Duesenberg

Duesenberg Motors Company was an American manufacturer of race cars and high-end luxury automobiles. The Duesenberg Model J which was produced from 1929 to 1937, quickly became one of the the most popular luxury cars and was considered as a “status symbol” in the 1930s.

Fred and August Duesenberg began designing engines in the early 1900s after Fred became involved with bicycle racing. The brothers designed a vehicle in 1905 and in 1906, formed the Mason Motor Car Company with funds from lawyer Edward R. Mason in Des Moines, Iowa. F. L. and Elmer Maytag acquired a majority stake in the company and renamed it the Maytag-Mason Automobile Company until they sold their stake in 1912. The Duesenbergs moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota and established the first iteration of the Duesenberg Automobile and Motors Company. Eddie Rickenbacker drove the first Duesenberg-designed vehicle to race at the Indianapolis 500 in 1914, placing tenth. The brothers sold their Saint Paul factories in 1919.

During World War I, the Duesenbergs designed and built aircraft engines in Elizabeth, New Jersey. They relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1920 and re-launched the Duesenberg Automobile and Motors Company, manufacturing the Duesenberg Model A. The Duesenberg brothers assumed engineering roles after signing over the naming rights and patents for Duesenberg engines to promoters Newton E. Van Zandt and Luther M. Rankin. The first Model A was commissioned by Hawaiian businessman and politician Samuel Northrup Castle. The car had a 260 cubic inches (4.3 L) straight-eight engine that output 88 horsepower, the largest engine in a commercially available vehicle at the time, and was the first to have hydraulic brakes on all its wheels.