The Duesenberg Model J is a luxury automobile made by Duesenberg. Intended to compete with the most luxurious and powerful cars in the world, it was introduced in 1928, the year before the stock market crash that led to the Great Depression. The Model J, available with a supercharger after 1932, was sold until 1937.
E. L. Cord, the owner of Auburn Automobile, and other transportation firms, bought the Duesenberg Motor Corporation on October 26, 1926 for the brothers' engineering skills, talent and brand name. He intended to produce a car to rival the size, power, and luxury of top European brands such as Hispano-Suiza, Isotta Fraschini and Rolls-Royce,.
After Cord's takeover, the new company was renamed "Duesenberg, Inc." Fred would continue in the new organization with the title of vice president in charge of engineering and experimental work. Fred's brother August, who had played an important role in the development of the Model A and its variant, the rare X, had nothing to do with the initial design of the J and had no formal connection with Duesenberg, Inc. until later. According to the expert Marshall Merkes, "Cord did not want Augie around." However, all Duesenberg racing cars produced after 1926 were built by Augie in an enterprise that functioned separately, and in a building apart from the main Duesenberg plant. He was also responsible for a number of engineering achievements like the superchargers developed for both the Auburn and Cord motorcars.
The newly revived Duesenberg company set about to produce the Model J, which debuted December 1 at the New York Car Show of 1928. In Europe, it was launched at the "Salon de l'automobile de Paris" of 1929. The first and — at the time of the New York presentation — only example made of the series, the J-101, was a LeBaron sweep panel dual cowl phaeton, finished in silver and black. By the time the Great Depression hit in October 1929, the Duesenberg Company had only built some 200 cars. An additional 100 orders were filled in 1930. Thus, the Model J fell short of the original goal to sell 500 cars a year.
The straight eight model J motor was based on the company's successful racing engines of the 1920s and though designed by Duesenberg they were manufactured by Lycoming, another company owned by Cord. In normally aspirated form, it produced 265 horsepower (198 kW) from dual overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. It was capable of a top speed of 119 mph (192 km/h), and 94 mph (151 km/h) in 2nd gear. Other cars featured a bigger engine but none of them surpassed its power. It was also both the fastest and most expensive American automobile on the market.
As was common practice among the luxury car brands, only the chassis and engine were displayed, the body and interior trim of the car would be custom-made by a third-party coachbuilder to the owner's specifications. The chassis on most model Js were the same, as was the styling of such elements as fenders, headlamps, radiator, hood and instrument panel.
About half the model Js built by Duesenberg had coachworks devised by the company's chief body designer, Gordon Buehrig, and executed under the name La Grande by company branches in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Florida and Denver, as well as by smaller dealers. The rest were designed and made by independent US coachbuilders such as Derham, Holbrook, Judkins, Le Baron, Murphy, Rollston (later renamed Rollson), Walker, Weymann, and Willoughby, and Fernandez et Darrin, Franay, Gurney Nutting, Saoutchik, and others in Europe.
The chassis cost $8,500 ($9,500 after 1932). At a time when the average U.S. physician earned less than $3,000 a year, most completed vehicles fell between $13,000 and $19,000, with two American-bodied J's reaching $25,000.) Figures for prices charged by deluxe coachbuilders in Europe are not available, but it is possible they were even higher than the more costly American built models.
The J was generally available with either with a short 142.5 in (3.62 m) wheelbase chassis or long 153.5 in (3.90 m)). Special orders included two SSJs shortened to 125 in (3.18 m) and a few extended to 160 in (4.06 m) and over.
The dash included mechanically timed lights that reminded the driver when to change the oil and inspect the battery.
Most engine and chassis were made in 1929 and 1930, but due to the Depression, high price, etc., ended up sold and bodied throughout subsequent years. Thus the year for a given Model J usually refers to the latter.
A series of minor modifications were carried out during the model's production life. The first major change was to replace the four-speed gearbox, which proved unable to handle the engine's power, with an unsynchronised three-speed gearbox, subsequently fitted to all Duesenbergs. Unlike almost all American manufacturers, Duesenberg did not switch to a fully synchronised gearbox in the mid-1930s, which made the Model J difficult to drive and outdated by the latter years of its run. The factory closed in 1937.
A Duesenberg marketing slogan was, "The only car that could pass a Duesenberg was another Duesenberg—and that was with the first owner's consent."
Reinforcing this claim was the powerful 320 hp (239 kW) supercharged "SJ" model Developed on the 142.5 in (362 cm) wheelbaseby Fred Duesenberg and introduced in May 1932.. It reputed to be capable of 104 miles per hour (167 km/h) in second gear and have a top speed of 135–140 mph (217–225 km/h) in third. Zero-to-60 mph (97 km/h) times of around eight seconds and 0–100 mph (0–161 km/h) in 17 seconds were reported for the SJ in spite of the unsynchronized transmissions, at a time when even the best cars of the era were not likely to reach 100 mph (160 km/h). Duesenbergs generally weighed around two and a half tons; up to three tons was not unusual, considering the wide array of custom coachwork available.
The SJ's supercharger was located beside the engine; the vertical driving shaft necessitated a redesigned exhaust manifold arrangement; originally this took the form of a one-piece eight into one Monel manifold that re-routed the exhaust away from the engine, outside the engine compartment and through a single hole in the right front fender. The eight port manifold was found to be prone to cracking and was quickly superseded by a second manifold arrangement that routed four branches through the right side panel of the hood and right front fender. At least one supercharged car retains its original eight port manifold while most can be recognized by the four exposed exhaust pipes encased within bright flexible metal conduit tubes, a design which Cord registered as a trademark and used in his supercharged Cords and Auburns. The flamboyant external exhaust pipes were offered both as an option on new normally aspirated Model Js and retrofit to earlier Model Js.
Fred Duesenberg died of pneumonia on July 26, 1932, resulting from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in which he was driving a Murphy SJ convertible. His brother, Augie, took over Fred's duties as chief engineer and Harold T. Ames became president of Duesenberg, Inc. Only 36 SJs were ever built.
With financing from sponsors, Ab Jenkins commissioned the Duesenberg Special as a speed record car. It was built in 1935 on a supercharged Duesenberg Model J rolling chassis with a standard wheelbase, a modified front axle, and a non-standard high rear axle ratio. The engine was highly tuned by Augie Duesenberg. High performance parts developed for the Special, especially the "ram's horn" twin-carburetor inlet manifold, would be used on later supercharged Js. In October 1935, Jenkins drove the car to a one-hour record of 153.97 mph (247.79 km/h) and a twenty-four-hour record of 135.57 mph (218.18 km/h) at a circuit on the Bonneville Salt Flats. The 24-hour record would be held until 1961. The car was renamed "Mormon Meteor" after a Curtiss Conqueror aircraft engine was installed in place of the Duesenberg engine.
The short-wheelbase supercharged J, referred to by the public as the SSJ, had an extra-short wheelbase of 125 in (3,200 mm) and an engine delivering close to 400 hp (298 kW) through the use of the dual-carburetor "ram's horn" manifold developed for the Duesenberg Special. The "ram's horn" manifold has two branches, each of which splits into two more branches.
Only two were built; both had lightweight open-roadster bodies produced by Central Manufacturing Company, an Auburn subsidiary in Connersville, Indiana. At the rear, each short-wheelbase roadster had an external spare tire and smaller “later-style” round taillights.
The first short-wheelbase roadster was sold to the actor Gary Cooper in 1935. The other "SSJ" was lent by the company to actor and established Duesenberg customer Clark Gable in 1936. Cooper and Gable would race each other in the Hollywood Hills in these cars.
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