Description
Author: J.L.Elbert, Hardbound, 192 Pages, Revised Edition, 1975 - Second-Hand book in very good condition
It was a time of solid brass castings and engine-turned aluminum and stainless steel, of natural cowhide and quartered Circassian walnut, of hand-striped canework and whitewall tires white on both sides. Truly it was an honest day for product. Die-castings and synthetics are ubiquitous now. Veneered things are for the many. Those solid things were for the few.
Here is a roaring saga out of the opulent Newport era — the Life and Times of an elegant motor car showpiece tailored for that few. Any car, deliberately designed to socially outrank others among patricians and at the same time competitively outdrive (89 mph in second gear) among playboys, would have to have been some automobile.
That, Ducsenberg was. It accomplished both roles easily — and with an awe-struck audience, for the Indianapolis-built Model J was as thunderously throbbing as the stately Rolls-Royce was serenely silent.
Sheer horsepower can be quite unreal as a measure of giants. More than forty years after the Model J came upon the scene many jet-propelled tin cans have affected greater horsepower than the mighty Duesenberg claimed.
But the modern car bears even less in common character with the Duesenberg than do such modest contemporaries of the Big J as the Model A Ford. The difference was greater than shape; it was in the feeling. One could say that the Ford had forty orderly Clydesdales up front, while the man in the cockpit of the Duesenberg held the reins for 265 unruly racing steeds.
After a generation spent in assemblying one of the most extensive private automotive libraries of its kind, by 1947, J. L. Elbert's spare time became overpowered by his interest in the Duesenberg. Clearly, what Clark Gable then was among motion picture stars, the Duesenberg had once been among motor cars. Once a king, always a king. . . The story had never been told.
With the assistance of such hitherto untapped sources as original factory archives, correspondence was initiated with both original and then-current later owners. Glowing accounts of great joy with the car came to him from aging first owners who might reasonably have been expected to recall the car only in passive, fading memory.
Soon Mr. Elbert launched into full scale fact-finding to gather up the threads of a haughty fabric and reconstruct the story from the original concept, to the present role as King of the Classics. The fruit from untold hours of research was a penetrating account that has proven unique in scope.
Following publication in 1951, Duesenberg: The Mightiest American Motor Car was welcomed by auto enthusiasts all over the world, sparking new interest in the car, in classic cars, and even in the strange economic climate of the era that permitted the Duesenberg to have happened.
Supplementing the main text are 275 illustrations, a full scale reproduction of the classic original 1929 Salon catalog and an addenda which includes PERSPECTIVE 1975, YEAR DATING THE MODEL J, and that long-sought reference aid for the aficionado, CHASSIS IDENTIFICATION of Model J cars as originally issued, numerically, both by serial and by engine "J" numbers.
Today this book stands as the cornerstone reference for all knowledgeable investigation and reporting. In short; it's a "Duesie".
