
Maybe someone will know more about this one. I once saw something about the Modernized "J"built for Eli Lilly,a drug manufacturer.It is said he didn't keep it very long and it went thru a succession of owners,one of them put a big wooden bumper on it and used it for a "push car" to start vehicles with dead batteries. Another "J",a phaeton with front fenders restyled ala 1934 Auburn was said to have been used in a similar,degraded way and had a big bus battery on one of the running boards to jump start the various clunkers that needed help. I think Leno owns the Lilly car now. Is it J554? I am too lazy to get the papers out to see if it is. I remember seeing it on TV once with Oprah Winfrey sitting in it and wanting to drive it until Leno asked her if she could manage a standard shift transmission. She lost interest in it quickly.

Bob Roller

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  • mercer09
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04 Mar 2011 03:01 #19451 by mercer09
Duesey conversions was created by mercer09
There were two Dueseys in the late 40's in PA, owned by a fairly wealthy family, (the name eludes me) they turned at least one into a truck from a sedan and it was used on a pig farm.
I'm sure someone here can better fill in the details then me.
My knowledge of this comes from a friend who is a scholar down under, who was writing a book on this family and their involvement in the original Pentecostal movement.
Someone in the Duesenburg club was able to give him all of the details and body #'s.
The sedan/pu was eventually rebodied with another duesenberg sedan body.

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