Duesenberg SJ Speedster

The Duesenberg Automobile & Motors Company produced the Deusenberg SJ Speedster in America between 1928 and 1927. A luxury car company that was famous for creating top quality cars as well as racing cars.

Founded in 1913, the Duesenberg brother started their Duesenberg Auto Company. Their first headquarters were in Iowa. The brothers built several experimental automobiles and were considered the top of the line cars of the day. All of the cars at the Duesenberg factory were built by hand and were nicknamed "Duesy".

In 1914, a Duesenberg car finished 10th at the Indy 500 race. The year 1923 saw the inclusion of the Duesenberg used as a pace car at the Indy 500, and in 1924, 1925, and 1927, a Duesenberg actually won the race. American race car driver Jimmy Murphy won the Grand Prix in 1921 at the Le Mans in France.

During World War I, Duesenberg went into the aviation engine creation with a license to make engines for the United States military. When World War I ended, they stopped building engines for planes and boats for the military in their New Jersey factory. The company sold off the factory in New Jersey as well as the one in Minnesota in order to move the headquarters to Indianapolis, Indiana in 1920.

The Duesenberg brothers were not the best businessmen and had a hard time selling their first car, the Model A Duesenberg. The price in 1920 was $6500 and was extremely expensive for the time. The Model A was very advanced and included features such as hydraulic brakes and was a very powerful, light and fast car. Rudolph Valentino was one of the Hollywood elite to own a Duesenberg Model A.

In 1926, the Duesenberg Model X was introduced. It is a very rare car that was designed to be a sportier edition of the Model A. It had a longer and stouter frame. The engine was 100 horsepower and could reach speeds of 100 miles per hour. Supposedly, there were only 13 Duesenberg Model Xs manufactured and only four have survived to present day.

The Duesenberg J produced from 1928 until 1937 is considered a manufacturing legend. Fred Duesenberg created this engineering piece of genius that became known as the largest and fastest car ever. It was also the most expensive. It was a car that rival European luxury cars of the time.

The supercharged Duesenberg J, also called the Duesenberg SJ Speedster, could do over 100 miles per hour in second gear and could reach a top speed of 140 miles per hour in third gear. The SJ Speedster could go from zero to 60 mph in eight seconds and zero to 100 mph in less than 20 seconds. Even though the Duesenbergs were heavy cars, some were around 2 ½ tons, the car was one of the fastest of the era.

The Duesenberg SJ Speedster is rare, with only 36 cars ever built. With an almost 400 horsepower engine, the supercharged Model J was engineering brilliance. In 1932, Designer Fred Duesenberg died of pneumonia and his brother Augie took over as the chief engineer of the company. Read more about the Duesenberg SJ Speedster at oldoppos.us.