Should we regret the fact that the Duesenberg automobile company no longer operates, or celebrate the fact that it did? Or should we simultaneously do both? Regardless of our conclusion, the fact remains that the story of Duesenberg is one of the most fascinating in the history of automotive transport, and the impact of their amazing cars on the world of motor vehicles is something to be grateful for. Just think about it for a moment. How many other companies which no longer exist have given us an expression that is still commonly used today to refer to something which goes above and beyond all normal standards? Not very many... Yet, if someone turns to you and tells you a story that astonishes you, chances are that you will respond “That one’s a doozy!”
“Doozy” or “Duesy”? Well, the strong suspicion is that the two words are one and the same. The advertising campaign used to sell the most luxurious car produced by this company listed the vehicle’s features, talked about its undeniable glamor and referred to its strength as a luxury vehicle and then confirmed in its pay-off line: “It’s a Duesy”. This expression has been passed on through the ages, and when we see it written down in the present day the spelling has changed to a more direct, phonetic spelling of the word. Yet it is still used, and a doozy by anyone’s description would be something immediately analogous to the car that went on sale in the late 1920s. How they came to build such a work of art is another story, and one that still lives today.
The Duesenberg motor company was founded by two brothers, Fred and August (or Augie) Duesenberg in Iowa in 1913. Both brothers were successful, self-taught engineers and enjoyed experimenting with the medium, and in 1914 the young company was to have its first major success, with the racing driver Eddie Rickenbacker driving a Duesy to tenth place in the legendary Indianapolis 500. Ten years later, a Duesy would win the race, repeating the achievement the following year and in 1927, already having won a French Grand Prix at Le Mans through Jimmy Murphy in 1921. After some financial difficulty, the ownership of the company was transferred to one E.L. Cord in 1926 and he took it in another direction.
The direction favored by Cord was the luxury automobile market, and he charged Fred Duesenberg with the task of developing an automobile that could be considered the best in the world. Although Cord and Duesenberg initially disagreed on what that entailed, 1928 saw the Model J hit the market for the first time, with a top speed of 119 mph and an engine that developed 265 horsepower – totally respectable by today’s standards within a bodywork which made it a tempting proposition for anyone interested in driving a classic. But as quickly as the brand became successful, it fell into difficulties during the Second World War from which the company would never recover – although people interested in vintage cars have, since 1950, been keen to own a Duesenberg nonetheless.
