DUESENBERG SJ – year 1935

Manufacturer: Duesenberg Motor Co. Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

The brand Duesenberg brought fame, above all, to its racing cars. W 1921 r. Jimmy Murphy wins the first post-war French Grand Prix at Duesenberg with a Miller engine. In years 1924, 1925 i 1927 Duesenberg cars also win on the Indianapolis circuit. After the end of production of a typical A series (Erret Lobban Cord collaborated on it), brothers Fred and Augie wanted to build a mighty one, high performance luxury car. This is how the supercar of the typical J series was created. The magazine "Vanity Fair” called it "the best car in the world."”. This exaggeration, of course, is valid only on the American scale.

W 1932 r. the factory constructed a new, more powerful car with the SJ designation (S = supercharged - supercharger blower). J-type 8-cylinder in-line engine, with timing 2 X OHC and four valves in each cylinder, it also had a rotary supercharger blower, thanks to which he developed power 235,4 kW (320 KM) by 4750 RPM; 3-the stepped gearbox is connected to the engine by a double-plate clutch. The chassis of the classic concept was carried by rigid bridges sprung with semi-elliptical springs. Hydraulic brakes with vacuum power steering worked on a mixture of glycol and water. The car developed the maximum speed depending on the gear ratio in the rear axle to 210 km/h.

Fred Duesenberg was killed in that car in the Ligonier Mountains of Pennsylvania. W 1937 r. The independent history of the brand ended and the factory was absorbed by the newly formed Cord-Auburn-Duesenberg.

August Duesenberg died in 1955 r. Ten years after his death, Fred Duesenberg-junior, wanting to resume the fame of the family brand, built a luxury car with a Chrysler engine and Virgil Exner's eccentric body. However, he failed to conquer the market. Brand, which in the 1930s represented America's technical maturity, ceased to exist.